While you would think a place named an “animal sanctuary”
operates as a safe haven for animals, this is not always the case. There are
many amazing animal sanctuaries for formerly abused farm, exotic and domestic
animals, but sadly there are too facilities that operate under the “sanctuary”
guise that exist with the sole purpose of exploiting animals. These false
sanctuaries display wild animals and often charge visitors to interact with them.
On the surface, they may seem like “fun” but more often than not the animals
are starved, abused or drugged in order to render them docile enough to
interact with paying customers.
Unlike these abusive establishments, Big Cat Rescue and the
Center for Great Apes are real sanctuaries for animals. All of the big cats and
chimps who live at these sanctuaries have been rescued from deplorable former
lives and are now allowed to live free from any type of exploitation.
MOUNT VERNON, MAINE — It's almost 2:30 p.m., and two large black bears are ready for an afternoon snack. As usual, Bob Miner has brought them some yummy peanut M&Ms.
The bears are glad to see him – so glad in fact, they're not fussy about how Mr. Miner likes to feed them: from his lips.
