MOORE COUNTY, N.C. — If you visit the Dunrovin Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Vass, you can hear the call of Daisy from far away.
She’s a parrot and has been at the sanctuary for five years.
“She’s a real sweet bird. Let’s you pick her up … and all that good stuff,” said Jacob Seebode, the park’s manager. “But she’s definitely an attention hog and loves when people show her that attention.”
Daisy is one of the 200 animals kept at the sanctuary. Each animal has a name. And each one has a story.
Like Esmeralda, the patas monkey. When she was a week old, she was accidentally injured by her mother. Now, Amelia Bruns is her surrogate mother.
“I’ve been raising her,” Bruns said. “I’m mama to her. That’s my baby … and I love her to death.”
The goal of the sanctuary is to provide a home and refuge for all these animals. And while many of them are cute and pleasant to look at, the staff said they’re really not meant to be pets. Caring for them is hard work and can be expensive.
“Our vet bill this upcoming May for our animals to get their vaccines, could be over $9,000,” Seebode said.