Pawsitive Beginnings Sanctuary Celebrates Six Years of Animal Rescue in Key Largo

Six years after Nicole Navarro turned a volunteer shift at the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Animal Farm into a full sanctuary operation, Pawsitive Beginnings marked its anniversary on March 18 with a yoga class led by Key Largo Yoga, plant-based birthday snacks, and a chance for attendees to meet the foxes that now call the Key Largo property home.

The anniversary event, documented in Keys Weekly's "Reef's Report" column, centered on Reef, the sanctuary's mascot persona, whose milestone also included the debut of a children's book. Participants received a copy of Reef's Children's Book and a journal as part of the celebration.

Navarro's path to founding the sanctuary began not in the Keys but on a horse farm in Western Pennsylvania, where she grew up around animals. Her introduction to fox rescue came in 2018, when she volunteered at the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Animal Farm in Key West. After the farm took in two rescued foxes, she recognized there were almost no dedicated facilities equipped to provide them lifelong care.

The reason those foxes needed a permanent home rather than a return to the wild is rooted in Florida law. Because the animals come from fur farms, they are classified as non-native species and cannot legally be released into the environment. "That's where we come in," Navarro said. "At Pawsitive Beginnings, we are committed to providing these foxes with a safe, loving and permanent home. We work with a team of veterinarians to address their medical needs and see to it that they are well cared for."

The sanctuary rescues foxes from both fur farms and the exotic pet trade. Navarro has described how some animals arrive not through dramatic seizures but quiet surrenders. "In some cases, farmers choose to surrender foxes deemed undesirable due to deformities or other perceived inadequacies," she said. When Pawsitive Beginnings cannot take a fox directly, the organization networks with other rescues to place each animal with a qualified caregiver.

Beyond sanctuary care, Pawsitive Beginnings runs an animal-assisted therapy program serving at-risk youth and adults recovering from trauma in the Florida Keys. Therapists and counselors use the rescued foxes' survival stories as part of the therapeutic process. The sanctuary has also collaborated with VEGAN FTA to produce a four-part mini-series and attracted return coverage from Jacey Birch of Channel 10.

The sixth anniversary arrives a year after the sanctuary used its fifth-year milestone in March 2025 to launch a public call for donations to update and improve fox housing. Private tours, which the sanctuary has historically offered, remain suspended until further notice; the organization has directed those interested to check back in the winter.