Sanctuary mode

What sanctuary mode does

When you mark an animal as a sanctuary resident:

• A "Sanctuary" badge appears on their record instead of a status like Available or Foster
• They're excluded from the adopter-facing public gallery
• Adoption and transfer actions are hidden on their record
• They appear in a dedicated Sanctuary section on the Animals page
• They're excluded from pipeline metrics (live release rate, days-to-outcome) so they don't skew your numbers
• Medical records, notes, photos, and documents work exactly as normal

Marking an animal as a sanctuary resident

There's no menu or confirmation step -- just an always-visible Add to sanctuary button on the animal's record.

1. 1
   Open the animal's record.
2. 2
   Click Add to sanctuary. The animal's status changes to Sanctuary immediately -- there's no note or reason field to fill in.

The button then reads Remove from sanctuary, so toggling the status back is the same click in reverse.

Sanctuary residents and medical care

Sanctuary animals often need ongoing medical management. Their medical tab works exactly the same as any other animal — you can log vet visits, vaccinations, medications, and diagnoses. Set up recurring reminders for regular care (e.g., monthly flea/tick, annual bloodwork) from the medical tab's Reminders section.

Enrichment, diet, sponsors, and updates

Every sanctuary resident gets four additional tabs on the Sanctuary page, alongside the standard tabs on their animal record:

• Enrichment -- a log of enrichment activities: type, duration, and notes.
• Diet -- the animal's active diet plan plus a feeding log.
• Sponsors -- active monthly sponsorships for this animal, shown against a sponsorship goal.
• Updates -- staff-posted, titled updates with an optional photo. Each update is automatically emailed to every active sponsor for that animal.

Each sanctuary resident also gets a dedicated public sponsor page, linked directly from the Sanctuary page -- there's no separate microsite work needed for sponsors to find and support them.

Sanctuary animals in reports

Sanctuary animals don't have an adoption or transfer outcome logged against them, so they naturally sit outside your live release rate and other outcome-based numbers -- there's nothing extra to configure.

Can a sanctuary animal be placed in foster care temporarily (e.g., during a move)?

Yes — you can still assign a foster placement to a sanctuary animal through Foster Matchmaker. The sanctuary badge remains; they just won't appear in the adoption queue.

Do sanctuary animals appear on the public portal?

They're excluded from the adopter gallery by default, but each sanctuary resident already has its own dedicated public sponsor page, linked from the Sanctuary page -- no extra setup needed for sponsors to find and support them.

How do I see all my sanctuary residents at once?

Go to Animals and use the status filter to select 'Sanctuary'. You can also see them grouped in the dedicated Sanctuary section below the main pipeline list.

What happens if I accidentally mark the wrong animal as sanctuary?

Open the animal's record and click 'Remove from sanctuary' -- any team member can do this, and their previous pipeline status is restored.