Here’s a video clip of Lori Ensign-Scroggins, the owner of Sanctuary’s, with an 11-day-old leopard cub, born of Mirage, being interviewed by KOKI FOX 23, on September 1, 2009.
http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/1080747/safari_sanctuary
Lori recently stated that she only bred Mirage once, back in 2004, after our recent posts online notified readers that she had intentionally bred Safari’s leopards, resulting in at least three litters. She said that was the only time she bred the leopards, because people had objected to it. This is an excerpt from Lori’s comments made on March 9, 2013, to the KJRH article ““Safari’s Animal Sanctuary in Broken Arrow is looking for donations and volunteers” published March 8, 2013:
QUOTE
[responding to Jolie's comment: "Lori Ensign-Scroggins bred two of Safari's black African leopards Mirage and Oscar, with the result of three litters of cubs. The first litter was born in December 2004. TWO DAYS after the cubs were born, they were removed from their mother, to be raised by humans and bottle fed, to socialize them with humans and allow them to be handled for entertainment purposes for other interactive zoos and sanctuaries and possible as private pets."]
Lori Ensign-Scroggins: THE TRUTH: YES THERE WERE BABIES BACK IN 2004. THEY WERE CONTRACTED TO A USDA ORGANIZATION WHO WANTED THE WHOLE LITTER. WE PULLED THEM AND THEY WERE GIVEN TO THE OTHER ZOO. TO A ZOO. AND BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE DID NOT LIKE THAT, WE STOPPED BREEDING AFTER THAT! JUST TO APPEASE GOSSIPING HATERS?! ZOO’S BREED FOR OTHER ZOO’S ALL THE TIME. GENERALLY GETTING POSITIVE FUN LOVING PRESS FROM IT. WHY IS THIS AN ATTACK? OTHER THAT TO JUST TRY TO CAUSE TROUBLE? PERIOD.
[responding to Jolie's comment: "Removing those cubs distressed the mother leopard Mirage and upset her mate Oscar. That same day, Oscar attacked one of the volunteers who came into the cage to care for him, resulting in serious injuries that required the care of emergency room treatment."]
Lori Ensign-Scroggins: YEP. IT HAPPENED. I WAS WALKING UP ONE HILL TO TELL THE CREW WE HAD BABIES, AND NOT TO GO INTO CAGES, OR EVEN THAT AREA. THEY WERE COMING DOWN OTHER HILL TO FEED AND CLEAN. IT HAPPENED. THIS IS WORKING WITH EXOTICS. WE HAVE LOCKOUTS FOR THESE GUYS NOW. NEVER EVER GOING IN WITH THE LEOPARDS.
END QUOTE
Now, she’s caught in one more lie, one of so many, by this official video from KOKI TV (see first link in this article, above).
Lori says in this September 2009 interview that a USDA “zoo” ordered a litter of cubs and this was the only one born. It certainly wouldn’t have been an AZA accredited zoo that asked this breeding (they’re very careful with DNA tracking when breeding threatened or endangered species) or would want the cub taken from its mother at such a young age. The reason for the early removal of this cub is because this cub was intended for entertainment purposes at an interactive zoo–to be petted by humans and likely to be held by visitors who are charged for photos taken with it, while it’s still a young animal. These interactive zoos always have a need for more, new babies to come in–to bring in more traffic and revenue. Is this the work a rescue “sanctuary” should be doing–breeding to provide animals for these purposes (all the while collecting donations based on the premise that the animals at the “all-rescue sanctuary” park have nowhere else to go and would have faced euthanasia unless Lori took them in to care for them)?
“For the love of the animals” is Safari’s official slogan. The truth is more like “for the love of using these animals for our pleasure while ignoring their needs.” What other reason would there be to remove a days-old cub from her mother? No doubt that Lori profited from the sale of this cub or traded it for another animal for her “rescue sanctuary” to bring the public in.
Lori states in the KOKI interview that they (the human staff) were all crying taking the baby cub away from the mother leopard but the mother (Mirage) was not bothered but RELIEVED. Hard to believe and quite a contrast from what happened when the cubs from the first litter were removed from Mirage in December 2004 when they were two days old. Both the female and her mate Oscar were agitated by the event and a staff member was attacked by Oscar, requiring ER care and stitches. The USDA inspection report of Jan. 20, 2005, noted the animals were stressed, by the report made to the agency by one of the employees. Read more from our recent article about the leopard attack here and to see the evidence about the attack.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.434728089938216.1073741828.375092402568452&type=1
Read more of the truth about Safari’s Sanctuary in Broken Arrow, OK, at Safari’s Truth Destination on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/SafarisTruthDestination
