A Big Cat's Best Friend

by Karen Karvonen

Zeus, a 510-pound lion, sprawls on his back with his legs in the air while Pat Craig talks to him and scratches his belly. The lion is one of the dozens of animals Craig has rescued and provided a home to at the 120-acre Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Center in Keenesburg, Colo. (pop. 695).

Craig believes in making the animals happy at the center, one of only 17 sanctuaries in the United States that is federally licensed to house exotic felines and bears. The center, which is closed to the public, is more like a retirement home than a zoo.

Craig focuses on the well being of each animal. The big cats are released in groups or individually in a 65-acre fenced play area. The tigers swim and play with their toys in a specially designed “Tiger Pool.”

Craig believes in “affectionate training.” He cuddles a baby bobcat in his lap, or strokes a Siberian tiger under the chin as if it were a household tabby.

With abused animals, Craig works on getting them to trust people again. Entirely self-taught, he admits he’s been “knocked down, ripped up, and bit,” but each time he says the animal was only issuing a warning and wasn’t intending to kill him.

Craig’s devotion to saving captive wildlife began 24 years ago when the 19-year-old college student took a tour of the back of a zoo. What he saw behind the main exhibit appalled him—tiny, cramped cages with a surplus of lions, tigers and bears facing euthanasia. Determined to help, he sent a letter to the nation’s zoos asking if they had excess animals. He got 300 responses, which moved him to take in a few creatures on his parent’s farm near Boulder, Colo. He now has more than 85 animals at the sanctuary in Keenesburg, 30 miles northeast of Denver.

The center often takes in animals that authorities have confiscated from roadside zoos or unlicensed individuals who attempt to keep them as pets. For instance, Zeus, was found starving in a garage in Denver, where he was fed only cat food.

Craig says more than 15,000 large exotic animals live outside the zoo system. Returning them to the wild is not an option, because they lack hunting skills and are accustomed to people. “There is a crisis in the captive animal population in our country today,” says Craig, who gives presentations to educate the public about the issue. In addition to running educational tours for schools, the center sends out a study curriculum to groups and teachers.

When the center was moved to Keenesburg 10 years ago, Craig invited residents to visit. Ken Barney, who’s lived in Keenesburg since 1934 and has made several donations, calls Craig, “a good fellow with a good heart.”

Rob Pippin, a former center volunteer, agrees. “He’s working for a good cause out there, and I just wanted to help out.”

Volunteers and donors such as Barney and Pippin are the mainstays of the labor-intensive program, which has an annual budget of $400,000—one-third of which goes to feed the animals. Prior to forming a nonprofit organization, Craig and his wife, Shelley, spent their own money to fund the center because they couldn’t say no to abused animals like Romeo, a 5-year-old mountain lion.

Several years ago, Romeo was found chained by his neck in a Montana backyard. Today, Romeo leaps and bounds in his 90-foot-long cage and stalks rabbits on the play area. When his topaz eyes spot Craig and he begins purring like a giant kitten and rubbing against the fence, it’s hard not to imagine that he is expressing his gratitude.

Karen Karvonen is a freelance writer in Englewood, Colo.

first appeared: 4/18/2004