By Robyn Lydick, The I-70 Scout
December 3, 2002

Maxine Mager never gives up. She never gives up on an animal and she never gives up on her mission and dream.

Mager runs Creative Acres, a free-roam, no-kill sanctuary. Only when an animal is in obvious, constant pain, will Mager consider euthanasia. Several of the animals are receiving chemotherapy and other life-lengthening medications. Some are blind, some are missing limbs, some are terminally ill. All receive love and attention.

Since 1990, she has provided a home to animals that were abandoned, mistreated, or simply unwanted. Until a few weeks ago she did this outside of Brighton, on land a developer was eyeing for a mall. She has filed an appeal to keep the Bright property. Mager claims the developer would stop at nothing to clear Creative Acres off the property. "He threatened to start killing the animals," she said, her voice tight.

So Mager moved the menagerie north of Watkins Oct 22. She will need about $1.5 million to get the sanctuary back on its feet, she said. Most of that is for the house, land and relocation expenses. 

Now 160 animals roam over 44 acres, a drastic improvement from her previous 12 acres. Many animals have the run of sections of the house too -- mostly cats, although ferrets, chinchillas and rabbits have cages inside. A gate spans the top of the stairway to keep the cats downstairs. When company arrives at the door, a pack of dogs, ranging from a Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix named Chi Chi to large labs, alert anyone near. Mager calls each animal by name. Most of the animals are available for adoption, but Mager doesn't want the animals to wind up at another sanctuary or shelter.

Her adoption form is a contract running four pages. She retains the right to stop in and make a home inspection. If everything is not up to par, she levies a $500 fine. "If I find you've hurt the animals I will take you to court", she said. If Mager seems harsh, it is because of the condition of some animals as they arrive. Coyotes attacked the sheep Vanny, named for Vanna White. She lost an ear and the sight in one eye in the attack. "I was thinking of Van Gogh, but I went with a girl's name," Mager said. Mager fed Vanny with an eyedropper for 2 1/2 months in the bathroom of her home.

Deray, an Arabian horse Mager bought at auction for $300, was on the block because his owners felt he was crazy.  Mager insists he is very intelligent and bored from being cooped up.  A ferret arrived because her owner could not treat her cancer.  Mager did, using traditional and natural healing methods.  "I used a lot of massage with the animals too," she said.

Nov. 28, she received a call from a woman in Fort Lupton who needed a home for her older horses. The woman is dying of breast cancer. Her horses aged 17, 14, and 8, are foundered or have colic. "These are not horses that will be on anybody's wish list," Mager said.

In 1992, several pot-bellied pigs arrived with patchy coats and skin sagging off their frames. Today they are happy, healthy hogs that seem to be in hog heaven.

In fenced yards, visitors will find barnyard critters, including Earl, a peacock who believes he runs the places; silkie chickens, which appear to be dust bunnies with beaks from a distance; emus; notebook-eating goats;  geese;  turkeys; sheep; the odd dog that doesn't get on well with the others; a few ill-tempered pot-belly pigs; and Checkers, a Plymouth Rock rooster who will attack as soon as one's back is turned. Billy the Goat smiles on request, and Chinook, another goat, follows visitors around and taste-tests clothing.  Billy Bob the Goat will give visitors a massage with his curly horns, if they are brave enough.

Workers were swarming around trying to complete enclosures and sheds before more snow falls, since many of the animals cannot take cold weather.  The move was sudden after a deal on another location fell through in the 11th hour.

Mager is emphatic about what she does. "I don't kill animals. Sometimes you will go to a shelter and they call themselves no-kill when they are no-kill adoptable, meaning they will kill animals that are unadoptable," she said.  "They also house the animals in small cages. We keep them alive. We give them room to roam. It's about their quality of life."

In her 14 years of caring for animals, she has only had one animal put down.  Several have died of old age. One pig and one chicken died of pneumonia and cold last week. "I assess the animals' quality of life not in a few minutes, but in the overall picture. I'm disappointed in how we take advantage of animals," she continues. "People will decide to put an animal down as a matter of convenience."

Mager and the animals work with people too. Chi Chi is a goodwill ambassador and she often visits nursing homes. "It's so amazing when I walk in with a chicken on my arm," Mager said. "It seems to open a door to the patients' childhoods, so many grew up on farms." Terminally ill patients and disabled patients get visits from the animals. City children come on tours and volunteers help at every turn.

Ideal Fencing supplied the corrals and pens;  Wayne's Electric and AS&D Contracting supplied building services. "Albertson's has supported me for 13 years." Mager said. "They give us cat and dog food. I couldn't have made it without them."

The sanctuary gets by on a budget of $70,000 a year, most of that as in-kind donations. Mostly, donations and volunteers take up the slack. The sanctuary averages $5,000 per month in bills. "We really need hay and small animal food such as ferret food, a water treatment system and carpentry and plumbing work," she said.

To give money, visit any US Bank in Colorado and ask to donate to the Creative Acres Animal Relief Fund. To donate by mail, send to Creative Acres, Inc., PO box 1143, Brighton, 80601.

For more information or to volunteer, call (303) 659-4792.