https://www.patreon.com/MinasAnimalSanctuary, http://animosanctuary.org/

AnimO - Mina's Exotic Animal Sanctuary, London (2026)

07/09/2026

You've probably seen him quietly working away in the background of our posts for the past few months, but we'd like to formally introduce you to a very special guy, Henry. You can follow him on Instagram. He plans to do a lot more of these intro videos of different animals until his time here is up. I love seeing AnimO through the eyes of other people so this is absolutely fantastic.
Henry is very special. He works so hard even in the pouring rain. He turned 18 here a while back and he's learned and grown so much. We're very proud of Henry.

05/09/2026

It happened again. I was too sick to have my chemo last Friday, again 😭 I was scheduled for Friday last week, but that was postponed until yesterday, and then yesterday I was STILL too sick to have it. This chemo is most effective when it’s administered every 3 weeks. I’ve had 4 infusions now and the 3rd round was postponed by a week, but this latest delay is a much bigger deal. I’ll have a 5 week gap between treatments instead of the more effective 3 weeks, which is obviously pretty scary when I know how important it is to keep the 3 week schedule, but unfortunately my body is just too sick/weak right now. So we're going to make some major changes. The house must be absolutely spotless and every nook and cranny disinfected daily. I have to eat something very calorie dense that's also high in protein every 2-3 hours, even if it's just a few mouthfuls. And the part I hate the most is having to stay in bed. Boooo! But we're absolutely going to make these changes and get me through chemo 💪🏽 We just have 2 more to go!

It's not serious or somber here though. We make everything fun. Like, I have Rakan check my eyebrows and eyelashes quite often, and this morning I was down to one eyelash per eye 😂 Do you have any idea how completely useless an eyelash is?! Even when people have been mean to me, I always try to be kind to everyone, because we are trying to build our AnimO family with kindness. There is strength in numbers. I'm reminded of this when I have one single eyelash trying so hard but accomplishing NOTHING because he's alone 😆

My good friend Carol came yesterday. I’ve known Carol for somewhere between 15-20 years now, although when the numbers get that high, we always seem to forget exactly when we met 😂 She’s helped me so much over the past year or two in so many different ways, but most of all, she’s just been an amazing friend throughout everything.

And today, we have our long-time follower and now personal friend come to stay with us for a bit. She brought us one of our first pigeons, Ginza (he was found in Ginza). She’ll be helping me eat every couple of hours, helping keep everything super clean and disinfected, making sure I rest a lot and generally helping us get things organised so I can focus on resting and getting through this.

I’m so excited to have Frances here, and not just because she’s said she’s baked a lemon 😋😂 🍋

30/08/2026

I was supposed to have chemo on Friday, but my bloodwork showed that my body isn’t ready for another round yet and I was sent home 😔 It’s frustrating and scary. My final two sessions may now be four weeks apart, meaning I’ll probably finish in October instead of early September, something I was really looking forward to. The finish line keeps getting pulled further out of reach. Also, this chemo combination has been proven to be more effective when it's given every 3 weeks.

So this week, the three of us on-site are focusing completely on the animals instead of taking on new projects. Just feeding, cleaning, cuddling and keeping things calm.

I’m also focusing on eating enough, with small, high protein, high iron, high calorie meals (oftentimes, more like bites) throughout the day. These days I can only stand for about 10 mins before my legs give out. One of the chemo medications makes it feel like my legs are on fire and I'm walking through a pit of molten hot shards of glass. I get severe muscle, joint and bone pains. The good thing is, it's mostly just in my legs so my wheelchair has helped me stay useful for longer before the pain and fatigue becomes too much and I need to lay down.

The cancer is responding very well to the treatment and the tumor is much smaller now, but my body is reacting badly to the drugs they're giving me. My oncology team are balancing aggressive treatment with keeping me well enough to continue. I need at least 6 months. I pray every day for a bit more time. I make so many wishes a day for a bit more time. It’s still terminal cancer because it's a small cell carcinoma and it had already spread to the lymph nodes by the time we caught it (I still can't believe I've had it for nearly 3 years now 😳), and we don’t know how much time I really have. We’ll know a bit more after the scans following the end of chemotherapy.

