Serving the community since 1906
VOLUME 117 | ISSUE 34
Wild cats on the November ballot Ballot measure seeks to protect big cats from hunting, trapping
WEEK OF AUGUST 22, 2024
POLICE GEAR AT NATIONAL NIGHT OUT
Community comes out to meet first responders P4
BY MONTE WHALEY MWHALEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Buddy the mountain lion peers from behind a grassy knoll at the visitors looking at him through a fence at a windy corner of the 33,000-acre Wildlife Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg this week. The facility is home to over 950 animals that have been abused and locked up in basements and cages and then displayed by callous owners looking to squeeze a profit from the animal’s captivity. Buddy was part of a caged exhibit in a Des Moines, Iowa shopping mall for several years until he was rescued and taken to the Sanctuary to live out his life in peace, said founder Pat Craig. While in the mall, Buddy’s enclosure was among others that housed big cats as well as bears and more wildlife, Craig said. “It was awful, an absolute mess,” he said. “It was not a place for a wild animal like Buddy.”’ Buddy seems to appreciate his new home in the wide expanse of the sanctuary, about 25 miles east of Denver. “He can stay just around his den and enjoy the fresh air and natural environment,” Craig said. “I think he’s found his forever home here.” Activists used the backdrop of the Wildlife Sanctuary to celebrate the placement of Ballot Issue 91 on the November ballot. The wild cats at the Sanctuary – wildcats, cougars, tigers and lions – also illustrated the need for a law to protect wild felines from trophy hunters, activists said. SEE WILD CATS, P6
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NOTES ON COOPERATION
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