Joe and I have been aware of the sanctuary through reading occasional articles about it in the newspaper over the years. But it was very much in the background of our awareness until last fall when they started having very serious financial trouble and were in danger of having to close or drastically curtail their operations. Their plight was detailed in a feature story in the Rocky Mountain News that had a big impact on us when we read it. We immediately headed for their web page to find out more, and after investigating what the facility was about, and decided we just had to send them a few dollars. Our financial situation was such that a small donation was all that was possible, but at least it was something we could do, and we both felt strongly that we wanted to do something. They are one of just a handful of sanctuaries for large carnivores, so their animals would have had nowhere else to go and would have been euthanized if they had been forced to close. Closing would also have eliminated the possibility of sanctuary for animals in the future. The idea of this place being forced to close weighed heavily on our minds, and just seemed so wrong. With all the wasteful, conspicuous consumption that surrounds us, it struck us both that we had to do whatever we could, no matter how minor, to keep this worthwhile and necessary place open. Apparently we were not alone in our reaction to the problems the sanctuary was having, enough people opened their hearts and wallets to allow them to remain open for at least the immediate future.
We were thrilled when we heard the news earlier in the year that they made it over the hump financially and will be able to keep the sanctuary open. Joe and I decided we wanted to adopt one of the mountain lions at the facility for a year as a memorial tribute to his father. Joe's dad had a deep love for animals, so it seemed appropriate for that reason. Also, Joe's father made a point of petting the head of a statue of a cougar ("Cougarbench" by Rosetta in Thompson Park in downtown Loveland) on all of his visits here except his last one, telling us that he felt that insured his return. When we looked at the pictures and stories of the animals available for adoption on the sanctuary's web page we were both immediately drawn to "Dixie," a beautiful mountain lion. There was no question that she was the one, it was obvious to both of us that she was the perfect choice for our memorial gesture.
The sanctuary has started opening for evening visits on the Friday and Saturday closest to the full moon in the summer months. Last night was their first open evening, and it was our first visit. We could not have been more thrilled with our visit. The facilities are really nice and seem just as they should be. The animals seemed healthy and content, and the place had a very good feel to it. We came away from our visit feeling that this is indeed a good thing and it is definitely worthy of our support. I'm so glad we went!
If you are interested in visiting the Wild Animal Sanctuary's webpage: http://www.wildlife-sanctuary.org/
If you just want to see a picture of Dixie (scroll down to the bottom of the page to see her)
Joe is taking a closer look at the bear and wolf habitats, they are quite large and separated from the visitors' area by the parking lot. We are looking at them from a very large viewing platform on top of the entrance to the visitors' area.
Another mountain lion, Romeo. The enclosures under the black screening running around the right side of the pictures house the mountain lions. One of the volunteers told us that the next expansion is a much bigger habitat for them, located to the right of their enclosures in this picture. We arrived for our visit right at 6 PM when they opened and it was still "afternoon," very sunny but not hot because it was also very windy. Most of the animals were sleeping in the shade when we got there and slowly started waking up as afternoon became evening. It was a magical feeling as the full moon rose over the horizon and the daylight started fading into the west. It was hazy to the west so we couldn't see the mountains, but the haze diffused the sunset and that made a beautiful backdrop to the prairie setting we were in. There are a lot of birds around the sanctuary, probably attracted to all the water available, and they were all doing their evening chattering. As the residents started to wake up and move around some of them started growling and howling, it was really a great thing to hear. The mountain lions were the most vocal as they started moving about, they sounded wonderful!
African lion
The sanctuary has an elevated walkway for visitors which allows for very close up viewing of some of the animals, some of the tigers, the leopards and the servals. The lions, some of the tigers, the bears, and the wolves are all in larger habitats that are also visible from the walkway and viewing platforms. Binoculars are helpful for seeing the animals in the larger habitats. The sanctuary houses more tigers than any other kind of animal, they have over 70 of them, because sadly they are very popular as pets.
They are all so beautiful!!
This is the pool where the tigers can swim and enjoy frolicking in the water.
MR
This is Eddie, a black leopard who was born at the sanctuary and raised in a human family until he was an adult and joined the other animals in the facility. His mother was pregnant when she was rescued, the sanctuary does not breed any of their animals, so they have few births. Eddie's life is the subject of a recent documentary shown on Animal Planet, so he is the sanctuary's "star" attraction. We saw the documentary while we were there, they have it playing in their education center which we visited. He was an adorable baby! He currently lives with another black leopard and some spotted leopards in a fairly spacious habitat very near the walkway. The habitat has a passageway (accessible by ladders) that extends a portion of it under the walkway. So visitors can look down through the wooden slats of the walkway and see the leopards directly beneath them, looking back up at them! Very cool.
Joe on the walkway with part of the education center in the background. This was a wonderful visit and we are so glad we went. And we hope to go back soon. Hope you enjoyed our tour!
