No-kill site is woman’s love

By George Lane, The Denver Post
August 6, 2001

ADAMS COUNTY - Maxine Mager has made a home for a blind dog and a deaf dog, a one-eared sheep, a small drift of pot-bellied hogs (which used to be pot-bellied pigs), cats, chickens, goats, miniature horses and a half-dozen full-sized horses. “We take any animal in any condition,” Mager said, “and we’re the only ones who do.”

For Mager, love and devotion for the more than 100 animals she lives with and cares for border on being an obsession. Her criticism of other animal shelters, and her desire to change them, is very near to a mission.
For 13 years, she has run Creative Acres, a no-kill, free-roam animal sanctuary on 12 1/2 acres south of Brighton.

Many of the animals she takes in have been abused or were near death when they arrived at her door. Vanny, the one-eared sheep, for example, had been attacked by a coyote. Five of the pot-bellied hogs were found starving in a basement. Now, they’re all healthy and well behaved.

Why does she do it? “Because there is a need,” she said. “When I first started, I did it because it was the right thing to do.” Moreover, she wants to show others that while city pounds must be about protecting the public from roaming and sometimes vicious animals, shelters should be about the humane treatment of them.

“I feel that someone has to be a spokesman for the animals,” she said. Mager is critical of other shelters that find it necessary to keep animals in small cages. She is particularly critical of the Denver Dumb Friends League, because even though it is considered a no-kill animal adoption program, it practices euthanasia.

“I’m trying to change the no-kill attitudes,” she said. “I don’t want to close them down,” she said of the Denver Dumb Friends League. “I just want to change them.”

Robert Rohde, president of the Denver Dumb Friends League, said he is aware of Creative Acres but declined to comment on its operation. However, he did comment on her criticisms.

“We wish we didn’t have to euthanize animals too,” Rohde said. “We are working toward 100 percent adoption by 2005. But no matter how hard you try, you can’t adopt out all the animals. And some animals we can’t put back in the community” he said. “We never say no to an animal. We never say we’re full and can’t take it.” “We handle 23,000 animals a year,” Rodhe said. “I don’t know how many Maxine cares for, but I don’t think it’s 23,000.”
Mager said some smaller organizations are trying to care for animals properly, but there aren’t enough. “We want to do a lot of these,” she said. “We don’t care if there are copycats.”

In addition to caring for the animals, nursing them back to health, training them and finding new homes for many of them, Mager also takes the animals to hospitals and nursing homes where they bring joy to the patients. Bus loads of children also come to Creative Acres to pet the creatures.
She does it all with the help of a few volunteers, donations of food and fencing, and contributions of about $70,000 annually.

Even so, there always is a need for donations -- things such as hay, animal food, medical supplies such as disposable gloves, cleaning supplies, office supplies, a snow blower -- and almost anything and everything else involved with caring for animals.

For more information on Creative Acres or to make a donation, call 303-659-4792.