[FEL-L] CO: Pat Craig "bluffing" say other sanctuaries/Vernon Weircomments

[Laura Morin]

His cats look Very well fed... maybe he can cut back just a bit on the food
he feeds to save some money and help the cats lose a little of the extra
weight since this is lean times....Does he work? Or does he pay himself?
take a pay cut? or get a job? He must have volunteers who can help out even
more if needed....just a few thoughts...

Laura Morin
lmorin67 at earthlink.net
www.WildAboutCats.org
Exotic Feline Conservation-Education-Rescue 



> [Original Message]
> From: Ray <rrooney at ucwphilly.rr.com>
> To: <Phoenix_Exotics at yahoogroups.com>; <felines-l at catbox.com>
> Date: 8/21/2006 8:07:09 PM
> Subject: [FEL-L] CO: Pat Craig "bluffing" say other sanctuaries/Vernon
Weircomments
>
> Sanctuary owner says animals may have to be euthanized
>
> BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
> KEENESBURG - Pat Craig said he is facing a terrible choice: raise enough 
> money to feed the lions, tigers and other large predators at his
sanctuary 
> while he finds them new homes or euthanize the 155 animals.
>
> "Of course, that is going to be the very, very last thing we ever do,"
Craig 
> said last week during a tour of the sanctuary 30 miles northeast of
Denver. 
> "But in December, I was sure that within two weeks, I'd be doing that.
>
> "You either let them starve to death or you go out there and do the right 
> thing," he said.
>
> This isn't the first time that Craig has appealed to the public for help 
> with his Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Center. This time, said
Craig, 
> who ended last year with a $250,000 deficit, donations won't keep him
open.
>
> "We didn't just lose a little. We lost well over half of our income,"
Craig 
> said, blaming the lack of donations on the national and global disasters.
>
> He has 75 tigers, 12 lions, nine leopards and 30 bears, plus wolves and 
> smaller cats.
>
> Others involved in rescuing animals that are victims of illegal trade in 
> exotic criticized Craig's statements, saying they amount to blackmail.
>
> "He knows, like us, that sanctuaries are filled to capacity and he's got
a 
> lot of cats and where are they going to go?" said Vernon Weir, director
of 
> the American Sanctuary Association. "Once you start killing these
animals, 
> it becomes an acceptable method for disposing of these animals and we
don't 
> want this to ever become acceptable."
>
> Nick Sculac, the owner of Big Cats of Serenity Springs, a sanctuary near 
> Calhan in El Paso County, said the threat of euthanization is a
fund-raising 
> ploy by Craig.
>
> "He won't do it. It's the only way that he knows how to raise money,"
Sculac 
> said.
>
> Sculac has his own challenges at his sanctuary following the death of his 
> wife, Karen Sculac, earlier this month. Volunteers have said they want to 
> help keep the 128 cats there.
>
> Prairie Winds, a sanctuary with 45 big cats in Kiowa, southeast of
Denver, 
> is closing. Owner Mike Jurich is finding homes for his lions and tigers
one 
> or two at a time. He said he doesn't have the resources or energy to
raise 
> the $50,000 he would need to stay afloat.
>
> "I feel like I'm parting with my family. I feel like I'm parting with my 
> children," he Jurich. "It breaks my heart to think about it, but it's
better 
> for them."
>
> Colorado has banned big cats as pets since 1985 and has some of the
toughest 
> regulations, adopted in 2003, for sanctuaries. The state banned new 
> nonprofit facilities, and none have opened since then.
>
> The Colorado Division of Wildlife licenses seven wildlife sanctuaries.
>
> Nationwide, 20 states have banned keeping them as pets, and the federal 
> government is implementing the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, which
prohibits 
> interstate or Internet trade of big cats.
>
> The Humane Society of the U.S. estimates from 10,000 to 15,000 big cats
are 
> in private hands, from cages in basements to roadside zoos. Most that
wind 
> up in sanctuaries came from squalid and inhumane conditions.
>
> Sanctuaries are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which
only 
> controls how animals are euthanized but doesn't prohibit it.
>
>
> http://www.summitdaily.com/article/2006108200047 
>
>
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