By Lara Kraft | Vice President, Chairwoman
To our generous friends and supporters,
I hope this letter finds you well. I am especially excited to share with you all the incredible work that has been done at Keepers of the Wild since we last checked in. Over the past six weeks, Keepers of the Wild has taken in 20 new rescued animals, seven of which are big cats! And you know what? We have YOU to thank. Without your continuous support, we would never have the ability to give a loving forever home with top-notch care to animals who desperately need our help. Thank you!
Whether you binged watched it or chose to skip it all together, by now you’ve heard about the Netflix series “The Tiger King”. We watched it and were deeply troubled by what we saw; it is the epitome of animal exploitation and abuse. Big cats living in a private household, pay-to-play schemes, small cages for the animals to stay in, medical neglect, and physical and emotional abuse are just some of the disturbing issues we saw within the “Tiger King” series. Fortunately, we weren’t the only ones distressed by what we saw at Tiger King Park, and something was finally done to save the poor animals residing there.
Two weeks ago, Keepers of the Wild worked closely with the U.S. Department of Justice and several other accredited sanctuaries to execute a large-scale rescue of 69 endangered big cats at Tiger King Park in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The cats included lions, tigers, lion-tiger hybrid species, and a single jaguar, all of which were removed from Jeff and Lauren Lowe’s Oklahoma facility due to “ongoing Endangered Species Act violations.”
Keepers of the Wild is caring for seven of the 69 cats while the U.S. Department of Justice seeks permanent forfeiture of the animals. The cats will receive the utmost veterinary care, diets, daily enrichment opportunities, and large natural habitats to roam in while at our Arizona facility.
Keepers’ Founder and Director, Jonathan Kraft, had this to say of the rescue: “We are so grateful to have the opportunity to care for these wonderful animals and to work with federal agencies and other accredited sanctuaries to help rescue and protect endangered animals. Thank you to all the sanctuaries involved in this operation, for your professionalism, kindness, and cooperation. It took a skilled team of many people to make this happen.”
We are incredibly proud (and thrilled!) to have been selected as one of the sanctuaries to be involved with this case. Without such a strong support base, Keepers of the Wild would not have been able to handle a rescue of this magnitude. Taking in the seven big cats alone has added over $110,000 annually to our operational costs-and that is just to feed them!
With 16 new animal rescues and more to come, Keepers of the Wild needs your help to continue saving lives and providing lifetime care for animals who fall victim to the captive wildlife crisis. There are three easy ways you can help right now:
Thank you again for your love of animals and for your desire to directly make a positive impact in the lives of abused, neglected, abandoned, and retired captive wildlife. Because of your generosity and support, these animals have a second chance at life. A second chance to really live…Free of trauma and pain, and free to do what feels natural and happy each day. For Rico the lion who came from Oklahoma, that meant touching dirt with his paws and scratching his face against a tree for the very first time in his life. Every animal should be so fortunate.
I look forward to sharing about the new animals with you and hope that in the meantime you’ll follow Keepers of the Wild on social media for daily photos, updates, news alerts, and more.
We Love. We Care. We Protect. We are Keepers of the Wild.
Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and stay kind.
Lara Kraft
Links:
By Lara Kraft | Vice President, Chairwoman
By Lara Kraft | Vice President
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