For now, I’m focusing on what I can do which is eat, rest, heal, cuddle animals and enjoy every moment I have with them 🐾❤️🪶

[🇯🇵 We Need Some Help With Paperwork!]
On a completely different note, we're still trying to get AnimO officially registered as a Japanese NPO.
We have someone who used to do this as a living and had offered a very reasonable price to do it for us. But we desperately need someone who can help with the Japanese side of things. That would include things like:
• Helping with Japanese paperwork
• Following up with members
• Collecting names and addresses
• Sending documents
• Printing paperwork
• General admin and chasing things up
You'd need access to a printer and be able to send documents when needed. I can cover the costs of printing and postage and anything else you spend on it.

The nearest convenience store for me is a 36 minute walk through the mountains, so getting paperwork printed, copied and sent just isn't doable right now.
I am trying to do what I can, but my energy reserves are VERY limited, so having someone who can take this particular job off my hands would make a huge difference. Well, not completely offy hands because we'd be working together.

If you speak, and more importantly read and write Japanese and think you might be able to help, please send me a message. Once we get the paperwork in order, AnimO would be a Japanese NPO in about 6 months. It needs to be a Japanese NPO so I can leave the land, house, animals and operations to a Japanese entity in my will. The animals come first. They always have and they always will. The good thing is that we're still getting there. One step at a time ❤️

And while this week might be slower than planned, I don't see any of the animals complaining about getting the extra attention!
Sometimes the best thing you can do is stop, breathe, cuddle something fluffy and remember that progress doesn't always look like moving forward at full speed.

I want to thank everyone who supports us. Our online fans, our remote helpers, donors, and our on-site family (it's been me, rakan and Henry for the past few months and we are very much like a family here). I'm actually surprised at how supportive everyone is. To be completely honest, we've lost quite a few Patreon donors since my diagnosis. I predicted that but I thought we'd lose soany more donors, because who would invest in a sinking ship, right? (Some people just have a change in income and can't keep supporting us in that way which can't be helped.) But I want you to know that even if I MIGHT not live much longer (then again, I might live another 20 years), AnimO is already much bigger than me. It has a life of its own and will continue the work, expanding and helping more animals than you could imagine, educating, changing hearts and opening minds. If that's a future you feel like you can get behind, please consider joining Patreon. Because from just $3 a month, (that's less than a cheap cup of coffee ☕) you can help build a stable income for AnimO. I'm also looking into other sources of income, YouTube, having a line of merch, educational children's books etc, so AnimO also might have a passive income. I will not let AnimO fall ✊🏽
https://patreon.com/MinasAnimalSanctuary

20/08/2026

We're working on mega plans for these guys! They'll have tunnels and "vacation houses" and play rooms and real dun and soil to dig in.

19/08/2026

I wrote this a couple of days ago but forgot to post it. So many people were asking if we were ok after the massive rain storms so, while it's a little late, and very long, here's a post addressing that, along with a lot of other things.

Thank you so much for all the messages checking on us during the heavy rains and typhoon. ❤️
I know this is a bit late but, we’re all okay! We live pretty high up in a mountainous valley, so although we get some seriously heavy rain, the water naturally runs down through the valley and we don’t tend to get flooding around the sanctuary where the animals are. The boys worked hard through the rain while I supervised from the comfort of indoors, snuggled up with Goldbug 😂❤️

The reason I was so late in addressing this was because there have been a few things (both good and difficult) happening, so I wanted to give everyone a little update.

---A cancer treatment snafoo...---

Unfortunately, we’ve hit a bureaucratic problem with my cancer treatment. In Japan, the timing for filing taxes and updating income information is around March and April. I only found out near the end of February that I have cancer, and I found out in the beginning of March that it was terminal cancer, and VERY shortly after that (because we had to treat it so very hard and fast), I was hospitalized for almost two months. Because of that, my income information wasn’t properly sorted out, and I suddenly went from being billed in the lowest income bracket to the highest! Like I'm suddenly earning a million yen a month! Without sorting this out meant I couldn't continue treatment because it's already too much for me, but it meant going to the city hall and tax office. BUT, all was finally sorted yesterday! They looked through my finances and I'm back to being broke again, officially too. Awesome.

