$85K donation to help W.O.L.F. Sanctuary relocate
LAPORTE — The W.O.L.F. Sanctuary, which cares for captive-born wolves and wolf dogs at a rugged, remote tract off of Rist Canyon, has received an $85,000 grant from the Fort Collins-based Community Foundation of Northern Colorado to help it buy a new property that could be opened to the public.
W.O.L.F. — its name is an acronym for “Wolves Offered Life and Friendship — had launched a capital campaign earlier this year to raise funds for a down payment on the new property along U.S. Highway 287 north of Ted’s Place. Its officials estimated that $50,000 of its own savings would be needed in addition to support provided by donors. However, the sanctuary said Friday that an anonymous donor who had established a Donor Advised fund at the Community Foundation heard about the campaign and recommended the $85,000 grant.
The money will allow the sanctuary to make the $152,500 down payment on the $650,000 property by the Thursday deadline without using any of its own savings.
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“We were pleasantly surprised by this incredible donation, which became a game-changer in the short time W.O.L.F. had to run its capital campaign,” said Shelley Coldiron, the sanctuary’s executive director. “This grant enables W.O.L.F.’s savings to remain in place while moving forward on the additional steps required before relocating to the new property in 2017.”
The sanctuary also will have to pay for the Larimer County Special Review process, improvements to the property and buildings, and erection of new, larger wolf enclosures, so donations still are being sought.
W.O.L.F.’s current location already presented challenges both to operations and fundraising even before the devastating 2012 High Park Fire and great flood of 2013, Coldiron said, to the point that not only couldn’t the public be admitted but even donors couldn’t visit to see what they were paying for.
As funding becomes available, she’d like to add an educational and nature center, a visitor center and gift shop, a memorial garden and on-site living quarters for interns. She said she believes the improvements also can attract more tourism dollars to the region.
