Colorado laws regulations help keep animal sanctuaries safe
Post on: 2011-11-02 By: admin
Casey Craig uses a lift to move a forty-foot section of the Mile Into The Wild walkway through the Black Bear habitat at the The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg on August 30. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)Rescued Bolivian African lion, "Bob" yawnsinside the Bolivian Lions Complex at the The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg on August 30.(Andy Cross, The Denver Post)A host of laws and regulations help keep people and the lions, tigers and other species housed at Colorado's wild-animal sanctuaries safe, say officials and sanctuary managers.
But a rule book is not going to stop a rogue wild-animal owner from doing what Terry Thomp son did this week in Zanesville, Ohio.
"He seemed to be a pretty disgruntled guy, and he just decided to use the animals as his revenge," said Pat Craig, executive director of the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg. "And those animals had to pay the price."
Thompson, for whatever reason, decided to let loose dozens of big cats and other exotic beasts from his animal preserve before committing suicide. Sheriff's deputies shot and killed nearly 50 animals
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— including 18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions and eight bears — in a hunt that took nearly 24 hours.
Thompson's Muskingum County Animal Farm was not open to visitors. On Thursday, it was reported Thompson and his wife owed at least $68,000 in unpaid taxes and that he had two federal tax liens filed against him last year.
Craig said it's unlikely an operation like Thompson's could get started in Colorado, considering the cost involved in addressing local, state and federal laws.
"Somebody just walking into something like this couldn't open because now there are so many regulations," Craig said.
The Keenesburg facility has been open for 31 years. It has 300 animals on 720 acres and is monitored 24 hours a day by 20 employees and as many as 100 volunteers.
Among its most famous residents are 25 lions rescued from a Bolivian circus. As many as 100,000 people a year visit the sanctuary, Craig said.
It must meet special use requirements established by Weld County as well as rules laid out by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Those agencies also often launch surprise inspections of the facility, he said.
He Rescued Bolivian African lion, "Campion" inside the Bolivian Lions Complex at the The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg on August 30. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)said Colorado's wild-animal regulations are among the toughest in the country.
"You can't have some guy running a zoo in the backwoods somewhere in Colorado anymore," Craig said. "The state would have run him out of business a long time ago."
Colorado has seven licensed wildlife sanctuaries, including Big Cats of Serenity Springs Wildlife Center in Colorado Springs, which operates under a wildlife-exhibitor and zoological-park license, said Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Theo Stein.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife inspects the facilities and works with them to ensure compliance, he said. Licenses must be renewed annually.
As part of the license renewal, the facilities must provide a contingency plan for potential escapes, show financial surety, provide a year-end inventory of animals and show proof of insurance if showing animals off site, Stein said.
During the year, each facility must also report within 10 days any movement of animals into or out of the facility, which includes natural deaths, additions and births.
The larger facilities have emergency plans filed with the county sheriff.
Any unregulated sanctuary must be registered and licensed by the state, Stein said.
Still, he said, "there is really no way for us to cover situations like the one in Ohio, where it appears the owner actually released the animals before killing himself."
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com Print
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