Founder and Executive Director – Pat Craig.  Pat began saving captive wildlife after learning that thousands of “surplus” Lions, Tigers, Bears and other animals were being kept in tiny cages in the back of zoos all across the country – with many being euthanized on a daily basis. Pat set out on a mission to help save these animals by building a small rescue facility on his family farm outside Boulder, CO. At age 19, Pat became the youngest state and federally licensed Zoological Director in the country, as well as the first person to build a sanctuary dedicated to saving large carnivores and other exotic animals.

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Pat’s vision has led 44 years later to the oldest and largest nonprofit sanctuary in the world dedicated to rescuing captive exotic and endangered animals that have been abused, abandoned, exploited or illegally kept. In 2021, Pat recognized the need to help save wild horses that were being removed from long-established wild horse management areas within Colorado.  He subsequently created the largest captive wild horse sanctuary in the United States by opening a 23,000-acre Refuge in northwest Colorado for the state’s dwindling population of Mustangs.

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Pat’s many decades of experience in captive wild animal rescue, transportation, behavior, and sanctuary development have led to his becoming the nation’s leading expert in the field. He also spent many years rescuing Pregnant Mare Urine (PMU) horses from Canada in the late 1980's and early 1990's and has continued to rescue horses, donkeys, cows, pigs, goats and other domestic farm animals while operating three separate exotic animal sanctuaries that encompass 11,214-acres in Colorado and Texas.

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Pat lectures nationally on captive wildlife rescue and transportation, as well as great cat behaviors and diets, and has worked tirelessly toward better protection for these animals. He works together with government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, as well as many other state and national agencies in the never-ending fight to help animals in need. Pat has also worked with Canadian, Mexican, Spanish, Bolivian, Uruguayan, Panamanian, Peruvian, Lebanese, Korean, Romanian, Ukrainian and Puerto Rican government agencies on large and extremely complicated rescues from within their countries.

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Pat oversees and participates in all Sanctuary operations, including national and international rescues, and has spent decades designing, building and operating specialized rescue equipment for large carnivores and wild horses.  As a result, Pat currently manages the largest fleet of exotic and wild animal rescue equipment in the country.  Both Pat and the Sanctuary have received numerous Emmy Awards for the production of world-class educational videos concerning the Captive Wildlife Crisis - and in 2024 - Pat’s life-long work saving animals was featured in a 60 Minutes News story referring to him as a modern-day Noah.  His ability to handle large rescues in dangerous and demanding situations, and to also safely transport wild animals great distances, is widely known among law enforcement and animal welfare agencies in U.S.

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Pat has a BS in Education from the University of Northern Colorado and has received prominent recognition from many sources.  His awards include a United States Secretary of Agriculture Honor Award for above and beyond service to the USDA, as well as a American Veterinary Medical Association award for distinguished service to animals, and an American Humane Association Award for leading their largest exotic animal rescue mission.  Pat also received an E-Chievement Award from the E-Town Environmental Radio Show and was a finalist in Animal Planet’s “Hero of the Year” awards selection.