KEENESBURG, Colo.—A wildlife caretaker is hoping a mile-long walkway allowing tourists to see tigers, lions and bears romping in his fields will help save the animals and help them recover from abuse and neglect.
Pat Craig said maintaining the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Center near Keenesburg since 1980 has been expensive and only a few people got to see the animals. He was nearly forced to close in 2006 because of the cost.
Craig started the center northeast of Denver to provide a place for animals that were kept in garages, neglected in tiny cages as truck stop attractions or abused. He has been widely praised for being a last resort for some of the animals his facility nursed back to health.
Craig said he didn’t want the public to see the big cats or bears and often railed against the captive wildlife crisis and the tens of thousands of people keeping tigers as “pets” in the United States, but he eventually gave in. Animal lovers were afraid the animals might have to be euthanized.
“I’d be cutting my own throat if I didn’t give the public a chance to see those lions, but we didn’t have any way to do it. This gives everyone a chance to see all of what we’re about,” Craig said.
Craig said the animals are very territorial, and don’t appreciate visitors disturbing what they consider their lairs. He said the limited viewing allows the animals to move away if they feel threatened.
Craig said wild animals had to pay the price when a man in Zanesville, Ohio, committed suicide last year after opening the cages of dozens of lions, tigers and other beasts at his exotic animal preserve, forcing sheriff’s deputies to kill nearly 50 escaped animals.
“He seemed to be a pretty disgruntled guy, and he just decided to use the animals as his revenge,” said Craig.
Becky Lawrence of Longmont said she was impressed by the walkway and the new approach to running an animal sanctuary.
“It makes such a difference to be all the way out here,” she said.
According to the Greeley Tribune ( ), the walkway will cover 21 of the habitats roamed by the wild animals. The facility costs $10 for adults, $5 for children 3-12.
The walkway, which cost more than $800,000 to build, has a capacity for 4,000 people and gives visitors overhead views of the more than 290 large carnivores. Craig said he has already heard from zoos who may want to borrow his idea.
He also runs a gift store that sells stuffed animals and lion, tiger and bear bobble head dolls.
The facility was renamed the Wild Animal Sanctuary and attracted 50,000 visitors in 2010. It doubled that number last year.
Craig said he now has a way to feed the animals in lean times, including Colorado’s harsh winters when most visitors are gone. He once had about 70 people who paid for an animal’s care; Now there are thousands.
Craig said his mission hasn’t changed, but admits he was to bar people from seeing the animals. He said opening the center to the public gave him a lot more allies in ending the captive wildlife crisis.
He now plans to expand the walkway into 400 acres purchased and donated last year just north of the visitor center, where he will add more habitats for more big animals.
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Information from: Greeley Daily Tribune,
