Wolf Sanctuary in Colorado Files for Bankruptcy

A Colorado wolf sanctuary filed for bankruptcy, blaming the devastation from the High Park wildfire that scorched roughly a third of the 162-acre property where its 30 wolves roam.

Sanctuary officials had to leave the nonprofit’s LaPorte, Colo., property for nearly a month after the fire broke out in June 2012, said W.O.L.F. Sanctuary (Wolves Offered Life & Friendship) executive director Shelley J. Coldiron.

The fire—one of the worst in the state’s history—burned about 87,000 acres and destroyed more than 250 homes. The sanctuary lost several sheds and storage facilities to the blaze and is still fighting an insurer to pay for $60,000 to cover the damage. The property has also flooded; some of the fire-scorched earth no longer absorbs water.

“When you’re a nonprofit like us…and you have huge cost increases to address these problems, it really is impacting,” Ms. Coldiron told Bankruptcy Beat.

Sanctuary officials want to relocate, perhaps to a spot that would allow the public to visit. Its current location down a private road has made it tougher to get donations.

The nonprofit’s bankruptcy could also help officials figure out how much money to pay its former chairman, who once owned the sanctuary’s land and resigned facing criminal charges relating to alleged market manipulation in Australia.

Founded in 1994, the sanctuary cares for up to 30 wolves. The animals are often left homeless when a breeder shuts down or when people who bought them as pets realize they can’t care for them. A typical animal shelter won’t take them, and the animals don’t have the skills to survive in the wild, Ms. Coldiron explained.

The wolves that are taken in live at the sanctuary until they die, typically in their late teens. The nonprofit’s five employees sometimes take them to schools, churches or rotary clubs when they lecture on why wolves make terrible pets.

The nonprofit spends the roughly $250,000 in donations it gets every year on property maintenance, vet costs and food. Local grocery stores and Wal-Mart donate meat or damaged packages of dog food, and hunters sometimes drop off venison, Ms. Coldiron said.

Gray wolves in the wild, meanwhile, are making a comeback after being classified as endangered in 1978 and have recently been taken off some watch lists. The latest population estimate for the gray wolf is 5,385.

Write to Katy Stech at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @KatyStech.