The weather cooperated perfectly for an afternoon at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado. Nineteen Church of the Hills members, family, and friends enjoyed spending time with one another and with tigers, African and mountain lions, grizzly and black bears and wolves.

White tiger

The sanctuary offered a brief orientation before we climbed the stairs to the first observation deck. From this vantage point we saw several grizzly and black bears in a large habitat to include what will soon become their personal hibernation caves. We then moved to the elevated walks taking us right over many tiger enclosures. These enclosures are small intentionally. The staff explained many of the tigers have been confined all their lives and to be released immediately into a large open space would be overwhelming. Indeed, there were outlying enclosures which were larger, and then larger still and as natural to their native habitat as possible. They will be moved to larger areas with several of their own species as their physical and emotional health permits.

This particular wild animal sanctuary has been operating for 31 years but many of us have only recently become aware and acquainted with it as it was the selected refuge for the 20+ abused circus lions coming from Bolivia last year. These lions are boarded in a separate area of the sanctuary which our tour did not cover.

As we hear more from Pastor Dee over the weeks and months about her experiences with magnificent creatures of the wild, this little slice of wildlife exposure helped us to capture a glimpse of some of Dee’s experiences this summer. We were all grateful for the opporunity.

African Lion

African Serval