Schumacher Sanctuary: An Exotic Animal Rescue
Schumacher Sanctuary takes in surrendered exotic pets and birds of prey.
Justine Schumacher started the entertainment portion of her business, Fairytale Dreamer, in 2006, and slowly enticed her future husband, Clay, to join her after meeting him in 2007. In 2015, they began incorporating animal education into their shows and decided that was going to be their purpose. “In 2018, we began collecting wildlife and USDA licenses after having Steve Stone from American Wildlife Refuge come out to do a life-changing ‘Make-A-Wish’-type bird show for my sick mother, who is no longer with us. Her love of owls, and animals in general, was an inspiration for us,” Justine shared.
Justine and “Creature Catcher Clay” thrive off of sharing their love of the arts and animals with everyone in their community. “You can see [Clay’s] animal rescue videos all over our social media account.
We have our own little rescue ranger daughter, who we are training to help us educate, foster, and rescue the animals seen at our shows. We are so lucky to know our purpose and work together as a family,” Justine explained.
Schumacher Sanctuary takes in surrendered exotic pets like hedgehogs, sugar gliders, snakes, chinchillas, geckos, bearded dragons and more. They also rescue and rehabilitate birds of prey like owls, hawks, and vultures, as well as animals such as opossums, squirrels, and flying squirrels.
The first animal they ever rescued was their sixteen year old cat. “She was a ‘mama and kittens’ rescue found in our own backyard shed where Clay and I lived together in downtown Cary. We found homes for all the kittens and got mama fixed,” Justine says.
They also take in kittens that need to be bottle fed and adopt them out when they are ready. They do this hard work so that they can educate the public. “Something that we educate people a lot about are outdoor cats. Cats belong indoors, as they kill 10 billion wildlife animals every year,” Justine explained. They also like to mention at the events they do, the importance of researching before picking out a pet, so that it doesn’t end up being surrendered to them down the road! “Stop getting your children bunnies and get them a gecko. They are so much easier to take care of,” Justine advised. Follow @creaturecatcherclay on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook for rescue videos and adoptable animals!
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