| Come meet them all! Schedule a tour today! Contact Us: 815-266-1342 info@crittercamp.biz 824 Church Street, German Valley, IL 61039 |
| Check out our first You Tube listing- "How Quagmire the Bearded Dragon got his name" Here Quag is doing his mating dance because he sees Fiona the female Beardie nearby. They are housed separately and not in each others' view so they can relax & not be agitated. |
| Critter Camp Exotic Pet Sanctuary |
The current batch of critters living here include: Phoebe the miniature Dachshund, Chi Chi the poochon (poodle & bichon mix); Zeke the border collie/retriever/whatever mix; Senya, Angel, Tiger, Rascal, Sam, Sabrina and Junecat, Momma Kitty, Muffin, Mitty, Cheetah, and Tweak & Crazy the cats; Thumper, Lance, Ester, Pat, Bandit, Meggie, Stephanie, Emily, Jesse, Daphne, Wiggles, Capn Sparrow, Wench Wabbit, Jack Rabbit, Cutie, Babies, Lilo, Morgan, Chopper, Snicker, Snickers, Cocoa, Bloo, Buster, Heckle & Jeckle the rabbits; New Stray Orange, New orange, New BEW, Abby, Gussie, Penny, Clover, Lucy, Coco, Beebo, Fergi, Casper, Snowball (boy), Ruby, Rose-A-Belle, Ginger, Spotty, Coca Bean, Joey, Millie, Henny Penny, Ruff, Precious, Mama, Niblet, Caramel, Butter, Oscar, Precious, Friskie, Henry, Punkin, Sam, Whiskey, Curly, Moe & Larry the guinea pigs; Buster & William, 3 new boys, Blue, Oreo, Smidgen, 3 female & 2 male ratties need names, Edward, Jacob, Sweeney Todd, Totoro, Bravo, Slam, Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, Kia, Feme, Junior, Ruby, Midnight, Spooky, Cocoa, Cow, Heifer, Beagle, Mike, Bob, Willie, Sean , Phil, Gus, Cheddar, Dove, Oreo, Honey, Princess & Luna, & Pepper the rats; Cheddar, 5 new boy mousies, 13 new mousies, 8 baby mousie pups born to momma that came in pregnant: Dr. Zoidberg, Floyd C. Hush, ; Logan, Remy, 12 new white mousies from the Global Exotics raid and the 30 pups, Peanut, Michelle, Sam, Cutie, Lily,& Queenie the mice;Popcorn the degu ; Jordan, Indega, Sativa, Pebbles & Bam bam, Pip, Lone Ranger & Tonto, Uma, Hemi, Big Al, Snickers, Felix, Moonie, Stormy, Mellow, Curly, Buffy, & Storm the ferrets; Joy & Lavendar, Boots, new girl & 2 boys, Hornswoggle Euhtington, Angel, Cream Puff, Ruby, Twinkle, Major,Tom, Conga, Fiona, Baby Harry, Barney, Henry, Thing 2, & Doc, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, & Grumpy the Gerbils, Gaston, Fuzzlebutt, the hamsters; 28 Roborovski hamsters from the Global Exotics raid and their 12 babies, Long Body the ball python; Phoenix, Zeddicus and Blonde D the bearded dragons; Ricky , Lucy, Bucky, Aries, PJ, the hedgehogs; Alberta, Abby, Irma and Millie the box turtles, Zeus the Golden Greek tortoise, Scream the iguana, Germ the fire belly toad; Hair the tarantula; Peter the Quaker Parrot, Parro the parakeet; Shadow the Arctic Marble Fox, Guinness and Meeko the Kinkajous, Jackson the Green Wing Macaw, Verde the Yellow Naped Amazon, Momma, Papa & Junior the white doves, Bart Junior and Chirpy Boy the basilisks, Spinner, Belle, Sam & Skyler the Cockatiels, Jelly Bean& Dolce the chinchillas,Fella, Stubbs, Fred & Ethel, Bert, Punch & Judy, Speedie, & Baby Junior the sugar gliders, 9Texas spotted Ground Squirrels from the Global Exotics raid, and Zoey & Quiggly the fennec foxes. |
| Animal statistics 2007: 113 taken in 52 animals left us - 43 Died & 9 Found New Homes Adoptions arranged: 7 ferrets, 1 iguana, 2 gliders, 1 beardie These animals never came in here, we arranged adoptions between pet owners needing to re-home their pet and prospective owners. |
| About Us |
| We did not set out to create a shelter or sanctuary in the beginning. Our Director, Beth, is a single mom who was homeschooling her two gifted daughters and her son with special needs while incorporating their pets into the lessons. They had the usual pets, a dog, cats, hamsters, & gerbils. However they decided to add ferrets and ended up taking in a rescued ferret and his cousin. Then came the hedgehog, another gerbil and parakeet. Before long word got out & people were bringing them their unwanted animals. They used these opportunities to learn about the new animals in all subject areas - reading, writing, math, geography, science, etc. When they had nearly 30 animals they decided they had to either stop accepting the homeless critters or make it a full time endeavor and become a licensed shelter. We have grown to care for over 300 animals of 30 different species, utilizing about 20 regular and hundreds of one-time volunteers, and becoming a registered 501c3 non-profit organization. Volunteers from miles away come to help us at Critter Camp. They help clean cages, build enclosures, exercise, feed and play with the animals. |
We believe that: At a certain point re-homing pets, particularly the unusual and exotic ones, at all costs often serves only to make the people involved feel better about themselves, irregardless of the stability and continuity of care the elderly, abused or ill animal, actually needs. Euthanizing such animals brings the rescuer down to the universally despised level of “puppy-mills” in that if an animal is no longer useful to humans it must be killed. This is incredibly heartbreaking. Again, people bred every one of these pet animals for human enjoyment and/or profit, therefore we as humans have an obligation to provide quality care for these animals for their entire lives whether or not they are “pet quality.” |
"Beth at Critter Camp runs the best most responsible animal sanctuary that I personally know of. She is so caring and honest with her facility and her funding, and that is something that I can honestly say is hard to come by. Beth is the sweetest most personable person that I know. She would do her best to help you with your animal or help your animal or animals in need, and that is what really and truly brought me to know her. Beth is the most honest and caring and trust worthy person in the "sanctuary" business that I know. I can truthfully say that Beth and her facility is what it is, A "true" sanctuary. It is my pleasure to know Beth, and to call her a friend of mine. So please donate, anything that you can to help her, and all the babies that are located at her facility. Anything rather is be big or small anything would help her greatly and I know Beth would be more than grateful to you. Please take the time to read about her and you will see what I see. A wonderful woman with a heart of gold!" Sincerely, Capuchin-monkey-mom |