Stress makes a HUGE difference when you’re dealing with chemotherapy, immunotherapy two weeks ago, so I wasn’t physically able to get around last week to deal with everything at City Hall. (For me, the 2 weeks after chemo is the most pain I could imagine.) The good news is that it's now sorted and off my chest! And not just me, but AnimO's taxes are completely up to date. Huzzah!

Rakan has been that superhero and my knight in shining armor through all of this. He works incredibly hard on projects around the sanctuary AND does everything in his power to keep me laughing, smiling and focused on the good things every single day ❤️ But there are some stresses that even your knight in shining armor can’t defeat. Sometimes you just have to pick up your own weapons and ride in on your horse (it's what I'm calling my wheelchair now 😂) and fight the Japanese bureaucracy 🗡️ 🐎

[We went to city hall yesterday b fire immigration to extend Rakan's visa so we did a LOT yesterday! AnimO and my own personal taxes, health insurance, everything is completely up to date again. Phew!]

---Then the rain stopped... ❤️---

When the weather finally cleared, we had the most wonderful family come out to help at AnimO.
They actually brought us an injured animal earlier this year, and we discovered that we have a mutual friend. The mother went to school with the incredibly talented actress and singer Gow, who has been a close friend of mine for decades and has always been such a huge supporter of AnimO.

They are such a kind-hearted family, and ALL of the kids showed up wearing tiny little work gloves, ready to get stuck in, including picking up p**p. In fact, the boys were VERY interested in the p**p. Honestly, young boys are hilarious 😆 Slightly gross, but absolutely hilarious!

This is exactly the kind of thing I always want AnimO to be about. Here, people come together, get their hands dirty, learn about animals, help wherever they can, and have a ridiculous amount of fun while doing it. People genuinely make great memories here and I want that to always be the case.

---And I have something fun to share...---

Some of you know that before AnimO, I was a professional singer among other things. I've been working on a little project in my spare time with a musician who in my opinion is one of Japan’s best, Takaya Saito. He came to visit me and help me create some 15-ish second long songs specifically for Reels and short videos. I've had the privilege of working with Takaya on many, many live shows from big bands to just the two of us, a singer and piano duo.

So far, we’ve recorded one about Goldbug and an AnimO theme song style track, but we have plans to do a few more. I want to create short, catchy, relatable songs about life with pets, and all the ridiculous things that come with loving animals, so that people can use them in their own videos. And if those songs become popular and generate revenue through people using them, that revenue can come back into AnimO. (Like our merch and YouTube, I'm always trying to find passive, long-term income for AnimO.)
*Question: are there any more musicians that can make simple tracks and help me get more out?

I just need to actually write the songs which is a bit difficult when I can’t play guitar. My fingers and toes hurt so much from treatment at the moment that playing guitar isn't possible 😔 If anyone happens to have a keyboard sitting around that they don't want anymore, please consider sending it to me! I miss making music almost as much as I miss being able to hang out with my birbs. (I do have a funny video of me and Lalah doing out daily singing coming up tomorrow, please watch out for that!)
🦜 🐦 🕊️ 🦅🐓🐦‍⬛🦉🦩🦆🦢🪿🦚🐧🦤🐦‍🔥

---And now for something serious.---

There’s no particularly graceful way to say this, so I’ll just say it honestly. I need help.
I am fighting this cancer as hard as I possibly can. I genuinely believe there is a good chance that I can beat the statistics and live for a long time. I'm naturally super positive but also very practical, so I have to be realistic too.
I have terminal cancer.
I have to prepare AnimO for the possibility that I won't be here to run it in 1-3 years. What that means is that I am preparing for the worst because I am fighting for the best.

