This Colorado sanctuary gives animals a second chance – and a callback to the wild

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Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
ROAM SWEET ROAM: Mobo (back) and Noelle, a bonded tiger pair, interact at The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado, Oct. 10, 2024.

At a distance, the snowy Rocky Mountains line the horizon like lace. Otherwise, it’s hard to tell this is Colorado, given the tigers, lions, leopards, and other foreign carnivores.

This isn’t a zoo, and don’t let the fencing fool you. This is The Wild Animal Sanctuary, where more than 450 animals brought to Colorado’s eastern plains get a second chance to roam. The sanctuary spans over 1,200 acres and rehabilitates captive exotic and endangered animals. For some, this might be the first time their paws have touched grass.

Below the elevated walkway where visitors watch, a jaguar patrols the edge of a fence. The nonprofit says Manchas was a neglected pet in Mexico, confused about his identity after he was raised by the family’s dogs. Other rescues have come from Bolivian circuses, an Iowa mall, and a shuttered Puerto Rican zoo. About 150 came from the cages of the Netflix show “Tiger King.”

Why We Wrote This

Some formerly captive exotic animals have never had their paws touch grass before. The Wild Animal Sanctuary gives them space to roam.

In the view of Austin Hill, public relations director at the sanctuary, the need to rescue animals can result from owners’ warped priorities. “People were trying to mistake human want for animal need,” he says.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
BEAR ESSENTIALS: Chumlee, a Syrian brown bear, walks in his enclosure. Visitors can watch the bears below from an elevated viewing platform.

Perhaps some exceptions are the lions that hail from a zoo in Ukraine. Rescued from Odesa, they were spared Russia’s war.

Rehabilitation takes time. And progress, when it comes, appears in behavior. For the big cats, for example, roaming is a welcome sign. Roaring is also good. So is falling asleep on one’s back, with legs limp and stomach exposed. The cats would do that only, the humans here assume, if they felt safe.

One lioness, spotted on a recent tour, is in just this pose with her jaw gone slack. During the Monitor’s second visit in December, most of the sanctuary’s bears were missing from the scene. They were busy hibernating, dreaming bear dreams.

The sanctuary expands beyond just this site, and includes a wild mustang refuge in Colorado’s northwest. Overall, the nonprofit has about 100 staff members and some 160 volunteers. From a safe distance, workers here build rapport with the animals.

Mr. Hill can name the rescues at first glance, as if ticking off the roster of a favorite football team. Foxes with tails that float behind them, light as scarves, frolic in a ditch. That’s Benedict, Suzette, Pickles, and Pancake.

The sanctuary provides over 100,000 pounds of food a week at its peak. Meals are offered at random times to replicate an authentic habitat. Another callback to the wild comes in sound.

The lions start a call-and-response – thunder from their throats. The conversation builds, with groans and grunts and heaving sighs, rattling the valley and its birds. Several seconds pass till I remember how to breathe.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
THE LYIN’ KINGS: Lions Leo II (center) and Nala lie in the sun while a liger, a cross between a lion and a tiger, named HeDaBomb stands in their enclosure.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
FOX TROT: A red fox rescued from a farm that bred foxes for fur and fashion spends the day in its enclosure. Red foxes come in many colors.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: A tiger strolls through an enclosure, with mountains in the distance. The sanctuary is home to more than 450 wild animals.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
THE CROWD GOES WILD: Sanctuary visitors use binoculars to check out animals from the raised viewing platform.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
MEAT AND GREET: Mobo enjoys a block of frozen meat fortified with vitamins. He is fed on a random schedule to replicate what his diet might be in the wild.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
WOLF PACK: Two wolves rest in the snow. The sanctuary houses nearly 40 wolves that were rescued from illegal or abusive situations.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
HOME FREE: Diesel, a Syrian brown bear, roams in his enclosure. He and three others of his kind were rescued from a roadside zoo.

For more visual storytelling that captures communities, traditions, and cultures around the globe, visit The World in Pictures.

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