The Luxury to Pass Out Regular Updates on Former WAO Animals

As you read these emails, from the bottom up, keep in mind the following:



Natasha

 When I first called Pat, I let him I was worried about the WAO bears living in Colorado because they never saw snow before, nor were they able to fully "hibernate" in south Texas.  Pat told me I could call or email him any time and he would give me an update on the bears' first winter in Colorado.  He told he about the other bears living on the property normally go into hibernation once the temperatures dip down and it starts to snow, keeping warm and safe through the winter in the "dens" the sanctuary provides the bears. 

I also asked if I could have pictures of the bears enjoying their new homes, which were provided, except pictures of Boris, for I was told there were no pictures of Boris available and to check back in a month or so to see if the staff took any "Boris" pictures. 

So that is what I did -- I sent him an email requesting follow-up pictures of Boris.  That email was ignored.  I waited a week for a response, then sent another email.  That email was ignored too.  So I called Pat to make sure it was still okay to request pictures of Boris.  Pat told he wasn't ignoring me, he was just busy transporting WAO animals to new homes (like the cougars moving to Louisiana).  Since Pat was the primary animal transporter for the WAO, he was in the position to know where all the cats were going and what their current condition was at the time he relocated the animals.  In any case, Pat told me he would send me pictures of Boris as soon as he could.  I waited another week before sending him the follow-up email below, hoping to remind him of his promise to send me Boris pictures (or perhaps a staff member who has Boris pictures on file) and perhaps let me know how the bears were faring.

Once I had the final Boris pictures and an update on the bears' hibernation status, I figured there would be no need to contact the sanctuary again until Summer 2011, to make sure the bears came out of hibernation okay and perhaps obtain a few pictures of the bears playing in the ponds.

What I did not expect was the response email below.  Keep in mind that in the amount of time spent on "chastising" me for bothering him with my questions, he could have actually of answered the questions and I would have been happy as a clam for another 6-7 months!  Instead, I am left wondering if Boris is even still alive as the picture links were taken at least a month ago, before the weather changed (in one of the pictures you can still see the animal transporters the bears arrived in).

From: Kristina Brunner
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2010 4:14 PM
To: 'Pat Craig'
Subject: RE: Bears?

Pat -

I am saddened and disappointed by your email response below. For four years, (putting in 80 hour work weeks), I lived in hell trying to save the WAO animals with very little help from others. I had not realized sending me a couple of pictures of Boris was a "luxury" and a tremendous inconvenience. I did not plan to ask for any additional pictures once I had one of Boris outside his transporter as I believed he was now in good hands.

Since you previously indicated in our last phone call it would not be a problem to send me pictures of Boris in his new home (not just sitting in a transporter), I did not interpret this to be an imposition for you or a member of your staff. The email I sent you (below) was simply a reminder of a promise you made to me to send me a few Boris pictures and I was hoping for information about how the bears were enjoying their first snowfall (after all during our first conversation you said I could ask any time how the bears were faring in Colorado and when I asked if you were sure it was okay to check in now and then and ask how the bears were doing, you insisted it was okay).

I was also hoping you could let me know how many cats were still at the WAO because I was planning on fundraising for some Christmas "toys" for those left behind, plus I wanted to make contact with those who took in cats this month so I could see if they need help in purchasing enrichment "toys" for the animals (as Jeanette and I have already provided Safe Haven with three boomerballs for Lulu, Kovu, and Ifaw for the holidays).

Sadly, your response brought back memories of how Carol responded to email photo requests and I had hoped better from you. I should not have to remind you that part of being a sanctuary director is to occasionally respond to animal inquires, else you will give the impression that something terrible has happened to the animals in your care. For instance, I contacted Wildcat Sanctuary and requested a picture of T'Savo and Layla (lion and tiger) one week after they arrived. Tammy had previously posted a lot of photographs of her other arrivals, so I thought it was a little unusual there were no pictures of Layla or T'Savo living at Wildcat Sanctuary. Like you, Tammy coldly responded she was "too busy" with animal rescues to respond to my request, when she previously said it was okay to contact her for WAO animal pictures. Then a few days later, I found the death announcement of T'Savo on Facebook. So now I am left wondering, is Layla still alive? Sadly, I probably will never know.

I would have thought you would welcome interest in the sanctuary's animals and would welcome the opportunity to show off the bears. Needless to say, your timing could not be worse, as this happens to be the anniversary month of the WAO investigation (5 years ago) and the realization that I will never be a part of these animals lives ever again is devastating (not to mention learning about the deaths of WAO animals this month).

So while I understand the stresses of animal rescues, there are also stresses of animal losses during this holiday season.

