If you watched the popular Netflix series “Tiger King,” you might be wondering, what ever happened to Joe Exotic? Well, he isn’t enjoying a happy ending in prison.
Here’s the more important question: What ever happened to those dozens of tigers and other animals?
Fortunately, those beautiful creatures have a happy ending thanks to a man named Pat Craig, who runs The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado and Texas. Previously mistreated and undernourished, they are now running wild and free over 33,000 acres, happy and healthy.
A Lifelong Wish
Craig developed his love of animals growing up on a farm, but found his true calling as a teenager when he found out many animals in zoos around the country had to be euthanized simply because there was no room for them or it was too expensive to keep them. Just as heartbreaking, these animals were sadly known as “surplus.”
This bothered him a great deal and eventually led him to create a small safe sanctuary for animals in the late ‘70s. He wrote to zoos around the country and was inundated with responses. “I thought I’m not even gonna make a dent,” Craig said.
He pressed on, driving around the country to pick up unwanted animals. Craig dropped out of college and got two jobs to pay for their food and other expenses. “I had to feed them and clean things up till midnight, just to take care of them. … For the first 18 years, I just tried to keep the place afloat,” he recalled. He realized teachers had summers off, so he got a teaching degree which allowed him to spend more time with the animals. Flash forward, and the sanctuary is now the biggest of its kind in America.
Craig said the show “Tiger King” actually shed a light on the problem of unwanted exotic animals. “It was kind of a good thing to educate the public. Most of the animals we rescue are not starved to death, but they’re definitely underweight. They never get medical care.”
How Wild Animals Are
The difference in lifestyles for these animals is most apparent when looking back to their initial days at the sanctuary. A tiger that’s been in a cage with a concrete floor all its life will actually be apprehensive to step on grass. “Many will come out of the transport cage and step on grass, and they’ll pick their feet up because they’ve never stepped on grass before. It’s hard to imagine a bear or tiger not having the willingness to step on grass,” Craig said.
That’s why Craig doesn’t simply turn the animals loose. “They have to slowly be introduced to the outdoors. We have a three-stage process. We put them in a traditional cage in a habitat. All they want to know is that there are no other predators in there. They spend a few days, and get used to the food. Then, we open the door and they go out and start exploring. Then, they’ll finally get comfortable and they’ll just stay out.”
Craig makes sure all animals are comfortable and don’t compete. They need three things: plenty of space, lots of food, and breeding prevention. “We give them lots of space so if they want to be together, they can; if they want to spread out and not see each other …, they can do that. We always feed more than they can finish so animals won’t compete. For lions that focus on breeding, we put implants in the female lions to prevent cycling so, that way, the males don’t fight. Do those three things, then everyone gets along really well.”
And many enjoy time with humans. “A lot of them were raised by people,” Craig explained, “so they really like people. If it’s one tiger raised by itself, a lot of times it won’t even know it’s a tiger since it’s never been around another tiger.” When they arrive at the sanctuary, they learn from one another and get to be a cat.
Rescue Operations
While caring for all these animals is a massive undertaking, the rescue process can be even more difficult. Take the case of transporting animals from a zoo in Ukraine. Bringing animals from overseas is tough enough without dealing with an ongoing war. “Being in a war zone has major complications. We started getting calls from zoos over there who wanted to get their animals out. Most of the zoos wanted sanctuaries like us to take them and then return them when the war was over.” He explained that it would be too expensive. “The permitting system to get endangered species into the United States is ten times harder than any country.” So they moved the animals temporarily out of Ukraine and into Romania while waiting for the permits.
Another major rescue closer to home took four-and-half months, when Craig rescued 700 animals from Puerto Rico, half of which came from a dilipated zoo. The toughest animal to rescue was simply the biggest one. “We’ve rescued Kodiak grizzly bears that are over 2,000 pounds, and those are hard to move,” he recalled. “They’ve never had a good human that’s treated them nicely, so you have to build a relationship with them to where they trust you to get in a transport crate.”
Craig noted the animals have different personalities. “Lions are very social and want to stay with the pride, so if they’re rescued, they want the whole pride to be rescued. They’re family-oriented. If they love you, then you’re part of the family. Tigers are individuals, but they love to build relationships and be affectionate. Bears are just comical. They do all sorts of funny things. When they have food, they’re just happy. That’s the only thing they care about.” Which animal is the smartest? “Jaguars are by far the smartest. They’re like chimpanzees in a cat body. All the cats are smart, but jaguars are a whole level above them.” Each animal is different, just like people. “It just depends on their background and how much they’ve been abused.”
Craig also maintains a smaller sanctuary in Texas and a 22,000-acre refuge for wild horses in Colorado. “The horses feel like they’re free again,” he said. “There are 30 to 40 bands. They run around and just live free.”
While the sanctuary has become huge, Craig still wants to save every animal he can. “We never started this to be the biggest. If you want to help these animals, you have to be serious about wanting to help.” And watching the new arrivals enjoy life for the first time is a reward money can’t buy. “Let them all have their own space so they never have to go back in a cage,” he said.
