Family
What’s Your Passion?
If you love animals, this story will move you
The Wild Animal Sanctuary
Have you ever imagined what it would be like to adopt a wild animal? To care for a lion, tiger, bear, or wolf? You wouldn’t bring the animal home. But you’d know that because of your love and support, your beloved animal is living free, with food, space, a perfect home.
Maybe the time is right for you to get involved with the world’s oldest and largest sanctuary of its kind, spanning more than 40,000 acres across Colorado. For over 46 years, this place has rescued thousands of wild animals — many from abuse, neglect, or cruel captive spaces.
What happens after rescue is remarkable. Instead of being placed into cages or exhibits, animals are given spacious natural habitats where they can roam, rest, climb, and simply be themselves again. Maggie chose to be part of this beautiful adventure, and you can, too. Read on for her story.
Meet Maggie, Max, and Cullen
Maggie’s life is demanding, fast, always moving. If your own life has ever felt full in every direction – work, family, responsibilities – you’ll recognize her rhythm.
But when Maggie talks about her life outside of work, her voice changes completely. “The thing I love the most right now is being a mom,” she says. Whether you’re in this season or not, you probably know what it’s like to have a fast-paced life. Yet you still try to make space for what matters most. For Maggie, this led to The Wild Animal Sanctuary.
“Max is the greatest bear in the world. He’s got this lip that kind of pouts a little bit,” Maggie says, and she laughs softly. “I just love that bear. To know that we’re helping him in some small way makes me happy every time I think of him, which is daily.”
Discovering Hope
Her son had only seen animals behind glass before. But at The Wild Animal Sanctuary, everything felt different. Tigers moving across open land. Bears climbing into the wind. Animals no longer confined, but living in habitats that finally belonged to them.
Maggie’s voice drops when she talks about it. “These animals have been traumatized their whole life,” she says. “And they have no hope. They truly don’t.” She pauses. “And then suddenly there’s this place…that gives them hope. So much room to breathe and to run and play and be what they were put on this earth to be.”
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Choosing to Care
If you’ve ever had a moment that quietly changed how you see the world – you understand what Maggie means when she says it stayed with them. “I’ve really worked very hard to try to teach my son that we are put on this earth for others,” she says. Not in theory. In how you live your everyday life. In what you notice or choose to care about.
That’s how Max entered their lives – as a rescued bear whose story they began to follow, support, and share over time. “We got stuck on Max three years ago,” she says, smiling. “Max is our guy.” At home, Max shows up in photos and conversations – little moments of connection between mother and son in the middle of ordinary life.
“We have pictures of him up in my son’s room and around the house,” she says. “And we look at them and talk about him — what he might be doing right now in his habitat, how he’s living.” And in that, they share a small ritual of caring about something beyond themselves. “He’s not physically here with us,” Maggie says, “but he’s here with us, and that just makes him a part of our family.”
An Invitation to Join In
Maggie doesn’t talk about this as something big or extraordinary. For her and her son, it’s a place that gives them a way to share their love with others who need it most. “I would like to give everything I can to The Wild Animal Sanctuary,” she says. “But even the small contributions I am making are making a difference. It takes all of us. From the littlest things to the largest donations. It all makes a difference.”
You can hear Maggie’s story in her own words here:
If this story inspires you, there are lots of opportunities to get involved with this exceptional Wild Animal Sanctuary. Like Maggie, you can adopt an animal. You can visit in Colorado and stroll the mile-and-a-half bridgeway to experience the awe of seeing wild animals in ideal habitats, without disrupting their freedom.
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