Meet Floss Blackburn | Founder and President, Denkai Animal Sanctuary

We had the good fortune of connecting with Floss Blackburn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Floss, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
In terms of Denkai, there was a very large learning curve in the beginning. I knew I wanted to help animals in need, specifically equine and farm animals. I knew that there was a gap in terms of the need for this service in our area and that something needed to be done.

So without hesitation, I started off on my path towards rescuing animals. I learned along the way in regards to the non profit filing, marketing, fundraising, politics, liability, staffing and so much more.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Floss spent her early years growing up in the Southwest. She spent many a day in the wilderness as a child. Cattle drives, backpacking trips, hunting camps, and helping her father in his guiding throughout the mountains of Colorado.

Innately, Floss has always been drawn to the special needs of animals in peril. At the age of six, she rescued her first kitten from a bush behind a local liquor store in Cortez, CO. Found her first dog at the age of thirteen as a puppy screaming in a ditch where he had been dumped in a canyon near Cortez and then went on, at the age of twenty-four to found Denkai Animal Sanctuary in 2004.

Floss grew Denkai from the ground up. Having no choice but to live off grid in a house that had been used by squatters with no running water, electricity or heat, she made it work and fixed what she could so that they animals would have their land to thrive. The organization was grown in four years from no money and little resources to the purchase of 640 acres near Grover, CO. Floss raised the down payment of $40,000 in one month’s time and negotiated the purchase of this property including mineral rights. Five years later, Floss was faced with raising another capital campaign of $100,000 in an effort to refinance the property and get a bank to carry it. The campaign raised
$110,000.

Floss grew Denkai into a low-cost veterinary clinic during 2012 that provided services for those in need throughout Northern Colorado. This facility was purchased by the organization with a down payment. Floss negotiated this purchase and owner carry.

The veterinary clinic saw a total of 20,000 procedures per year. In 2014, with Floss’ leadership, Denkai purchased the building next door to the vet clinic and turned that into an Adoption Center for the organization. This facility aided between 100-200 rescuedpet animals per month mainly through foster homes.

Floss has successfully led her team through rescues with the ASPCA, HSUS, various Sheriff’s department cases throughout Colorado as well as California and New Mexico.

Floss led a team to Louisiana during hurricane Katrina and brought back sixty-five rescued dogs for placement in Colorado. She has raised over fifteen million dollars in income and assets for Denkai since its inception.

In 2017, Floss relocated Denkai from Weld County, Colorado to Montezuma County,Colorado. The area was lacking in services that Denkai was able to provide and the organization has successfully provided animal rescue services to the area for the past four years.

Floss has successfully written for and received a total of $500,000 in grant funding for

Denkai since inception. Having had to wear many hats over the years, Floss’s skills expand from Accounting, mechanics, pet animal and horse training, hauling, fence building, medical care as allowed on the animals that come to her, marketing, advertising, graphic design, merchandising, retail sales, online sales, consulting services, board associations, and so much more.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so very many individuals, supporters, volunteers, staff and foundations that deserve a shoutout here. I can’t possibly name every single one, so please know that everyone who helped along the way has my heart.

My sons Denali and Kaia Scoular
My youngest son, Eli
My Mom, Becky
Brother Forrest and wife Caroline
Sister Julianna
Brother Lucas
Father Fred and Wife Victoria
Dan England
The Greeley Tribune
Elizabeth Connell
Bob Grube
Dianna Palluck
Denver 7 News
Major King
Channel 9 News
Jeramie Dreyfuss
Phyllis Stuart
PetSmart Charities
Petco Love
Cecil DeMille Foundation
Summerlee Foundation
Sunglass of Cortez
Farmer’s insurance
Dallas and Doug
Katajinka
Tracy
Lakota
First National Bank Cortez
First National Bank of Omaha
Darrin Hill

Website: www.denkaisanctuary.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DenkaiSanctuary