What is a sanctuary?

[Col]

I 'helped' at a local animal sanctuary.
What I actually did was build a fence.
I was actually glad I did it badly as I felt sorry for the horses being restricted in movement, should the sanctuary be angry?
I have now learnt that they keep ducks - who can actually survive in the wild where I live (UK).

I saw a video of a cow being euthanised at another sanctuary, it seemed very patronising and a bit hypocritical given the animal died.
Another sanctuary near me keeps seagulls who are injured - instead of freeing them to attempt to live and breed in the wild.

The society I live in regards feral animals as unethical, but imprisoning and selling ethical.
I feel it is a hangup of society that treats animals as possessions.
There are also those who continue to sell what comes out of the animal.
Shouldn't sanctuaries attempt to free animals as much as possible?
I understand that through abusive breeding some breeds are incapable of autonomy but still this should not be perpetuated.

What is an ideal sanctuary?

 

[Blues]

What is an ideal sanctuary?

One that aligns more or less to your own values.

 

[Col]

One that aligns more or less to your own values.

I am thinking of them but my ideal is ideally a wild protected large area where there is autonomy for animals,
as existing species are not able always to live like this I don’t blame some compromise to allow as free a life as possible in this world , I am interested in how people do it.

 

[veganfortheanimalss]

An ideal sanctuary attempts to takes care of all the animals, with their own respective spaces, without imprisoning them, with food and medical care. Basically converting an entire ecosystem into a zero-killing sanctuary. But such an ideal sanctuary is far away from the current world we inhabit.

In the present world if a sanctuary is a no-kill sanctuary with plenty of space for the animal to roam about along with its companion animals, with food and medical facilities, it should be ideal.