About Hope Sanctuary

In 1992, Doll Stanley, Northern California girl and In Defense of Animals (IDA) employee, was dispatched to Mississippi to investigate cases of companion animals turning up missing. We're talking about hundreds and hundreds of dogs and cats from all over Mississippi. What Doll's investigation turned up was horrifying. Several "entrepreneurs" were literally driving around the back roads of Mississippi and taking people's companion animals, then selling those animals to licensed USDA animal dealers who in turn were selling them to animal research facilities. It was as bad as it could get.

Doll, with the help of a team of people in IDA's home office, worked to identify these criminals, document their crimes and shut them down.

As Doll and IDA's work became known around Mississippi and people got to know her and understand her commitment and passion for helping animals, folks started coming to her with other stories about animals in need. Needing a place to house these animals seized from cruelty investigations and neglect cases, Hope Sanctuary was born.

What started as a somewhat brief trip to Mississippi to investigate missing companion animals has turned into a 15 year and counting crusade to help animals of all shapes and sizes all over Mississippi and other areas of the Deep South.