Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

Top choice


Kanab's most famous attraction is outside town. Surrounded by more than 33,000 mostly private acres of red-rock desert 5.5 miles north of Kanab, Best Friends is the largest no-kill animal rescue center in the country. The center shows films and gives facility tours at least four times a day; call ahead for times and reservations. The 1½-hour tours let you meet some of the more than 1700 horses, pigs, dogs, cats, birds and other critters on-site.

Volunteers come from around the country to work here. Spending the night in one of eight one-bedroom cottages with kitchenettes ($95 to $150) or in a one-room cabin ($60 to $105) and volunteering for at least a half-day allows visitors to borrow a dog, cat or pot-bellied pig for a sleepover. (Cottages should be booked well in advance.) It also has RV sites ($50) with hookups.

The sanctuary is in Angel Canyon (Kanab Canyon to locals), where scores of movies and TV shows were filmed during Kanab's Hollywood heyday. The cliff ridge above the sanctuary is where the Lone Ranger reared and shouted 'Hi-yo Silver!' at the end of every episode.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Moqui Cave

1.09 MILES

Five miles north of town, this tourist trap is an oddball collection of genuine dinosaur tracks, real cowboy and Native American artifacts, and other…

2. Parry Lodge

5.4 MILES

Built in the 1930s, this historic hotel was once movie central. Stars stayed here and owner Whit Parry provided horses, cattle and catering for the sets…

3. Little Hollywood Land Museum

5.41 MILES

Wander through a bunkhouse, saloon and other buildings used in Western movies filmed locally, including The Outlaw Josey Wales, and learn some tricks of…

4. Kanab Heritage Museum

5.47 MILES

For a glimpse into the region’s popular history, this small museum is worth a stop. While the few pieces of historical memorabilia aren’t particularly…

5. Maynard Dixon Living History Museum

10.84 MILES

In Mt Carmel, the Architectural Digest–noted Maynard Dixon Living History Museum is where renowned Western painter Maynard Dixon (1875–1946) lived and…

7. Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park

11.6 MILES

Restless winds shift giant Sahara-like sand dunes across half of this 3700-acre state park. For lovers of the strange, it's worth the 24-mile, 90-minute…

8. Pipe Spring National Monument

21.1 MILES

A vital source of water for desert flora and fauna, the Ancestral Puebloan people, the Paiute Indians, and for the Mormons who followed them into this…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "usa/utah/kanab/attractions/best-friends-animal-sanctuary/a/poi-sig/1112095/1314260",
      "position": "superzone"
    }