Maya Higa

It's very, very cute.

Finn is an American red fox who was confiscated from the illegal pet trade in California.

So he and his best friend Reed now live at Alvarez to help teach people about the nightmare that is the fur trade, helping to build a new generation of fur-free consumers.

Then there's Winnie the Moo,

She's a cow.

She was rescued from a beef operation in Oklahoma.

She lives at Alves to help teach people about commercial agriculture and how it impacts animal welfare and our planet.

One way that viewers can support the sanctuary is by feeding Winnie treats.

So a five-dollar donation made online results in treats being dispensed via this automated feeder.

To date, that treat feeder has generated over 38,000 dollars in funding for the sanctuary.

Isn't that crazy?

It's a lot of treats, and she's a very happy cow.

Since 2019, through livestreaming, I have raised over seven and a half million dollars for conservation causes across the globe.

In 2025 alone, we reached over 250 million people with conservation education online.

That's over 10 million classrooms, just like the ones that I was bringing zoo animals to in college just in the last year.

Alvarez is now home to rescued parrots and emus and monkeys and wolfdogs and more, and we have those 36 cameras that are livestreaming them 24 hours a day.

But the beautiful thing about these live cameras is our animals are all blissfully unaware of the thousands of eyes on them at any given time.

Not being open to the public means that our animals are less stressed by the unpredictable factors that come with people visiting.

It also means that we've never had to divert any of our funding to guest experiences, like gift shops and concession stands and parking lots.

But one of the most positive benefits is we've developed one of the most accessible zoo models in the world.