Animal Sanctuary of Hadassah Neurim Youth Village
About the Animal Sanctuary
The Hadassah Neurim Animal Sanctuary is a place for the well-being of animals (wild, domestic and livestock) and people. It is a model for mutual care based on basic principles of proper animal care to nurture both their physical and mental well-being. Our goal is to provide the best home for the animals.
Animal Sanctuary Principles:
The Animal Sanctuary offers a loving home for rescued and abandoned animals. Animals in the Animal Sanctuary receive personalized care based on their specific needs, designed to maximize their physical and emotional well-being. Contact with each animal based on the animal’s own comfort-level and initiative. If an animal does not wish contact with the person, contact shall not be coerced.. The Animal Sanctuary limits the maximum number of animals it houses to avoid overcrowding that could potentially harm their well-being. After their rehabilitation at the Animal Sanctuary, Wild animals that can be successfully released at the end of their rehabilitation period are released back into the wild; Animals that have been successfully rehabilitated as candidates for adoption are available to be adopted by into loving homes. Animals are never bought or sold in the Animal Sanctuary. The focus in the Animal Sanctuary is on the well-being of the animal, first and foremost. The animals are not to be transported for the purpose of treating patients, but rather only for the therapeutic purposes of the animals.
Animal Paddocks
The animal paddocks are a good way for the students to spend time with the animals. Being close to the animals naturally instills in students of affection, empathy, and responsibility towards them – some of this does happen, but in addition the message conveyed by animal corners? is that keeping animals in captivity is legitimate, and their use for educational purposes is justified. If the animals were bought for the animal corner? and animals that died are “replaced” by others – the students receive a message that animals are replaceable goods and are treated as an object.
For the Animal Sanctuary to be morally and educationally appropriate, it is important to establish among the students the understanding that it is not about imprisoning animals to provide entertainment or educational interest, but about providing a space that is a loving home for the animals that live there. These will be animals that cannot safely return to the wild and the Animal Sancetuary becomes their permanent home, or their temporary home if the animal is able to heal.
Visiting hours:
Sundays – Thursdays: 8:00-13:00, 14:00-17:00
For further inquiries: meshek@neurim.org
The Animal Sanctuary in the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village has many projects related to human-animal relations and to animal welfare.
The Animal Sanctuary cooperates with –
The Safari Wildlife Hospital – Our Animal Sanctuary maintains a project with the Safari Wildlife Hospital. In this project, Israeli tortoises and hedgehogs that arrived at the hospital and were treated there after an injury or illness, arrive in our Animal Sanctuary for further treatment and rehabilitation until full rehabilitation and recovery is achieved. After recovery, they are released into the wild where they were found. The restoration process was done as a joint project together with young Hadassah students.
Our animal-assisted emotional therapy program is done in the mutual therapy model of Oranim College and on the Hadassah Youth campus – the Animal Sanctuary serves as an educational and therapeutic place for the animal-assisted emotional therapy program. Students who study in the program carry out their practical work (practicum) in the Animal Sanctuary with the students of the Youth Village. The purpose of the program is to train professionals for therapeutic-emotional work with an emphasis on animal welfare, the contribution of animals to the psychotherapy process based on a dynamic approach.