The Wild Animal Sanctuary

Imagine for a moment that you have a cute, baby tiger romping around your home. This is your new pet. Your new kitty friend had beautiful stripes, loves to bounce around and play, and after all the excitement, will curl up in your lap and have a nap. Sounds pretty nice, huh? Well, lets plan ahead for a moment... What happens when your cute little tiger cub grows up? What happens when he sky-rockets from weighing 30 pounds to weighing 400 pounds and has a voracious appetite to match? What happens when your friendly, playful little tiger cub begins to stalk you with real intent? You might wonder if your choice for a pet was really a good idea...
Yesterday I visited The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keensburg, Colorado. This is the largest non-profit wildlife sanctuary in the United States and is home to hundreds of animals including lions, tigers, grizzly bears, leopards, and wolves to name a few. These animals were all rescues from abusive, neglectful, and exploitive situations. The animals were formerly pets in people's homes, performers in roadside circuses or other displays, traveling shows, or other deplorable circumstances. The Wild Animal Sanctuary rescues as many animals as they can from these terrible situations and allows them to live out the remainder of their lives in HUGE enclosures where they can run, jump, or just curl up and relax. Many of the animals in their care came from situations where they lived in tiny, cramped cages and were never allowed out to stretch their legs and move around normally. I'm sure the enormous enclosures are a welcomed change:

While at the Wild Animal Sanctuary, we learned some shocking facts regarding the captive wildlife crisis:

• The exotic animal trade is the third largest source illegal profits in the world, just after illegal drugs and weapons!
• In the United States, there is an estimated 30,000 exotic animals living outside the zoo system.
• There are over 4,000 tigers living as pets in homes in just the state of Texas. That's more tigers that are living in the wild worldwide today!

These facts are pretty shocking. Combine that with the fact that these animals are often neglected and abused and you have a really terrible situation. I am really pleased there are places like The Wild Animal Sanctuary that will sieze these creatures and give them a new life in a far more comfortable place. Here are some photos of some of the rescued animals we were able to meet today:

If you would like to learn more about the exotic captive wildlife crisis please visit The Wild Animal Sanctuary's website and please consider donating to their wonderful and important efforts!