I have always intended for AnimO to exist for generations. Originally, I imagined spending the next 20 years slowly building it into the sanctuary and education center I've dreamed about. I've always wanted AnimO to be something that keeps growing. And I want AnimO to one day have a fund to help other organizations start up, or to help when another organization is in trouble. I want AnimO to grow in this location by buying more and more of the adjoining land (it's soooo cheap) and some of the houses to house staff and volunteers. But it's also important for me personally that AnimO helps OTHER places thrive so there are plenty of places for animals to go to. I just can't forget getting bullied and torn apart when I was struggling by some of the most respected, well known organizations in Japan, also side smaller ones, and even individuals I personally helped (who didn't actually meet me and just sent me animals. People who see the place in person and meet me didn't really jump on the hate bandwagon). I don't wish that nightmare on anyone else every, having your inbox filled with hate very single day and seeing the atrocious things people have said about you. The lady who started the whole thing and spent endless hours contacting people to spread lies has since deleted her Facebook so I don't expect an apology from her or any of the people who joined in... But that's ok! They stopped and that's the main thing.

I get many messages saying "I've reached out to so many organizations and no one has even gotten back to me." I want Japan to be a better place for animals and for people that need help to help animals, or at least heading in that direction by the time I pass away.

Cancer only changed the timeline, NOT the dream.

We are currently working through the process of becoming a Japanese NPO so that if something happens to me, the property, animals and operations can legally be left to "AnimO NPO" in my will. It needs to be a Japanese entity. But man, there's so much paperwork 😮‍💨 Japan always seems to have you yains of paperwork to get through and I'm not good at that part at all...

If we have good people, volunteers, staff, funding, systems and a strong enough foundation, AnimO won't end with me and it can keep growing so we have the capacity to keep rescuing more animals, and we can keep educating children and doing school field trips (and of course adults).

It can keep being a place where animals live out their lives safely, surrounded by love, enrichment and people who genuinely care about them. And it can become the kind of place where people can experience animals up close without putting the animals under stress. Not every animal needs to be touched. In fact, most wild animals are much happier being admired from a respectful distance. I want AnimO to be a place where we can design things like one-way viewing glass and carefully planned environments so people can learn about animals and see them up close without the animals having to sacrifice their comfort. I've always wanted that.

I'm also writing a handbook about AnimO. Not just instructions for feeding animals or cleaning enclosures, but the "heart of AnimO." What makes this place different and how I want it to grow. It will be how I make sure that as AnimO gets bigger, it doesn't lose the kindness, compassion and love that made this place so special and different in the first place.
I've never wanted to build something that is dependent on me. I want to build something that carries the values of AnimO forward.

---We need staff---

We absolutely LOVE our volunteers. We couldn't have built what we've built without them, and every person who has come here and picked up a shovel, cleaned an enclosure, fed an animal, fixed something or simply spent time with our animals has made a difference. But volunteers can't be the entire foundation of a sanctuary. Animals need care every single day.

Paid staff mean there are people who can be relied upon to be here consistently, who can take responsibility for daily operations, emergencies, animal care, cleaning, maintenance, administration and everything else that doesn't stop just because volunteers can't make it in.

And "free help" doesn't actually mean free. We still have to house and feed volunteers, provide supplies, equipment, utilities, and everything else involved in having people live and work here. Volunteers also break things, clog toilets, forget to turn things off, and can make huge mistakes that cost us a lot of money. Volunteers are so incredibly valuable, but building a sustainable sanctuary means eventually having enough reliable income to employ people properly. Having staff means they will be trained in animal care first, then all the other things. Having both staff and also volunteers really helps us keep on top of everything with minimal stress.
That's one of the biggest things I want to start working on now.

---And yes... the hospital bills are piling up---

This is the part I feel the most uncomfortable asking for. My medical expenses have been enormous, the treatment situation has become complicated, we plan to continue immunotherapy for another 2 years, and our available treatment funds are getting low.
So if you have the ability to help, please consider contributing to my cancer treatment GoFundMe:
https://gofund.me/382b22937

And please consider helping AnimO for the long term, too. I am not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. I plan to beat the odds, keep building, and run this place for a LOT longer.
But whether I have 5 years, 10 years, 20 years or more, I want to use the time I have to make sure AnimO is strong enough to continue without me.
If you can become a long-term donor, even $3 a month makes a difference.
https://patreon.com/MinasAnimalSanctuary

If you can't donate, that's okay. Share us. Tell your friends about AnimO. Talk about us. Share our posts. Bring someone to visit. Help us find the people who believe in what we're building because this isn't about keeping me alive, it's about keeping AnimO alive.

