Colorado sanctuary takes in animals from Nebraska

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By ERIC OLSON / The Associated Press

OMAHA — An animal sanctuary has rescued 18 animals from a defunct zoo in northeast Nebraska.

The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colo., is the new home for 13 wolves, two tigers, one black bear, one lion and one coyote.

The nonprofit sanctuary sent a team of four people in two rescue vehicles to the closed Zoo Nebraska in Royal on Nov. 1, said Toni Scalera, the sanctuary’s director of development and public affairs.

Zoo Nebraska has been closed since a September 2005 incident in which three escaped chimpanzees were shot to death. Zoo Nebraska officials last summer gave up their hopes of regaining an operating license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Scalera said Monday that the USDA requested the rescue. Before removing the animals, she said, her organization had to build temporary housing for the wolves at a cost of $28,000.

Ken “Junior” Schlueter, volunteer director of the zoo, did not return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The Wild Animal Sanctuary is situated on 240 acres northeast of Denver and is home to about 190 animals. The animals live out their lives at the sanctuary, which opened in 1980 and caters to large carnivores.

Scalera said it was her understanding that three other tigers remaining at Zoo Nebraska would be taken in by another organization. She said she didn’t know whether any other animals remained at Zoo Nebraska.

The two tigers taken in by the Colorado sanctuary were underweight. She said a veterinarian doubted the tigers would survive the winter if left in Nebraska.

“The tigers were probably in the least good shape. They’re not the worst we’ve ever seen and they’re not the best,” Scalera said. “All the animals are doing really well right now.

“The lion, King Arthur, is out in the lion habitat and getting on well with his new guys. All the wolves have new habitat we built for them. We have two wolf packs, and each of them are in five acres. They’re loving it, and we love having them.”

The two tigers will be kept in an indoor enclosure until a larger group of tigers is built. The coyote also will stay confined indoors until other coyotes arrive. The bear is believed to be in hibernation, she said.

“From the pictures I’ve seen, all the animals are in a much better situation,” Scalera said.