Celebrating 40 Years of Saving Lives!
Book excerpt #1
Tiger King unmasked the bizarre world of big cat private ownership and the illegal tiger trade in the United States…[focusing] on “Joe Exotic,” the owner of an Oklahoma roadside zoo and a key player in the U.S. exotic animal trafficking arena. He ran one of the largest tiger breeding operations in the U.S., bragging that he owned more than 200 tigers among his more than 1,000 animals.
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But Tiger King, you see, misses a key point. The sensationalist miniseries casts the big cats themselves – pacing in fetid and barren cages; engaged in a feeding frenzy; and bred again and again to feed the coffers of their exploiters – in a supporting role. It never explores their mistreatment or covers The Wild Animal Sanctuary’s rescue of thirty-nine tigers and three bears from Joe Exotic’s Wynnewood, Oklahoma zoo in the fall of 2017. In fact, the Sanctuary has been rescuing captive animals from the Joe Exotics of the world for forty years.
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Tiger King never told you about the rescues, but we will. That is where our story begins.
Meet Clay, one of many tigers rescued from Joe Exotic’s private zoo, who clearly enjoys a good climb!
The authors are very generously donating most of the royalties back to the Sanctuary’s animals, and each book sale also provides a return to the animals as well, so you and the animals can’t lose when you make a purchase.
Order extra copies today for yourself and for the animal lovers in your life!
DESCRIPTION
Forever Wild, Forever Home invites readers to discover the magic of The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado, the premier large carnivore sanctuary in the world.
In 1980, Pat Craig rescued a baby jaguar he christened Freckles and took his first bold steps on a forty-year journey to combat the growing crisis of exotic animal captivity, abuse, and trafficking - one rescue at a time. Today more than 200 bears, 60 African lions, and 70 tigers, as well as jaguars, leopards, mountain lions, wolves, and other exotic animals, both large and small, enjoy peace, comfort, and contentment in enormous habitats on thousands of acres of The Wild Animal Sanctuary's prairie and canyonlands. Rescued from mostly horrific situations, they are survivors, with much to teach us about courage, resilience, and hope. Their lives resonate with our own.
With over 100 color photos, this absorbing, thoughtful, and timely narrative offers an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at what it is really like to care for wild carnivores. Both heartwarming and humorous, Forever Wild, Forever Home honors the nobility and wellbeing of the animals who call the Sanctuary home, and the heroic and gratifying labors of those who care for them.
Join Sanctuary teams on rescues of giant Alaskan Kodiak bears languishing in the Florida tropics, a lion held captive by a fortune teller in a tiny Mexican town, two big cats marooned and starving on a typhoon-ravaged island in the Pacific Ocean, and thirty-nine tigers owned by Joe Exotic, the "Tiger King" of Netflix fame. Meet Colo Colo, an angry African lion from Bolivia; Tasha Joy, a tiger who didn't know she was a tiger; the ever-busy grizzly bears, Tiny who tips the scales at 1,000 pounds and his friend Natasha; Diego, a white tiger; Jumanji, a black leopard; Lambert, a lion who finally learns to roar - and many more. Learn how the Mile into the Wild Walkway, the longest elevated pedestrian footbridge in the world, enables sky-high visitors to see wild animals in vast habitats; how staff and volunteers create cozy houses and unique playgrounds for the Sanctuary's (mostly) furry residents; and what happens when it's time for a large carnivore to visit the doctor or dentist.
At The Wild Animal Sanctuary, tigers chuff in greeting, bears bask under brilliantly blue skies, mountain lions purr with joy, and African lions roar in winter. The Sanctuary is often seen as the last hope for the animals who are rescued and brought here to their forever home. But the thousands of people who visit, support, work, and volunteer here know that this is the place where hope begins.