I'm taking my cancer seriously. I'm taking the future of these animals seriously. I'm taking every dollar people give us seriously. Your donations will not be wasted.

I'm fighting this cancer with everything I've got, and I'm going to build AnimO to survive even a meteor strike. Because that's what hope looks like.
Prepare for the worst. Fight like hell for the best. And keep choosing love and light every single day.
That's AnimO, and that what I want to never change.
🐾❤️🌱❤️‍🩹

*Special thanks to Clara who sent LEGO to help keep my mind and hands occupied on my sicky days. You always send such thoughtful care packages, but I think this one was my favorite, with all the candies, food sets and the puzzle (which I'll be taking to the next chemo hospitalization), and LEGO.
LEGO, guys! LEGO!!!

18/08/2026

Rakan's three months with us is coming to an end next week... 😔

And he extended his visa today for another three months!!!
He has been such a blessing, some of you have (and rightly so) called him a superhero, he's been my personal knight in shining armor and I just can't say enough good things about this man. He treasures every life here, I've watched him build bonds with all of our animals, he has worked so tirelessly and changed and reorganized and built the sanctuary as I want it done. He never complains about the heat, or the food, or the workload, or anything.

My heart is smiling today. I know I'll finish chemotherapy in about one month and I'll start gaining my strength back slowly and be able to get back into working with the animals again, building for them, cleaning their spaces and spending time with my animals (my hearts). Until then, they have the most compassionate and gentle human taking care of them. And every single day, while he's carrying all this weight, the animal care, admin duties and vetting new volunteers, acting as team leader and being my own personal caregiver while I'm sick, he still has the energy to ask me "is there anything I can do to put a smile on your face, or make things any easier for you today?" Sometimes I have to wonder if he's not a figment of my imagination 😂 But he's real, and he's staying for longer!

Here are some memories of the past three months. We're so happy we get three more!

10/08/2026

Bats are one of the stranger animals you’ll find in the exotic pet trade, and honestly, they’re one of the worst animals to keep as pets. They aren’t solitary little creatures who can happily live with a human as their whole world. Bats have incredibly intricate social structures, with relationships and groups woven together like a web within a web. It's similar to human relationships but more intricate. Keeping one alone can be devastating for their mental and physical wellbeing.

Our bats have a little family here, and we are always happy when someone wants to surrender a bat to us. Bats are very accepting of new members, probably because they crave that large group they'd have in the wild. But keeping bats fed is one of the bigger expenses we have. Fruit isn’t considered a daily necessity in Japan, so it can be surprisingly expensive. Fruit is a luxury here and given as a gift to newlyweds, important clients, or other important people. So when you're buying fruit in bulk for a whole bunch of hungry bats… you definitely notice the price!

Cancer treatment has been rough in so many ways. My veins are starting to really struggle after being poked again and again. They're getting thin and hard, and some days getting an IV in is a whole event. It took over an hour to find a vein last time. My arms get decorated with quite a collection of Band-Aids from all the attempts.

But… only TWO more chemo rounds to go!!! TWO ✌🏽

Things are hard right now, but we're still doing what we've always done, working with what we have, taking things one day at a time, and looking after the animals who depend on us.

These days I'm especially grateful that our emus have moved to the forest because it means I can be with them. Being able to spend time with Fluffy and Buffy in the forest and actually work with them again has been such a wonderful part of my days ❤️🌿

Life sure does some unexpected things, but we adapt, keep moving, and find ways to make things work.

Thank you, as always, to everyone who supports AnimO. Every bit of support helps us keep bellies full, build better homes for the animals, and keep this safe haven for animals moving forward through the rough times.