I thank you for the links of the bear pictures. If you had sent me these links without all the included text, I would have been very happy. Bear pictures and updates were not only for me, but for those few people that stuck by me during the WAO investigation. As I told you in a previous conversation, traveling to Colorado is impossible for me and since I did not send the bears to the WAO, but rather tried to help them as an animal rescuer, I would have thought you would put me in a different "category"
than that of "previous owner." You will not have to "pacify" me anymore as I will now accept that Boris and the rest of the bears are now lost to me.

I pray that you do not have to suffer the loss of hundreds of animals as I have over the last several years and I will pray that Boris, Natasha, Tiny, and the rest of the WAO thrive at your facility.

Disappointed in you,

Kristina.

From: Pat Craig
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2010 8:30 AM
To: 'Kristina Brunner'
Subject: RE: Bears?

Hi Kristina,

I apologize, as I am swamped with coordinating an urgent rescue and had to work on this in between flurries of calls and being outside. I appreciate your passing on the kind words from Cedar Hill.

Unfortunately, we don't have lots of spare time... nor the luxury to pass out regular updates, as everyone here already works insane hours. Boris and the others are doing great, and it would be best if you just came to visit them - rather than putting the onus on me to keep you up to date on their latest progress.

I appreciate your concern for the well being of these bears - as well as all the other animals from WAO - but in reality, it's nearly impossible to pacify the desire for information by all the people that send animals here, so we usually rely on their coming to visit them.

In any case, I don't mean to be cold, it's just taxing... so even though I would love to keep everyone informed, I just can't. Hope you understand.

I'm inserting two links below to zip files with tons of pictures of Boris and the others - so you're welcome to download these (they're rather large due to high resolution)...

http://02e0ab2.netsolhost.com/downloads/waobears/IMG_5408.zip

http://02e0ab2.netsolhost.com/downloads/waobears/boris/boris1.zip

http://02e0ab2.netsolhost.com/downloads/waobears/boris/boris2/boris2.zip

Pat
http://www.wildanimalsanctuary.org/


Saving one animal may not change the world...

But surely, for that one animal...

The world will change forever!

From: Kristina Brunner
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 8:28 AM
To: Pat Craig
Subject: Bears?

Boris

Greetings Pat:

Just checking in to see if there are any pictures of Boris available? Is it snowing there and are the WAO bears in hibernation? Any fun stories you can share about the bears and there first winter in Colorado?

We had a second freezing temperatures here in San Antonio and I'm worried about the remaining WAO animals. I hope they have enough heat and food to get through the cold winter days...

By chance, would you happen to know if Gizmo and Boris (two tigers) were relocated to another sanctuary? For some reason, I started worrying about them as well as Lance (aging tiger) and I don't know why.

I've heard back from the Zoo in Alamogordo, NM (they took in Noel the cougar) and she looks very happy living with her new cagemate, Rocky. The director extended an invite to me to visit Noel any time. For the most part, the sanctuaries that took the WAO animals have been nice enough to give me updates on the animals (to include pictures and videos) which is a relief to know they are doing okay in their new homes. There were a few that never responded and based on what I have learned about those particular sanctuaries on the Internet, I have a feeling I will never know how the WAO animals are doing--which is very sad.

Would you happen to know if any more cats are relocating to new homes this year? I'd love to establish some sort of contact (if they are willing) with sanctuaries taking in WAO animals...

I hope all is well with you!  Thank you so much for taking meat to the WAO cats and transporting them to their new homes. BTW - Cedarhills was most impressed with your animal transporter and how smooth you were able to move the Taz and Little Joe from truck to enclosure. Thought I'd pass on the kudos ~

Kind regards,

Kris

You know, out of all the people who operates a wild animal sanctuary, I thought Pat would have some inkling of what it is like to lose the animals you love.  After all, in 2006, Pat sent out an urgent appeal to various animal groups and shelters requesting help in placing his animals due to lack of funding.  Fortunately, several people were able to help him save the Colorado animals.  Sadly, he has seem to have forgotten how close he was to losing all his animals. Part of running a sanctuary is to have compassion of others-- whether those people are animal loves, rescuers, or former animal owners--for I truly believe what comes around, goes around. 

Boris, Tiny, and Natasha

I do remember this, when a person inquired on an animal that was placed at the WAO, and the animal died while in the sanctuary's care, Carol would tell any inquiring persons asking about that animal she would have to get back with that person because she was involved in an "animal rescue" case.  If anyone questioned the animal care, Carol would tell that person to come down to Texas and visit the sanctuary -- knowing that 99.9% of the people would not leave home just to visit a sanctuary in another state to verify whether or not the animals were still alive and well!  Then there's Wildcat Sanctuary, claiming they too busy to send me pictures of Leyla and T'Savo, and then a few days later I learn T'Savo is dead and there is no word on how Leyla is doing on the sanctuary's Facebook page or website. 


Yikes, so now I am left wondering, is Boris still alive or is he dead too?  Something tells me I will never know since this sanctuary does not fully utilizes its web site or Facebook page to announce changes to its animal population.

Yes my Nevada friend...you can now say I told you so.