One Woman's Dream Realized in Animal Shelter

Diana Benstog loves to talk about the animals that come into her life. Like Abbey, the cat.

The animal was found by the monks at the Abbey of the Holy Trinity in Huntsville, Utah. Paralyzed and missing a front leg, the cat’s condition led the monks to think she’d been damaged by farm equipment. A closer look, though, showed she’d been mere target practice for someone with a shotgun.

"I’ve had miracles," say Diana. And Abbey’s definitely one. The cat found its way to home of Diane, the founder of a no-kill animal sanctuary now being built in Morgan County, Utah.

Further treatment revealed a cat with spirit to live. Time revealed a loving friend. "She’s one of the best mothers I have," says Diane. Lots of abandoned, motherless kittens come in, and they’re all treated to the rough tongue and warm caresses of Abbey. "She’s such a good baby-sitter," says Diane.

Diane’s lifelong philosophy of animal rescue is now being realized in the Heaven’s Gate Animal Sanctuary. The 120-by-70-foot structure is going up now; and the new home of Diane and husband Tom Benstog is nearly complete. The entire complex overlooks Morgan County on one side and the East Canyon Reservoir dam on the other. Power is provided by a large wind and solar-electric system. Heat, including warmth for the kennels and animal sick rooms, will come from a highly efficient in-floor radiant heat system.

Heaven’s Gate, so named because Diane envisions it as a "heaven on earth" for animals, is one of very few no-kill animal sanctuaries in the Western United States. It’s partnered with the larger Best Friends Animal Sanctuary near Kanab, Utah, and Diane and Tom host weekly pet adoptions at Petsmarts. They place between 40 and 50 animals each month.

The permit from Morgan County allows up to 50 cats, 15 dogs and assorted turtles and frogs. But it’ll be more like a "halfway house" than permanent residence. "Everything is adoptable," believes Diane. And, in keeping with the sanctuary’s no-kill philosophy, "If animals can be treated, we treat them. We don’t just euthanize because it’s convenient."

The sanctuary will, she says, be "a safe house for animals where they don’t have to be afraid of euthanasia, a holding facility for them while we actively look for new homes."

Diane pauses, then adds. "All they want to do is live — that’s all they want.