“Saving Sanctuary”

LEFT: “Saving Sanctuary” is a short film that follows Busch Wildlife Sanctuary’s move to a new home. RIGHT: The film screening at the Lake Worth Playhouse raised more than $1,000 for the sanctuary.

Crowds gathered for a special screening of the new independent short film “Saving Sanctuary, directed & produced by local filmmaker Grace Marrero.

The film follows Busch Wildlife Sanctuary’s 3-year journey of building a new wildlife sanctuary from the ground up and relocating over 200 animals.

Busch Wildlife Sanctuary purchased the new, 19.4-acre Jupiter Farms site in November 2020—about three times bigger than its previous location—and began building a state-of-the-art facility.

The organization previously leased property from the Loxahatchee River District but outgrew the location.

The new property includes an open-air amphitheater for educational programming, larger animal enclosures, and a larger wildlife rehabilitation center, four times bigger than the previous one.

Most of the documentary “Saving Sanctuary” focuses on moving the animals, particularly the larger ones like two Black Bears, six bobcats and a panther, to the new location.

BUSCH WILDLIFE SANCTUARY / COURTESY PHOTOS

Staff prepared and trained with the animals in anticipation of the move, working on verbal commands and desensitizing the animals. This allowed staff to perform voluntary injections to anesthetize for a safer move. Only one animal did not cooperate and needed to be darted to be sedated.

Marrero has been a longtime supporter of Busch Wildlife Sanctuary and saw the opportunity to combine her love of filmmaking and wildlife by following the organization’s relocation.

“Saving Sanctuary” has not yet been publicly released.

For more information, visit buschwildlife.org .

The post “Saving Sanctuary” first appeared on Palm Beach Florida Weekly .