The Wild Animal Sanctuary

Established in 1980, The Wild Animal Sanctuary is a state and federally licensed zoological facility and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We are located outside of Keenesburg, Colorado, 30 miles northeast of Denver, on 720 acres of rural, rolling grasslands, sheltering more than 450 large carnivores alone! TWAS is the largest and oldest sanctuary of its kind in the World.

For the past 37 years, TWAS has responded to more than 1,000 requests from private citizens and government agencies to rescue animals from across the United States and other countries. Our resident animals were abandoned, abused, kept illegally or were victims or other terrible situations. Most were the pets of private citizens, but were confiscated by law enforcement officials for being in illegal or abusive situations. Others were surplus animals from zoos and other wildlife facilities, where they faced euthanasia due to over-breeding, overcrowding or closure due to inadequate finances.

Our 450+ residents include tigers, African lions, black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions, leopards, wolves, servals, bobcats, foxes, lynx, coyote, coati mundi, raccoon, porcupine, ostrich, emu, camels, alpacas, horses and rescued dogs and cats.