THE WILD ANIMAL SANCTUARY

by Denny Patterson

Located in Keenseburg, CO, The Wild Animal Sanctuary (TWAS) is a state- and federally licensed zoological facility and nonprofit organization dedicated to rescuing large carnivores. Established in 1980, it is the largest and oldest sanctuary in the country. With more than 10,500 acres of space and 120 habitats, the sanctuary provides expert care and rehabilitation, exceptional diets and enrichment, and large spaces for animals to live the kind of life they were meant to have.

“We rescuecaptive-born as opposed to wild-born,” Public Relations Director Kent Drotar says. “All these animals come from abusive, illegal, and neglectful situations. People trying to have them as pets or roadside zoos where someone thinks they can collect animals and charge people. A lot of them nowadays come from places where people pay to play with cubs. All these animals come from very bad situations, and then we find out about them. If we can take them, we give them a home for life without exploiting them.” Animals located at the sanctuary include bears, lions, tigers, wolves, mountain lions, foxes, bobcats, lynxes, coyotes, jaguars, and leopards. Like the rest of the world, the sanctuary was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We had to close our doors in April for about four weeks when everything was shut down,” Drotar says. “Initially, it hit us hard because all of our food is donated from big-box stores. The first few weeks in March and April, there was no food to be found on grocery store shelves because everyone was stocking up and hoarding. All that extra food we would normally get was no longer there. Then, we had a double-whammy whene donations fell off because of the uncertainty about jobs and employment. “Things have gotten better,” he continues. “Donations are still down a little bit because I think there is still a lot of uncertainty and a lot of people haven’t gone back to work, and food has come back up 80 or 90 percent to where it was pre-COVID. One thing that did help us, though, was when Netflix released its docuseries Tiger King. “Even though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it because of the personalities involved and how they exploit the animals, 64 million people have watched it. As a result, we got an increased amount of interest because TWAS has rescued a lot of Joe Exotic animals. So, that has increased quite a bit of attention, so we picked people up that way. Plus, we had a lot of media attention back in April. People Magazine covered us; CNN covered us; we got much more attention that we normally would have had if Tiger King had not come out.” TWAS was able to reopen April 27 as long as people wear masks and maintain social distancing. Since the sanctuary is known for its elevated walkway and being an outdoor experience, there were not as many restrictions implemented compared to churches and restaurants.

“I liken it to hiking in the mountains,” Drotar says. “Once you get up to the walkway, there is no one within 50 to 100 feet. We had a busier summer than normal because people just wanted to get outside and do something.” Visitors have mostly been complying with the restrictions and safety rules, but like everywhere else, there is at least one person in the bunch grunting and grumbling. “If you come into our place of business, our expectation is for you to wear a mask and abide by the rules,” Drotar says. “If someone doesn’t want to do that, come back some other times. If you don’t want to wear a mask, or you think you have reasons why you shouldn’t, then don’t visit now. Come back when the pandemic is over with or when there are not as many restrictions. When you are in our welcome center, you have to wear a mask. When you are up on the walkway, you can lower them, but if you are near people, keep a certain distance, and just raise them up. We have volunteers and employees keeping an eye on things.” For more information on TWAS, visit wildanimalsanctaury.org.

Meet “Indi” a tiny Liger Cub that was recently confiscated from a terrible breeder who purposely cross bred Lions and Tigers to fuel his cub petting business. Indi needs your help so she can safely grow into a happy and healthy adult who will then live the rest of her life in a large natural habitat at the World’s largest carnivore sanctuary.