BRIGHTON, Colo.—Maxine Mager cuddles with Emily the iguana. She hugs Howie the emu, who’s just had a mud bath to beat the 100-degree heat on the prairie northeast of Denver. She helps Boo-boo, the one-legged duck, jump into a wading pool.
They’re among roughly 300 abandoned, orphaned or abused animals that Mager, a 47-year-old New York native, literally lives with. For the past 20 years, Mager has cared for dogs, cats, horses, pigs, ducks, ferrets, guinea pigs, peacocks, sheep and assorted other creatures on her free-roam animal sanctuary, Creative Acres. The animals are her family.
Now Mager’s fighting to save that family. Her 44-acre property about 40 miles northeast of Denver is in foreclosure and she has a month to raise $357,000 to save it.
“This is 20 years of experience and passion. I’m not giving up,” Mager said.
Five years ago, she had to scramble to find a place for her menagerie after losing a court fight over a lease on an original sanctuary site. A $480,000 judgment against her from the dispute over the land has prevented Mager from refinancing her property.
A blizzard and heavy snows that socked eastern Colorado in December and January kept Mager from doing her normal fundraising. She worked days and nights digging out the animals, getting food to them, and repairing storm-battered fences, doors and equipment.
“People ask if I’m going to make it. It’s like asking if you’re going to be able to feed your kids. You feed your kids,” Mager said.
Linda Froemke, a volunteer, has hauled hay and feed to Creative Acres since Mager’s pickup truck was repossessed. She worries about what could happen to the animals and Mager if the sanctuary is forced to move again or closes.
“Talk about a Doctor Dolittle type,” Froemke said. “She’s taking care of these animals that people throw away.”
Mager didn’t have animals around growing up in New York City. “I had stuffed animals,” she said.
She was living on an Adams County farm with her former husband when she heard about a horse and colt that needed help. Her husband said she had two choices: get the horses and about 60 other barnyard animals that went with them or go on vacation.
“I think he thought I’d choose a vacation,” Mager said.
She chose the animals and her sanctuary was born.
Mager, who once worked in advertising and promotions, prides herself on her ability to train troublesome animals, many of which nobody else wants. She credits years of watching their behavior for learning how to connect with them.
“Maybe it’s not the animals that aren’t smart,” Mager said.
Retired veterinarian Alan Rice of Brighton has worked with Mager through the years.
“She’s getting more knowledgeable all the time and she works hard at it,” Rice said.
Mager works to find solutions when people contact her about creatures they can’t handle or keep. She insists that animals other shelters might give up on can live satisfying lives with a little understanding.
Emily the iguana was considered difficult when volunteers rescued her. The reptile’s previous owners cut off all but the middle toe on her left front foot because they wanted it to look like Emily was making an obscene gesture, Mager said.
“We got along right away,” said Mager as stroked under Emily’s chin. The iguana closed its eyes and raised its chin for more.
There’s Spaz, the nerve-damaged ferret that isn’t comfortable being held but scurries out to see people. Mager took on a sheep that others said was vicious. She figured out that the sheep, named Rambo, ran into people because she was blind.
Thirty cats lie on a bed, chairs and little pet beds scattered on floor-to-wall shelves in a big room off the kitchen. Many of the cats initially were feral; most rouse themselves to greet visitors.
Some animals develop relationships regardless of species. A friendship between Junior the pig and AKA the chicken got national attention.
The hen had a bad heart, and Mager put her with the pigs because AKA couldn’t compete with other chickens. The chicken and the pig, who was deformed, looked out for each other, and AKA took the lead when Junior developed a tumor. The chicken stayed with Junior until he died.
Mager criticizes other sanctuaries and shelters she believes are too quick to euthanize animals. On her Web site, she says she will consider euthanasia only if an animal is “in obvious, constant pain.”
Mager turns the pages of an album with photos of animals and visitors and tears up when she talks about the animals, ones still there and ones long gone.
“These guys are my backbone,” she said.
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On the Net:
Creative Acres,
