Meet Cassandra Odom

We recently connected with Cassandra Odom and have shared our conversation below.

Cassandra, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

My purpose came to me with trial and error. Growing up I’ve always loved animals and thought I wanted to be a veterinarian. I started volunteering at vet clinics and animal shelters around the age of 12 years old. I started walking my neighbors dogs, pet sitting, and doing anything I could to be around animals. When I turned 18 years old, I started working at animal shelters and veterinary hospitals. I did this off and one for about 10 years and finally decided that I didn’t want to be a veterinarian anymore. After all the schooling, I realized I wanted to actually help animals whether or not there was money involved, an owner involved, etc. I wanted to be in the front, rescuing, making my own decisions, saving animals and not killing them, telling people when they are wrong or shouldn’t have animals. These are things you can’t do while working in a professional field. I started my volunteer based non-profit animal rescue in 2016 in Humboldt County, CA. I purchased a property in Shasta County, CA and moved the rescue over here in 2020. My purpose is to help animals, it’s always has been and always will be. I don’t want to say I found my purpose but instead my purpose found me.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’m a 35 year old single female with no children, and I’ve never been married. I absolutely love being single and available to myself. I practice a vegan lifestyle and live self sufficiently.

I work full time, but really I’d rather spend my time talking about my volunteer based non profit animal rescue, Noah’s Ark Animal Haven and Rescue. I’ve dedicated my life to rescuing animals. Noah’s Ark Animal Haven and Rescue is a sanctuary/rescue for cats, dogs, farm animals, and occasionally orphaned wildlife. We spay and neuter all of our animals(there are a few farm animals that cannot be fixed, but all males are castrated). There is no breeding with our rescue and we are very serious about this, as everyone should be.

Some amazing news is that We are possibly moving the rescue to 41.5 acres in Northern Mendocino in the next 60-90 days, escrow is happening now, wish us luck. The plan is to build a large kennel system to fit more dogs and a large enclosed shed area to fit feral cats. We are no kill, so if animals aren’t adopted, they live out their lives with us. This will be an amazing opportunity to save more animals. We can’t wait to rescue a few more cows!!!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Dedication, strength, courage.

My advice for anyone just starting the journey would be to keep moving, don’t stop, don’t become stagnant, everything pays off in the end and the reward isn’t always about money. Success comes in many forms.

Oh and always take yoga, yoga is amazing for the mind and body.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

Right now I’m currently facing a broken ankle!! On 12/24/24 at 10pm, I was walking one of our rescue dogs and it was pouring rain, I was wearing my muck boots and slipped on the front porch and fell right on top of my ankle which broke in two spots. Work doesn’t stop because the weather is bad! I’m having surgery on my ankle this Thursday, plate and screws, yikes! It’s been extremely difficult taking care of the farm animals and the cats and dogs. I live by myself and I’m rural. I reached out to so many rescues and people I knew for help and no one came forward to help, but my neighbor and one friend. It really shows how things can get tough when the going gets rough, people don’t like to help unless they can benefit somehow and that’s really disappointing.

My neighbors are feeding and watering the farm and I’m managing to let the dogs out and feed with one leg and crutches, it’s been rough, but I’ll make it thru.

I started a GoFundMe to help support the animals over the next 3 months while I get surgery and recover. It cost about $4000 per month to feed and care for the animals. The recovery time for my surgery is 12 weeks. I lost my job because of this accident and I’ve filed for disability, but that will barely cover the bills for the property and utilities. Here is the link to the GoFundMe:

https://gofund.me/1739609e

Contact Info:

• Website: https://noahsarkanimalhaven.org/
• Instagram: @noahsarkanimalhavenandrescue
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noahsarkanimalhavenandrescue?mibextid=wwXIfr

Image Credits

N/A
Credits to myself lol