The Gazette-Enterprise

Three baby bears sat in a row — one resting a wet nose on the wire cage, his brother gnawing on the enclosure door and a cousin reaching through the bars for his caretaker.

The 5-month-old grizzly cubs groaned in agreement to keeper Maria Castillo’s concerns — their 20 by 30 by 10 foot enclosure at Silver Wolf Wildlife Refuge will soon be too small.

“They really grow pretty fast,” Castillo said while playing patty cake with a male cub. “They’ll be needing a new crate pretty soon.”

The cubs’ sister and cousin, a honey-colored, shy she cub, climbed to the top of the jungle-painted “den” to demonstrate. The roof stopped her progress in less than three seconds.

The troupe of youngsters will soon join their parents — one lumbering papa bear and two playful mama bears — in the family’s permanent enclosure. Though the space is bigger, the new familial additions will make the quarters too close for comfort for the large, territorial animals.

“The cage is too small for all seven of them,” Castillo explained. “The four males cannot be together. They have to have their own habitat or they will fight each other for the control of the area.”

Instead of a metal and concrete cage, Castillo said the refuge envisions a small island habitat for the family, complete with a cave, waterfall and lots of greenery.

“We’re trying to change the structure of the refuge from metal into a more natural habitat,” Castillo said.

That desire applies to the sanctuary’s other inhabitants, too. Castillo would like to see the refuge’s jaguars, white tigers, hyenas and various endangered species have a little more room to stretch their limbs.

The refuge is also undergoing more human-friendly renovations, such as wheelchair accessibility, coats of bright primary color paint for different cages and educational signs about each animal exhibit.

The nonprofit has taken in more than 100 exotic and domestic animals since the idea for the sanctuary was born in 2002.

Originally planned as a private, 10-acre exotic zoo on a private ranch off Savage Ranch Road, the owners changed their vision to a public sanctuary meant to teach visitors about the importance of kindness to animals.

Many of the refuge’s residents did not enjoy that kindness from former owners.

Some were abandoned at the center’s entrance, while others were donated because their keepers did not think through the decision to raise an exotic animal in a domestic environment.

“Some have been abused, and some come from places who have no room for them,” Castillo said.

But the animals seem to have forgiven humans for their errors. From a giraffe named Geoffrey to a camel named Jiba, the inhabitants are surprisingly tame.

Free roaming emus look at visitors’ cars as if they should get out of the road, and the petting zoo’s deer acts more like a kitten, nuzzling and licking its way to the center of attention.

The refuge won’t be open to the public until summer 2007, but a stream of volunteers and a small staff constantly work to ready the center.

What they need now, Castillo said, is more funding.

It will take about $40,000 to build two new enclosures for the bears and an unknown amount to finish out the sanctuary.

“We get most of our funding through different churches, but it’s hard to move forward without more money,” Castillo said.

The sanctuary welcomes all forms of donations, including funding, labor and building supplies. They can be mailed to 900 Savage Ranch Road, Seguin, TX 78155.

For more information, call (830) 639-4233.

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