Wild Animal Sanctuaries

Ian Somerhalder Foundation

A sanctuary is a place where animals can come to live and be protected for the rest of their lives. It’s a safe haven, where they receive the very best care possible. There are a lot of “animal sanctuaries” out in the world today but only a few are actually what they describe to be.


BIG CAT RESCUE (BCR) started as a nonprofit back in 1992 and is currently home to more than 100 big cats. They house more than just tigers, as their list of cats includes: lions, leopards, cougars, bobcats, lynx, servals, ocelots, and caracals. Many of the animals come to BCR for different reasons: abandoned by owners who wrongly thought they would make good pets, abused by owners in order to force them to perform, retired from performing acts, saved from being slaughtered to make fur coats or rescued as babies after hunters killed their mothers. Big Cat Rescue’s mission is to provide the best possible home for the animals in their care and tries to stop the flow of exotic cats needing sanctuary by educating the public about the plight of the animals and supporting stronger laws to protect them. The sanctuary is situated on 55 acres in the Citrus Park area of north Tampa. (1)



Another amazing sanctuary is THE WILD ANIMAL SANCTUARY located in Keenesburg, Colorado. They currently are situated on 320 acres of rolling grassland and in the far background you can see the snow-capped Rocky Mountains nearly year round. With that much land you can house many different animals like African lions, black bears, bobcats, camel, coati mundi, coyote, emu, foxes, grizzly bears, leopards, lynx, mountain lions, raccoon, tigers and wolves. Their primary focus is on the larger cats but they take in the smaller carnivores that have been cast off. The facility has a large “tree house” like education center that you can walk over tiger enclosures to reach. When walking across you look down and see 10-20 big cats just feet away from you and you feel like you are in heaven. I personally have visited this location and did not want to leave. Being able to learn more about how some of the animals were rescued, their current status of rehabilitation and and knowing that my trip is a donation that helps them out made it worth the drive. (2)



As you read about these sanctuaries, please know that there are plenty more out there that help every kind of animal you can think of. All around the globe are locations where abused, neglected and hurting animals are living and needing help. Sanctuaries are the closest they come to being home in the wild. Zoos are smaller versions of what a sanctuary can provide for the small space they are given. Some people think that wild animals just need love and can live in cages just fine – they would be wrong. These beauties need the grass and dirt underneath them for their joints to work properly. They need acres to roam and feel free so they aren’t pacing back and forth with nervousness just waiting for what comes next.



Sergio Gómez Olivier has a “zoo” in the backyard of his home in a downtown city in Mexico. What started out as a little hobby (so to speak) of having wild animals as pets has turned into a nightmare. He is housing many different types of cats as well as monkeys, birds, and wolves. In cages with ladders to get from place to place, you can walk right up to their fences and be eye to eye with a big cat. As much as I would love to be that close to one, I would not like to see them in an unnatural location such as this. Neighbors complain of the noises and smell daily. Sergio feeds lions and tigers chicken he has brought in daily. He is also a breeder for cats so they can sell them to other countries.  A vet is “on staff” at this location and sees no harm in what he is doing. The color white on a tiger comes from a genetic mutation from breeding within a family. He houses many of this color and sells them to make more. This kind of “zoo” has to stop! People need to see that keeping animals this way is not normal, as they do not have miles and miles to prance around on. (3)



Please locate the sanctuary closest to your area, volunteer, help out any way that you can so the wild animals know that the right kind of people are there to look out for them. Below is a list of locations I have found for you to start out your search. If you come up with anymore, please email me at getinvolved@isfoundation.com c/o ANIMALS and it will be added to the list.
 

(1) www.bigcatrescue.org/
(2) www.wildanimalsanctuary.org/
(3) www.bigcatrescue.org/the-zoo-next-door/

 

United States

Arizona

California

Colorado

Florida

Indiana

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Missouri

Mississippi

  • St. Francis Animal Sanctuary, southern Mississippi, near Tylertown, www.sfas.org

Montana

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Rhode Island

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Washington

Wisconsin

 

Canada

Ontario

Nova Scotia

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