Valley of the Kings Sanctuary & Retreat!

[Kater]

This past Saturday I went with 12 other members of the University of Wisconsin's Undergraduate Zoological Society to a sanctuary in Sharon, Wisconsin--- south of Madison. It was an amazing experience! I have been so deprived of animal company and was itching to do some work with or at some sort of rescue organization. I've been exploring options in Madison since my arrival but transportation is a major problem and the bus line doesn't go out into the more rural areas where most rescues are set up. But with the aid of some older undergrads and their cars we trekked the 1.5 hours and arrived at the Valley of the Kings. We did some fencing repair and scrap metal hauling before we got our tour. Now I want to go back! You can learn more about this sanctuary by visiting their website at : http://www.votk.org/

Now for some pictures.....
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid60/p1165c0762e582f7dbb6b27db23368bc6/fc422659.jpg
A cute pot bellied piggy enjoying an apple I gave him. The chickens were eating the apple too, actually! hehe

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid60/pb46614e96dbf272c6dd4183512516468/fc4225e0.jpg
A big ole lion sunning himself. He's just as happy as I am that spring is here!!

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid60/p4dff927e2281e7d0763a245e7e77ecb8/fc422585.jpg
A stunning leopard nicely taking some chicken from one of the club members.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid60/p0f88c306f3ab88d27d18a3d10cbc4e78/fc422559.jpg
Look at this beautiful guy!

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid60/p8d904b43a4bbb62e335365d8c798c69d/fc422550.jpg
A neutered male lion (this is what causes the mane to fall out) eating his chicken like a gentleman!

MORE TO COME......

[Kater]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid60/p4c99595eafe552fa632cc8b442e031bd/fc422640.jpg
This beautiful girl is 3/4 Siberian Tiger. Our tour guide told us that she was incredibly nervous and aggressive upon arriving at the sanctuary. I could hardly believe his words as she was quite calm and trusting when we stopped by her pen. She is surely one of the most stunning creatures I have seen up close. While the group moved on to see the tigers in the neighboring pen I could not help but linger and just enjoy her awesome presence. Amazing!!! :D

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid60/pe005af55296c4daacabd3fce520ccbed/fc422608.jpg
This stunning girl is a wolf dog hybrid. She was brought to a Wisconsin shelter when her owner "tired of her." Well she deserves much better for sure!
Now she lives happily with an older male mostly wolf hybrid whose mate died during transport to the sanctuary. Her cagemate came from a Puppy Mill who bred GSDs, Wolves and Wolf Hybrids. During their rescue this dog, his mate and their four pups were found in a tiny cage up to their hocks in excrement. Disgusting. :mad:


http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid60/pd60f7d2262b7de60ab984deda267e780/fc4225ea.jpg
These are two of the three pups that survived the aforementioned conditions.

These are only a fraction of the stories behind the lives now safely secured at Valley of the Kings. I hope eventually the breeding of big cats in captivity will end.

To see the rest of this album visit : http://www.imagestation.com/album/index.html?id=4290271215

Sorry the pictures aren't very nice. The cages got in the way plus I tried to be as mellow as possible with my camera. I wish I could have gotten pictures of every animal but some needed more space and it wasn't my place to invade that.

[wolf_Q]

Wow, that sounds like a great place to visit!! This cat is absolutely gorgeous!
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid60/p4c99595eafe552fa632cc8b442e031bd/fc422640.jpg
It's great that you were able to help out! Maybe you could visit again sometime soon! Loved the pics...that "lion sunning" really cracked me up...and I loved seeing the gorgeous wolves (my favorite animal!) too! Good there's a place for these animals to go!

[Desert Arabian]

Adorable animals! So totally jelous! I wanna rub that lions tum-tum!

I wish I could be a zoologist, or something along those lines, but I tink me is two dum- I aint that good at math un stuff. :( Oh well, I can dream. Any job with animals would be splended!!

[veegan]

ah! soo beautiful!!!!! Thats really interesting about the neutered lion! Good factoid.. You should post more pics of them!

[NoahsMommy]

VERY cool Kate!!!

Those pictures of the cats are amazing...I couldn't take my eyes off them. I can only imagine how awesome it was for you to see them "in person".

What a neat rescue too! I'm off to go check out thier site.

Glad you had fun! That's nice of you to go so far to support that cause. Very cool! :)

[allanimalswelcome]

That's really cool! I wish I could go it sounds great for the animals.

~Rachel

[Beach Bum]

i want to be a ZOOoligst

[I Love Brian, Forever <3]

:D

[lotrfreak]

they look ao amazing. i have always liked snow lions or whatever, the black and white ones. they look so big and powerful and yet soft and cuddly and in need of companions to make them purr