to anyone who was planning on sending me christmas presents - if anyone was:
please spend the money on this center instead. the baby tigers from my wildlife rehabilitaion center are here, along with leopards jake and chloe, and tonka, the sweetest, purple-eyed, chirpy mountain lion i have ever met. it would mean more to me than anything if people would help feed tonka and the others. the website is http://www.wildlife-sanctuary.org.
please don't let my friends die.
thank you


"Wildlife Center To Close Due To Drop In Donations

(AP) KEENESBURG, Colo. With donations plummeting, officials at the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Center predict they will have to close their shelter for more than 150 animals, including baby tigers, lions, bears, wolves and leopards.

"None of us like to say the word euthanasia around here, but nobody realizes how terrible things are for an animal that's going hungry," owner Pat Craig said. Craig has stopped taking calls from zoos and others looking for homes for big cats.

The center faces an estimated $150,000 deficit, Craig said. That means he may not be able to feed the animals, many of which eat up to 40 pounds of meat a day.

The WOLF sanctuary in Laporte has also seen donations drop, sanctuary founder Frank Wendland said.

Donations have dripped since a devastating tsunami hit Southeast Asia and hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast. It comes even as aid to domestic-pet rescue organizations have increased.

Craig said he hoped a TV segment on Animal Planet, focusing on the sanctuary's 1-year-old black leopard named Eddy, would help ease the cash crunch but the segment has not aired.

When Craig walks by Eddy's enclosure, the leopard makes a chirping noise -- a sound Craig says animals raised in the wild reserve for their mothers. He said he will try to find a way to spare Eddy as long as he can.

"That's something I ask myself, 'Oh my God, how do I choose who goes first?"' Craig said."

(© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)