The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado

Last week I went to the Wild Animal Sanctuary, about a forty five minute drive north of Denver.  I had been researching a big cat reserve in Florida for an upcoming trip, but found there was one right one my doorstep!   Needless to say, I was pretty excited to see some lions, tigers and bears.

Tigers start in small enclosures to slowly get used to having more space.  Some have never been in a cage larger than 5x5 feet.  They eventually end up in groups in open grassed areas with BIG toys to play lounge on.

The Wild Animal Sanctuary is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the United States.  Its primary concern is taking in wild animals that have been saved from illegal captivity and trade.  Many of the animals have been rescued from people keeping them as pets or from being bred at "fur farms." I like this particular sanctuary because it really seems to have the care of the animals as its primary focus.  It doesn't really cater to tourists or visitors, in that, the only way to see the animals is from an elevated walkway, which goes over some of the enclosures and gives you views into the HUGE environments.

The elevated walkway is low impact on the animals and does not get very close to most of them, which is unfortunate if you want to get an intimate view of a lion.  The lions, however, are living as naturally as they can, with little human interaction.  The sanctuary does not give behind the scene tours to get closer to the animals, which are common for other similar organizations.

The beginning of the walkway does get close to the leopards, but not this close.

I had painted some pendants of big cats prior to visiting the sanctuary, but now I'm giving part of the purchase price to this local non profit.  It is really great to have something like this in my area.  I'm also going to look into volunteering for them.

African Leopard Pendant

Snow Leopard Pendant

To learn more about how to donate check out www.wildanimalsanctuary.org

(Only the product photos belong to me, the rest are from the Wild Animal Sanctuary)