MURCHISON, Texas—Ten lemurs, four macaques, two llamas, two coatis, three emus and an ostrich have made remarkable recoveries and living their best lives at Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison, Texas, after being removed from a now-shuttered zoo and a holding facility in Puerto Rico where they were...

In a quiet corner of Black Beauty Ranch, on a stone plinth beneath a maple tree, there’s an oval etching of a man and a burro. The man is Cleveland Amory, author and founder of the Fund for Animals, and the burro is Friendly, one of the first animals to call the sanctuary home. The two met in 1980...