We had the good fortune of connecting with Pat Craig and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pat, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I personally witnessed numerous healthy Lions and Tigers that were scheduled to be euthanized due to a lack of space, so I decided to make some calls to see if they could be placed in other institutions. When I discovered all of the other licensed institutions were experiencing the same problem, I decided to create a sanctuary for the animals that had nowhere else to go.

What should our readers know about your business?
The Wild Animal Sanctuary is the world’s largest carnivore sanctuary with more than 650 Lions, Tigers, Bears, Wolves and other RESCUED animals. We specialize in rescue and rehabilitating large carnivores that have been abused, abandoned or illegally kept, and provide them with large acreage natural habitats to live in.

The Sanctuary feeds over 80,000 pounds of food per week, so it takes a virtual army of staff and volunteers to receive, process and deliver specific diets to each animal 365 days per year. The Sanctuary also specializes in educating the public about the Captive Wildlife Crisis in America and does so with a very special observation system.

The Sanctuary’s “Mile Into The Wild” walkway is an elevated walkway that spans more than 1.5 miles so that visitors can walk over numerous natural habitats where the rescued animals live. The elevated walkway is the Guinness Book of Records holder for the longest elevated footbridge in the world, and was designed and built by the Sanctuary staff. The elevated walkway protects the safety and sovereignty of the animals, since they do not consider sky or air to be territory.

The Wild Animal Sanctuary’s pioneering design and applications are creating a new paradigm for how captive wildlife can be cared for and also allowed to be on display. In addition, the Sanctuary operates a second facility in southern Colorado that has more than 10,000-acres of natural forest for rescued animals to live in.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Since the Wild Animal Sanctuary is the largest carnivore sanctuary in the world, and houses their animals in the most natural and pristine manner, I would suggest they visit the Sanctuary. People travel from all over the world to see the Sanctuary’s unique and inspiring facility.

The Sanctuary experience usually lasts the entire day, so there is a “Lion’s Den Cafe” on site that has wonderful food, and they also have a hand made ice cream shop that serves amazingly sweet and creamy ice cream and sherbets.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The staff and volunteers that work for this organization are incredibly dedicated individuals who are willing to make personal sacrifices in order to help the animals in need. The Sanctuary’s supporters are also very dedicated people who care very much about the welfare of the animals we rescue.

Website: http://wildanimalsanctuary.org

Instagram: http://instagram.com/wildanimalsanctuary

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1574667/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/animalsanctuary

Facebook: http://facebook.com/wildanimalsanctuary

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMwVaDO5BetvPzvFFrNksyQ

Image Credits
Credit: The Wild Animal Sanctuary

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