Today we’d like to introduce you to Ilana Friedman.
Hi ilana, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I moved from University City in San Diego to Ramona eleven years ago after my son abandoned me and went to college, and my almost 30 year career at Nordstrom was ending due to a work injury. I wanted to funnily a lifelong dream of wanting to rescue/help animals. So I found a beautiful property on just over 5 acres in Ramona and started by rescuing a duck and a pig.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has been just like a roller coaster ride. Ups, downs, sideways, and sometimes backwards. When saving animals is involved we definitely see the very worst of people and mankind, but then sometimes we are quite surprised and truly see the best of people. Animal abuse, neglect and cruelty is alive and thriving. Until we get people to understand the capabilities of animals minds, people will continue these practices. It is also very challenging to maintain a facility as large as what we have mostly on donations from the community. We rely completely on donations to feed, house and care for our animals daily.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have a gift for rehabilitating animals. I had no idea until I started rescuing animals that had been starved almost to death, and abused to extremes no one could even think possible. Taking the time to help an animal, earn its trust, and then see how much it changes once feeling better and learning it is in a safe space is the most rewarding thing anyone can ever experience.
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