The Paul J. Rainey Wildlife Sanctuary is a 26,000-acre (110 km2) refuge owned by the National Audubon Society in Kaplan, Louisiana. Established in 1924, this Louisiana sanctuary is home to deer, muskrat, otter, geese and many other species.
In the 1950s, gas drilling began at the refuge and ended in 1999. The society said it was compelled to allow the drilling because the original donor of the land had retained mineral rights. The drilling yielded $25 million dollars for the NAS. Some proponents of drilling on nature preserves argued this made the Society's opposition to such drilling hypocritical.
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