The Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary located in Ste. Genevieve, Mo. provides a safe environment and home to five rescued tigers and one lion and serves as a unique attraction to the public.
With a mission to give animals a voice by serving as a leader in wild cat conservation and education, the sanctuary’s ultimate goal is to contribute to a world where wild cats thrive in their natural environments and the need for sanctuaries no longer exists.
Program Coordinator, Jeri Wright, is passionate about each animal at the sanctuary, and is a strong advocate for tiger and lion protection in the U.S.
“I enjoy working here because it is a passion of mine,” Wright said. “It’s both a mentally and physically challenging position where I feel like I can truly make a difference not only with the animals lives, but educating the public as well.”
The sanctuary is a non-profit organization, and 100 per cent of the proceeds guests contribute go right back to the animals who live there.
Wright said the sanctuary has obtained the six cats from a variety of situations in the U.S. including backyard breeders, circuses, cub petting operations, people trying to own lions or tigers as pets, roadside zoos, or other poor conditions.
The Crown Ridge staff rescued all six of the cats from environments where they were starving, were not given proper medical care or suffered from abuse from their previous owners. Each cat living at the sanctuary now has been properly and successfully nursed back to health.
According to Wright, the original enclosures were built by DePaul University as a discovery center for students; however, during the building of the facility, the financial obligations became too much for the university to handle. This resulted in them choosing not to fund the project any longer.
The property was then sold to the original owners of the Crown Ridge Sanctuary and has been thriving ever since.
Wright believes tours of the sanctuary are unique and personal since there are only six animals living there. Tour guides spend time sharing each animals’ likes and dislikes along with some fun and compelling personality traits the cats may have.
“We don’t have as many animals as a zoo per say, but you get a more personalized up close experience with our animals,” Wright said.
Guests are allowed to stand fairly close to each fenced-in cat and witness feedings and play time. At the end of each tour, guests visit the gift shop and are encouraged to sign up to give meat donations, check out the sanctuary’s wish list and sign a petition to help end the private ownership of big cats in the U.S.
Wright said Crown Ridge plans to expand their facilities in the near future to be able to house more rescued animals.
General tours are offered April through November with no reservations needed. Tours run every hour on the hour Thursdays and Fridays from 11am to 3pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 4pm. The sanctuary offers limited winter tours from December to March.