Juliana’s Animal Sanctuary

We believe that all animals deserve respect and protection.

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Vegan Animal Sanctuary

in Columbia

Juliana’s Animal Sanctuary is literally the only hope for farmed animals in Colombia and the only project to provide help by rescuing them from suffering or providing emergency medical care.

We are the first sanctuary established in South America and are currently the only one in Colombia. We are fully certified by the Global Federation of Farm Sanctuaries.

We have also established strong educational programs, including vegan cooking workshops, vegan comics, vegan food relief and strong social media activism.

From a 5-year-old girl’s dream to a safe haven for animals

Juliana’s Animal Sanctuary was founded in 2006 in Colombia. However, the project has its roots in Juliana’s initial desire to save all the world’s animals when she learned about the suffering of animals as a 5-year old girl.

When Juliana was 5 years old she decided to stop eating meat when she found out that hamburgers were not born in trees, that burgers were cruelly murdered animals. From that day Juliana felt the need to help those innocent victims: The Animals. And so it was that at this young age she rescued dogs from the street, took them to the apartment where she lived with her parents and took care of them until she found them a home. When she was 11 years old, her school teacher asked her what she wanted to do in her adulthood.

Juliana without hesitation said, “I will buy a very big place to save all the animals!” But Juliana is a person of action rather than words. At age 11, she started saving money selling things at school so she could buy a large piece of land and begin her dream, and she did! It was the first sanctuary for animals in the country of Colombia, and at that time was the only one in all of South America.

Since then she has been working hard for the last 12 years with her team. In pursuing her dream, Juliana faced numerous challenges, including a public that did not even understand the meaning of a sanctuary, legal battles for her land, lack of funds, and overwhelming demand of animals in need.

The years have passed, and Juliana and her team have rescued more than 700 animals of all kinds. The sanctuary has grown and has become an organization that not only rescues animals but has strong educational programs to change the way people see animals. Juliana has managed, thanks to her husband Paul Turner, to take the sanctuary to an international level so that everyone knows the situation of the animals in South America and is aware that these animals need help, too. Juliana’s Animal Sanctuary has since become a non-profit entity registered in the United States.

Juliana still devotes her life to the sanctuary, where she lives with some volunteers, rescuing and taking care of rescued animals, giving talks on a national and international level, and bringing the reality of animals that are used as food to schools and other entities. Juliana will not rest until everyone knows the reality that the animals used for food go through, and she continues to teach respect for all beings to all the human hearts she encounters.

Our Work and Projects

Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation

As Colombia’s only animal sanctuary, Juliana’s Animal Sanctuary is at the forefront of animal rescue and rehabilitation in the country. Since 2008, we have rescued and rehabilitated over 700 animals. Our current property sits on approximately 10,000 square meters in Chía, and is home to nearly 100 rescued animals.

Vegan Cooking Workshops

Juliana’s Animal Sanctuary helps parents and young people adopt a vegan diet, through vegan cooking workshops. We teach participants how to prepare easy, delicious vegan meals, and provide them with the relevant nutritional information.

Since we’ve found that many parents discourage their children from going vegan, these workshops are free of charge and are offered to both new vegans and their parents. The only requirement is that every participant must bring along with them a non-vegan member of their family, preferably their parents. We help more than 200 parents a year learn to support their children’s vegan diet and lifestyle.

Meat-free Monday

In cooperation with Food for Life Bogotá, once a month Juliana’s Animal Sanctuary travels to Bogotá to serve free vegan food and provide additional vegan educational materials. At the event, we provide free food to approximately 300 people in need, and distribute information to colleges, schools, malls, and other public places throughout the city. The program, which has now run for 20 years, promotes the health and ethical benefits of a vegan diet.

Maha – Vegan Comic

Maha follows the lives of the sanctuary animals and Qultro, our hero dog. Featuring the illustration work of sanctuary friend Juan Faundez, the comic educates children about the realities faced by animals raised for food.

The comic reaches about 8,000 people a month. We distribute Maha widely, to local cafes and students from schools visiting the sanctuary.

Maha is a pilot project made possible with the support of Unbound Project. As the comic is translated into other languages, the project will be brought to other parts of the world.

Maha – 3D Visual Experience

The 3-D version of Maha allows viewers to experience the disturbing reality of animals raised for food. There is currently nothing like this in Colombia, and we believe it will have an enormous impact on the public’s awareness of animal rights issues. Currently, we reach about 500 people a month with this powerful project.

Volunteer

Calling all animal lovers! If you’re looking for volunteer sanctuary experience in the magical Andes Mountains in South America, look no further than Juliana’s Animal Sanctuary.

Whether or not you’re a local, just passing through, or from the other side of the world, we have volunteer sanctuary work that you can help us with!

Virtual Sanctuary Volunteering

Our virtual volunteer opportunities include fundraising, writing grants, and account and bookkeeping help from a Spanish speaker. Your virtual volunteer work helps keep these animals fed and sheltered.

After a brutal life in the animal agriculture industry, we want to give them the life that they deserve. Every bit of work that you do helps with that, regardless of whether it’s in person or online.

Donate to save farmed animals

Help us continue this important service of rescuing and protecting animals and teaching the public about the social, climatic, economic and health advantages of a plant-based diet.

Our animal sanctuary, located in the Andes Mountains of Colombia, was recently voted VEGAN OF THE YEAR 2014 by Vegans Are Cool. We are a few volunteers who have dedicated ourselves to caring for rescued animals, including dogs, cats, pigs, a horse, a cow, and a bullock, along with educating people about how and why we have to respect animals and adopt a plant-based diet. We do this practically by showing how beautiful they are and how similar they are to us.

We believe that humanity at large has lost connection with animals and now only see them as objects. Once people get connected with animals again, especially farm animals, by hugging them and spending time with them in a natural and peaceful environment, they come away happier and with a fresh new perspective on life. Animals are just like us — they want love, peace, freedom, respect, and friendship.

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