It’s a Stretch: Just minutes after watching this lion snooze, he wakes and begins to stretch his muscles. I don’t want to mess with those claws! Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com

Refreshing Dip: Watching this Black Bear move about for a few minutes revealed that he was ready for a dip in the pond. After swimming a bit, the bear stopped and posed for visitors. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com

By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos

The Wild Animal Sanctuary is on 789 acres in Keenesburg, Colo., about 30 miles northeast of Denver.

The sanctuary is home to more than 550 wild animals, which have been rescued from illegal or abusive situations.

The nonprofit organization is dedicated to saving these wild animals and giving them a safe and natural habitat to live the rest of their lives.

This post will include just a small sampling of the animals that can be seen when visiting the sanctuary. Visitors can view the variety of animals from a unique raised walkway the stretches for 1.5 miles throughout the sanctuary. The walkway is 30 feet high providing safety for visitors and the animals. 

In addition to the sanctuary in Keenesburg, the organization has a Wild Animal Refuge on 9,684 acres in southern Colorado and a 41 acre sanctuary in Boyd, Texas. The facility in Keenesburg is the only facility open to the public.

More information can be found on the sanctuary’s website at: wildanimalsanctuary.org.

Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country and he shares his photographs, which appear in the ‘Posts from the Road’ series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.

Black Bear: This Black Bear seems content as he strolls about his habitat. There are more than 150 Black Bears at the sanctuary. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com

African Lion: An African Lion snoozes by a tree at the Wild Animal Sanctuary. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com

Tiger Chilling: A tiger chills in a tub on a hot summer afternoon. This tiger was a recent rescue and is being introduced to the sanctuary in a smaller area before moving to the larger habitat within the sanctuary. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com

Grizzly: A Grizzly Bear makes his way down a roadway within his habitat at the Wild Animal Sanctuary. Grizzlies are bigger than the Black Bear and also have the hump on their shoulder. The sanctuary is home to more than 40 Grizzly Bears. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com

Black Panther: A Black Panther stands out in the green grasslands at the Wild Animal Sanctuary. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com