Those who protested “Yankee Jungle,” the Animal Planet series featuring DEW Haven in Mount Vernon, should have gone there before airing their views last month against “domestic, exotic and wild animals being kept in captivity.”

DEW’s Robert and Julie Miner are to be commended for all they do to give these animals a safe, comfortable and beautiful environment.

Their day is 24 hours long, as they live in this sanctuary surrounded by varieties of trees, flowering shrubs, a bubbling brook and open sky. DEW, a nonprofit, relies on many volunteers who work tirelessly, and on donations ranging from building materials, money and food.

Each enclosure is filled with familiar objects geared toward the breed – like a pool, platforms to rest on, toys, trees to climb and branches to swing from, great food and “friends” to play with. They are all engaged, obviously happy and have large barns to move into during winter.

Do you remember the story of the four unweaned white tiger cubs who were discovered in Texas in 2008, about to be smuggled across the Mexican border? They could have wound up on an enormous “ranch” where people spend thousands of dollars to shoot wild, exotic and often endangered species.

Please go online. Look for the Fauna Foundation in Quebec and see the chimps who have been rescued from experimental labs. View the elephants in Tennessee and think of elephants who’ve been slaughtered for their tusks or rhinos for their horns. In Petersburg, New York, visit Pete Dubacher in his exceptional Berkshire Bird Paradise.

Before protesting animals “in captivity,” applaud the dedication of the Miners and many others who give selflessly of themselves, and thank the volunteers and donors who make it possible for them to provide safe, caring homes for many, many animals.

Go to your Humane Society and, above all, remember the meanings of “haven” and “sanctuary.”

C.B. Mills

Falmouth