By Monte Whaley, Denver Post

Many of the 350 or so animals at Creative Acres sanctuary east of Brighton are in a struggle for survival after last week’s blizzard. Owner Maxine Mager, hugging Howie the emu Tuesday, has been toiling 10 to 12 hours a day digging through drifts so she can bring food to the animals. She’s seeking volunteers to help her. (Post / Cyrus McCrimmon)
ADAMS COUNTY – Last week’s blizzard wasn’t kind to Percy the one-eyed miniature horse, Vannie the one-eared sheep or to the rest of the scarred and orphaned animals at Creative Acres animal sanctuary.

Almost a week after the storm brought snowdrifts more than 8 feet high in some parts of the shelter’s 44 acres east of Brighton, owner Maxine Mager is still digging out. She fretted that another storm later this week will further endanger its 350 or so residents.

“I’m really worried about what’s going to happen next,” said Mager. “I really do wish there was more than just one of me.”

Mager has run the nonprofit shelter for more than 19 years, caring for emus, sheep, pot-bellied pigs, dogs, cats, horses and other species that have come to her through a variety of circumstances. Most, she said, were given to her by owners who can’t care for them anymore.

Others have been abandoned or abused by their previous owners. None of the animals will be euthanized and they are not caged.

“Most of these animals are not considered adoptable,” said Mager. “But here they can live and die peacefully.”

But the blizzard trapped many in pens and stalls, and Mager labored for 10 to 12 hours a day delivering food and water to them. She put a small flock of chickens inside her house for shelter and crammed other birds together for warmth and shelter to keep them from perishing in the cold.

One rooster – Buddy – died during the storm, probably crushed by peacocks rushing into a shelter, she said.

She needs volunteers to help her cut through the remaining snowdrifts so she can deliver more feed and supplies to the animals. She’s been scrambling over the mounds of snow, dragging a garden hose to fill water bowls.

Mager also needs repairs to wind-damaged doors and the barn’s roof, and up to 300 more hay bales for the winter.

Brighton resident Linda Owen and her family did chores for Mager last week and hopes to do more to lighten her load.

“I don’t know how she does what she does,” Owen said. “But I hope to do more because what she does is so important.”

Fundraising, Mager said, has been stunted by recent legal and health problems. Creative Acres was forced to move in 2002 from its previous location near 136th Avenue and Intertstate 76 in a dispute with a developer.

Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.

Posted on December 27th, by CAadmin in Media Articles.

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