out on the high plains of eastern Colorado something truly wild and
wonderful is happening here on 720 acres 450 exotic animals have found a refuge
and a place they can call home in this episode we'll go behind the
scenes to see what it takes to keep this amazing place running if it's true that
people created the captive animal crisis it's also true that people are the
solution at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in keansburg Colorado 51 staff members and
nearly a hundred and 60 volunteers are part of the solution have a feeling you
don't need to go to the gym they work around the clock to ensure that over 450
exotic animals are healthy happy and safe we're talking bears and mountain
lions wolves and Lynx everything you could imagine most of the animals we
take about 85% are ones that people try to have as pets and then the other
percentages are from breeders as soon as their circuses in the early 1900's all
the way up until though it was say the 1950s or 60s the only animals that wild
animals that were the world were either in the wild or they ran zoos a ton of
the animals that were lions and tigers and large exotics got outside the zoo
system and in private hands the sector of animals that are owned privately
encompasses everything from sanctuaries to people who keep them in their garages
basements things like that and have these animals as pets
sadly you can just say that most people still don't view animals anything other
than property and so there's probably not a lot of dialogue going on about the
captive wildlife crisis this stuff is trying to make connections with animals
who have been conditioned by years of neglect and abuse understandably they
associate humans with the misery of their captivity so you're sitting there
trying to teach him how to trust human beings when in for the last 12 years
he's out of every reason to hate them and not want to
micki those connections takes a lot of patience
in keeping the sanctuary running takes a lot of hard work
Casey Craig and I discussed the sanctuaries remarkable staff anybody
that works here at the sanctuary even volunteers here at the sanctuary knows
that it's not a nine-to-five job helping in the nutrition center gave me a
first-hand look at just how awesome the staff is we sorted out between a few
different things and I'll run through that with you so what we're gonna do is
we're gonna sort it between bear meat we say pork I am so impressed with this
facility and every single person that I've met I'm blown away with the amount
of passion and hard work that goes into it and we're really grateful that we're
here and that we can share you guys this story so this is a very unique special
place the dedication commitment and compassion shown by the staff and
volunteers are truly inspiring human being trying to say you're safe here I
know how to speak your language we love them for who they are but we never
forget what they are as a human being I recognize that he's a tiger she's a
tiger there are certain things that are innate to their behavior that me
interacting with them only could potentially cost them their life they're
giving hope to what would seem to be hopeless and a refuge for these amazing
animals a place where they're finally home