By: Zachary Hill, Reporter
MURRAY, Neb. – With all the division in the world, animals will always be there to give us unconditional love.
Scatter Joy Acres started 16 years ago by Joy Bartling because of her own love for animals.
With the same license as the Henry Doorly Zoo, the sanctuary is able to call itself home to over 65 animals from horses, to an ostrich. Being a petting zoo, they’re able to offer experiences you wouldn’t get from the Henry Doorly.
“And we bring them in for education purposes where you don’t always get to pet a kangaroo or hangout with a porcupine, and those are experiences that people get to have and they always have memories of those” Bartling said.
SJA is part of a trauma response team so they are alerted of any catastrophic events nationwide where they can help any animals caught in the rubble.
Anyone with a pet knows they’re good for more than just looking cute. That’s why Scatter Joy Acres offers an animal assisted therapy program that can help people with mental health conditions from depression to PTSD.
Animal therapy has been provided from the start, and has always been a core mission of the zoo. Justin Starling has been a volunteer and patron for six years and was referred after traditional therapy wasn’t working out.
“With animals they don’t judge the way you act, if you have mental, physical problems, they don’t judge that, people do” Starling said.
Bartling said animals serve as a connection between people, and oftentimes become the stories of these individuals.
She also said animal assisted therapy has a 98% success rate because people hurt people, so it’s hard to then sit in a room and talk with another person. Animals can change that.
In 2022, Scatter Joy Acres rescued, vetted, and homed 458 dogs and 128 cats.