Wishing you all a wonderful week full of positivity and love. Remember to just stop and appreciate sometimes. We are all so much richer and more blessed than we think ❤️🦇🌿

02/08/2026

Rakan, our team leader, has been busy building an emu enclosure out back using bamboo cut from our land to make a blind, so the dogs and emus don't excite each other too much.
The wall looks beautiful! The emus look so happy; we caught them doing zoomies this morning, and I'm feeling a little useless but enjoying watching everything come together.

We have way more land, but have a lot of work to do to access it. A lot of chainsawing fallen trees and hauling wood away. Until we can get that done and build the emu pen further down in the alley, the emus will be here, in this new space.

I'm not as useful with hands-on animal care these days, so I'm focusing on growing food for everyone (animals and workers) to enjoy. Right now it's mostly tomatoes that I've been growing, but I have started on herbs. James, a long-time donor, also came and dropped off a bunch of trees. So we have Japanese pears, figs, blueberries, plums, and loads more. Plus, thanks to cat rescuer John Lancaster, we have lots of chillis and Thai basil too!

I know I know I know I knowwwwwwww I've said no more cats and dogs, but a local brought this very sick kitty to the sanctuary. We took her in but only because Fran, our long-time friend and fellow rescuer, said he would take her in, and he came by to get her later that evening.

You'll be seeing photos of Henry, a young Asian man, pop up here and there too. He joined us a few weeks ago with his adoptive father, Chad Steele, who did tons to help us and made a huge impact on the amount of work that had to be done. It seems like Henry will be with us for another couple of months. He has to go home to help his family for a year but is thinking of coming back to AnimO after that. Whether he comes back or not, he's part of the AnimO family now.

I'll be off having chemo this week. Three more rounds to go, then a lifetime of immunotherapy. Not exactly the happily ever after I dreamed of, but as long as AnimO remains standing, it's close enough.
Yeah, close enough 😊

As always, we are so grateful for all the support. Thank you for always reading. I used to post almost daily and, on top of that, reply to most comments, but I really don't have the energy for that these days. I still read every comment and just want to send love love love to everyone who stands by us as we grow 🩵🤍

28/07/2026

I haven't posted in a while. I'm working on a long one!
So here's a little something for you. Just some photos Rakan took of me with our emus. I have to say, I find it so interesting to see myself how others see me. These photos are about a week old and I have even less eyebrows now.
I know I look frail and bald and weak but I also see a deeper kind of beauty around me in Rakan's photos. A beauty that is quieter and more gentle and so very raw...
I've always been scared to ask this question but, do you mind me asking what YOU see? (There are absolutely no wrong answers.)

23/07/2026

Save the bees!!!

I am currently the go-to person the Yokota military base contacts with trapped wildlife and all kinds of animal rescues that have nothing to do with cats and dogs. We get the call that other rescues aren't equipped to handle. This time, though, we have a situation that we aren't equipped to handle and we are reaching out to all of you readers who may be able to share or know someone or is a bee keeper yourself.

There is a colony of bees living inside the hollow of this tree. We love bees and want to protect them, but because the tree is right next to a children's bus stop on Yokota Air Base, the base's pest management team has no choice but to remove them. They don't want to keep killing bees, and neither do we. We even thought about building a bee hive we could put at the very far end of our properly but with everything going on now, we just don't have the time.

We're desperately hoping to find someone who can safely relocate colonies like this instead. If you know a beekeeper, bee rescuer, or anyone who might be able to help, please let us know. Even if you don't know someone yourself, please share this post. The more people who see it, the better the chance we have of finding the right person.
Whoever can help will likely become the go-to person the base contacts for future bee rescues, as situations like this do come up from time to time.

Unfortunately, this is the only footage we have of the bees. They really are bees, not wasps. Several species of bees naturally nest inside tree cavities like this.

Thank you, as always, for supporting AnimO Sanctuary. Every time you like, comment, and/or share, you help us save more lives than you know. 🐝💛

AnimO - Mina's Exotic Animal Sanctuary

07/09/2026

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30/08/2026

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