The Wild Animal Sanctuary was started by Pat Craig, a science teacher at Weld Central in Weld County, Colorado. As the project grew, he left teaching to devote full time to animal rescue and rehabilitation work. Beginning with a few acres and one building, it has grown to nearly 10,000 acres in three locations and two states. Locations are near Keenesburg, in Weld County, and near Springfield, in Baca County, both in Colorado. A third location is in Texas.
Since we live in the area, we’ve been to the sanctuary quite a few times since it began. Out of state visitors enjoy seeing the animals, and so do we. The sanctuary website has superb explanations of what they do and why. They are part of many high profile animal rescues from around the world. Videos included here are from the Bolivian lion rescue, the Tiger King Park, and a zoo in Romania with lions from Ukraine.
If you want to read more details, hop on over to their website. There’s so much information there that I don’t need to duplicate it here.
Have you visited the Wild Animal Sanctuary, volunteered there or attended one of their events? Tell us about it in the comments. We would love to see your photos. Do you work with or support other animal rescue organizations? Tell us about them.
The Wild Animal Sanctuary, located near Keenesburg, Colorado, is the largest and oldest nonprofit carnivore sanctuary in the world, with over 650 rescued animals including Lions, Tigers, Bears, Wolves, Leopards and other large carnivores. Established in 1980, the Sanctuary operates two locations within Colorado, and another facility in Texas, with more than 10,000 total acres for abused, abandoned and confiscated carnivores. The Wild Animal Sanctuary specializes in rescuing, rehabilitating, and providing captive wildlife with a forever home within large acreage natural habitats so they can roam freely and live with others of their own kind.
This video gives an overview of the sanctuary, what it does, and gives some good views of the original Wild Animal Sanctuary in Weld County, Colorado.
An award-winning documentary, The Lion Ark, earned international acclaim.
The Wild Animal Sanctuary, Colorado
Tiger King Park Rescues, August 2021
Ukraine Lion Rescue, September 2022