page_title: The Wild Animal Sanctuary
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: The Wild Animal Sanctuary / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Mile Into the Wild Walkway, approaching the Bolivian Lion House
context_page_description: The Wild Animal Sanctuary is a 789-acre animal sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado, United States. This sanctuary specializes in rescuing and caring for large predators which are being ill-treated, for which their owners can no longer care, or which might otherwise be euthanized. It is a 501 nonprofit organization and a state and federally licensed zoological facility.
  Created in 1980, The Wild Animal Sanctuary is situated on grassland northeast of Denver, and has helped over 1,000 animals since it first opened. By early 2018, home to more than 460 animals, the group announced the purchase of a major addition, a 9,004-acre ranch near Springfield, Colorado.
context_section_description: Pat Craig started The Wild Animal Sanctuary when he took in a Jaguar cub that he kept on a licensed facility on his family's farm outside Boulder, Colorado. The animals were soon moved to Lyons, Colorado to provide additional space. After 8 years in Lyons, a limestone quarry was opened nearby, forcing the sanctuary to move.
  In 2005, largely because of relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina and the Indonesia tsunami, donations to the sanctuary decreased significantly, and by mid-2006 the staff thought the sanctuary would need to close. In order to help raise money, the sanctuary was opened to the public, started selling donated merchandise, brought in more volunteers, and started a program of sponsoring individual animals.
  By 2007 the sanctuary was using 160 acres (65 ha) of its 320-acre (130 ha) site for rescued animal habitats. By 2010 it had 240 acres (97 ha) of habitats.
  In February 2011, the sanctuary, in cooperation with Animal Defenders International, Bob Barker, and the Bolivian government (which had recently enacted legislation outlawing performing wild animals), received 25 lions from circuses in Bolivia that had typically housed the lions in crates for transport. The sanctuary built a fabric covered structure isolated from the main facility to house the lions while they got acclimated to the Colorado climate, and while four 20-acre (8.1 ha) outdoor enclosures were being prepared. The first of the prides, picked because they "appear to be close-knit and familiar with each other", was first allowed access to their large outdoor habitat on April 14, 2011.
  The additional 80 acres (32 ha) of enclosures created for the Bolivian lions took up the remainder of the existing sanctuary property, but later in 2011, a donation allowed the sanctuary to purchase another 400 acres (160 ha), expanding the site to 720 acres (290 ha) and providing space for future expansion of the habitats.
  In May 2012 the sanctuary completed the "Mile Into the Wild" walkway. This 4,800-foot (1,500 m) walkway has let visitors view and photograph the animals in their large habitat areas from above, and at the time connected the original holding area and education building with the Bolivian Lion House and a new parking lot that was built for the increasing number of visitors. In addition, the county paved the road to the sanctuary, making access easier.
caption: Mile Into the Wild walkway approaching the Bolivian Lion House
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