By C. K. Reporter Anna Lieb, The Denver Post, Colorado Kids column
July 3, 2001

DENVER - Do you ever wonder if there really is someone like Dr. Dolittle; someone who can talk with animals, as well as hear them? If you think that no one could be like Dr. Dolittle, think again. Maxine Mager, who runs a no-kill, free-range animal shelter called Created Acres, is amazingly similar to the fictional Dr. Dolittle.

A different kind of shelter
What’s meant by a “no-kill, free-roam” animal shelter? “Free roam” means that the animals are not locked in cages. Maxine said, “Everything in life dies, but it’s how they live that matters”. This philosophy about quality of life is the main reason that Creative Acres is free-roam. “No-kill” means that the animals are not put to sleep just because they haven’t been adopted or have behavior problems. Maxine believes in spending time on positive things. Instead of spending half an hour arranging for an animal to be put to sleep, Maxine would spend that time figuring out a way to help the animal. Creative Acres also provides animal companionship for special needs and terminally ill people. Creative Acres is the only animal shelter of its kind in Colorado and possibly the world. Maxine guesses that about 100 animals live at Creative Acres.

A love of animals
Maxine has been running Creative Acres for 12 years. “I didn’t even know I founded it; I just started taking in sick and injured animals” she said. She does most of her own veterinary work; she gives her animals stitches, shots and other care right in her house. Once she put an injured bird in traction and she is trying to get a crippled rabbit a wheelchair! Maxine will accept “any animal in any condition” into her shelter. Yet out of all the animals she has taken in, some in very bad condition, Maxine has had to put only one animal to sleep.

A way with creatures
Maxine cannot talk with her animals, but that doesn’t mean she can’t communicate with them. She is a licensed animal trainer, and she teaches her animals without using food, choke chains or pinch collars. Instead, Maxine uses body language to communicate with them. Maxine trains pets in their homes so they’re in familiar surroundings. She helps deaf and blind people, and deaf and blind animals with her training.

A menagerie
“The animals may not be perfect, but we think they are” said Maxine. The kinds of animals that live at Creative Acres are astounding. There are horses, pigs, chickens, rabbits and raccoons at Creative Acres to mention a few of them. Many of the animals are miracles to Maxine. I got to meet Vannie, a one-eared sheep no one thought would survive after she was attached by wild dogs, and Dumpster, a spunky cat who got his name from where he was found, in a dumpster on a 100-degree day.

Maxine Mager may not be Dr. Dolittle, but she is similar in the way that she communicates with animals and heals them. Most important of all, she shares with Dr. Dolittle, a love of helping animals, and the world is a better place for it. Unfortunately, one of Maxine’s goats ate the rest of my notes (he even gave me a kiss in apology) so this concludes the story of the real life Dr. Dolittle.