Animal park needs donations

Wendy Smith, Guest Writer

December 03, 2008 04:07 pm

— On a normal day at the zoo, you can see hundreds of beautiful, flawless exotic animals, each one breathtakingly spectacular in its own way. Young and old alike are humored and awed by the creatures.
A normal day at the G.W. Exotic Animal Park does not exude the same bubbly disposition. Instead, visitors to this memorial park in Wynnewood, Okla., are somewhat solemn and heart-stricken by what they see here.
Like the zoo, the animals that reside in the park are exotic and majestic, but these animals convey so much more. The animals that you can see here are ones that have been rescued from abuse, abandonment and/or mistreatment. Their stories are sad and harsh. You can see, physically and emotionally, the pain and abuse that each of the animals went through before it was given refuge at the G.W. Exotic Animal Park.
“The saddest thing that I saw at the park was a baboon that had its tail frozen off,” Nia Ruston, an East Central freshman from Stonewall, Okla., said after her class took a trip to the park. Ruston’s classmate, Wes Fawcett, said that the gloomiest thing he saw at the park was how scared the wolf pups seemed. There are about 1,400 animals, including 128 different species and 182 large cats, housed inside the G.W. Exotic Animal Park.
Each has its own horrible story about how it ended up being rescued and relocated to the park. By logging on to their website, www.gwpark.org, you can read emotional stories of the park’s beloved inhabitants and their saddening hardships.
The G.W. Exotic Animal Park was founded in 1997 as a nonprofit organization by Francis and Shirley Schreibvogel of Springer, Okla. Their son, G.W., was killed in a car accident and, thus, was the motivation for the exotic animal park. The Schreibvogels said their son always wanted to go to the jungle and see the animals running wild, so they bought land in Wynnewood and opened a place for unwanted and mistreated animals to be harbored. Also, the animals’ cages were built as memorials to other people who have lost loved ones.
The Shreibvogels hoped that people from all over the world could come to their park and learn about the rescued animals and the significance of taking care of them. The G.W. Exotic Animal Park has been visited by people from all 50 states and over 200 countries. The park is now one of the nation’s largest and, arguably, most touching.
The staff at the G.W. Exotic Animal Park works their hardest to accommodate any unwanted animals and to keep the best trained personnel on hand to care for the animals. Since the park is a nonprofit organization, the animals rely on donations for adequate care and living conditions. In addition, the donations are only used for the reason specified by the donor.
“If the park received more donations,” said Ruston, “they would be able to rescue more animals.”
Fawcett also commented, “With more money, the park could better the current conditions.”
It seems obvious to any visitor that the animals would undeniably benefit from donations by visitors and sponsors. There is a sizeable list on the park’s website of things that are needed to improve the lives of these animals. A few things needed are igloos and doghouses, pet carriers, milk formula, trees and plants, towels and buckets.
Another form of donation is adopting a baby lion, tiger or bear.
Sponsorship can come in three forms: $25 a month sponsors an animal, a onetime payment of $400 will sponsor a baby that you get to name and your name will go on its story sign, or you can pay $600 once, in addition to $100 a month to sponsor a baby that you get to name. For this sponsorship, you also get a sign and free admission to the park to play with your baby animal as it grows.
The park has so much more to offer than just a day trip to a zoo. You can rent a cabin or hook up an R.V. for as long as you would like. Staying overnight enables visitors to listen to the animals at night and to cook out on the deck and have fun with the family. Also, the park offers retreats for those who wish to really delve into the experience of raising these animals.