Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Story & Photo By Stan Wawer

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my…! I always wanted to use that phrase from the “Wizard of Oz” as a story lead but the opportunity never presented itself until now.

The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, CO is a 320-acre refuge for lions, tigers, beers, wolves and other large carnivores. In fact, the sanctuary houses 75 tigers and a new lion viewing area is under construction and scheduled to open in November.

The sanctuary is just 30 miles northeast of Denver off I-76 toward Ft. Morgan. The final three miles to the sanctuary is reached by a bumpy dirt road. Albeit close to Denver, it is remote but on this Monday morning it already was getting crowded. The sanctuary is open to the public from 9 a.m. to sunset seven days a week in the summer and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day in the winter (Oct. 1 through April 30). Educational tours are offered to individuals, families, groups and schools that want to learn more about the captive wildlife crisis. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 3 to 12. The Wild Animal Sanctuary is America’s largest non-profit sanctuary, with a $2 million operational cost per year.

According to one of the sanctuary’s employees, it has been open to the public for seven years but a carnivore sanctuary since 1980. It is one of the only places where you can view prides of African lions, magnificent tigers, bears and other large carnivores living freely in wide open spaces. There is no smoking, no dogs and no running anywhere in the sanctuary.

The vast majority of the animals residing at the sanctuary were confiscated by law enforcement agencies after they were found being kept illegally in people’s basements, apartments, garages, barns and other horrible places.

“The problem is getting out of hand,” said Pat Craig, the sanctuary’s executive director, ”as people are beginning to take these animals out into the countryside and let them go — just like people have done with dogs and cats for many years — only now, these animals can end killing someone.”

Tigers are so popular that there are more privately owned tigers in the United States than remain in the wild around the rest of the world, according to animal rights organizations.

The Wild Animal Sanctuary has more than 290 lions, tigers, bears, leopards, mountain lions, wolves and a few smaller carnivores, including servals, bobcats, lynx, foxes, coyotes and a coati mundi.

Some of the expenses incurred each year include $450,000 for 434,000 pounds of specially blended raw meat for all of the carnivore diets; $75,000 for 260,000 pounds of fruits, vegetables, eggs, grains, dairy and other assorted foods for the bears and other omnivore diets; $62,000 for 16,000 gallons of fuel and propane for running equipment, going on rescues and heating all of the enclosures during cold months and $25,000 for 150,000 kilowatt hours of electricity to power machines, doors, water heaters and other items used to keep areas warm and prevent water tanks and dishes from freezing.

According to Craig, the three main points of the sanctuary’s mission is to rescue captive large carnivores that have been abused, abandoned, illegally kept or exploited, to create for them a wonderful life for as long as they live and to educate about the causes and solutions to the captive wildlife crisis. “These things are what we commit to for the animals and for the humans who help to make a positive difference for them,” Craig added.

TWAS has an adoption program. You can learn more at www.WildAnimalSanctuary.org. You also can make a donation, which helps support the rescue and education programs and care of the animals.

I visited the sanctuary with my wife and two granddaughters (ages 5 and 2). My granddaughters were fascinated by the tigers splashing themselves in the water and the bears, especially the two young black bears engaged in a king-of-the-hill wrestling match.

Lions sleep 17 to 20 hours a day. The best time to view them is near sunset when they are most active. They slept through our entire visit. They didn’t even stir when a rabbit ran all around the enclosure.

I learned about The Wild Animal Sanctuary from a friend who is director of the Denver Convention & Visitors Bureau. The visit to the sanctuary turned out to be serendipitous and so much more than I expected.

I’ll leave you with one more quote — this one from Spence Conley, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — about the dangers of owning a wild animal.

“We get calls from people who have acquired an animal — it may be a wolf or a big cat or maybe even other animals, like monkeys — and they don’t know what to do with them,” he said. ”When the animals are puppies or cubs, they are wonderful and cuddly, but they are not trainable. And the next thing you know, the animal is jumping on your table to eat your turkey.”

All information is accurate at the time of publication but prices, dates and other details are all subject to change. Confirm all information before making any travel arrangements.