Key Staff Members & Consultants

Ed Stewart: Chairman of the Board and PAWS Cofounder

Dr. Chris Draper: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Dr. Jackie Gai, DVM: Director of Veterinary Services

Catherine Doyle, MS: Director of Science, Research and Public Policy

Kim Gardner: Director of Programs, Media and Events | Volunteer Coordinator

Brian Busta: ARK 2000 Sanctuary Manager

Sandra K. Trousdale: CPA

Lisa Worgan: ARK 2000 Office Manager | Staff Photographer

Elliott Genovia: Galt Sanctuary Office Manager

Care and Management

For PAWS to responsibly provide quality, long-term care to the growing number of animals at our sanctuaries, it is vitally important for the organization to be financially strong, now, and well into the future. In order to ensure financial stability, an important component of all rescues must include provisions for permanent housing and lifetime care. The following are direct costs of habitat construction and lifetime care for some species.

ELEPHANTS
Elephants are highly sensitive, intelligent animals who rely on an intact, functioning social order to prevent stress and maintain normal physical and mental health. Profound disruptions in routine and changes in environment and companions can cause trauma to individual elephants.

The removal of an individual elephant from familiar surroundings and companions is a highly traumatic experience which can cause physical and psychological problems and, occasionally, death. All proposed elephant moves should be carefully studied and alternative solutions explored before a final decision is made to relocate individual elephants.

If a situation requires removal of an elephant to provide a better quality of life, careful planning and coordination of effort is essential. Trailer training before transport is critical for the safety of the elephant, and may take months to achieve. Our veterinarian must be given an opportunity to consult an elephant’s veterinarian to assess its ability to travel and to develop a program of veterinary care. Once the elephant is moved to PAWS, extra keeping staff is on duty 24 hours a day to monitor acclimation to environment and socialization with the other elephants. Additional construction is often necessary to facilitate the process and should be completed before the elephant is moved.

General care and feeding costs per elephant:

• Care and feeding of one healthy elephant—approximately $75,000 annually
• Care of an aged or unhealthy elephant can easily escalate to $100,000+ annually
• Trailer training and transportation for one elephant—approximately $15,000 to $50,000, depending on the distance traveled and amount of time for training

Our ARK 2000 facility has five elephant barns — one Asian, one African and three for bull elephants. The Asian and African barns are each 20,000 sq. ft. in size. Barns are equipped with heaters, hydraulic gates, restraint devices for veterinary procedures, heated and padded concrete floors, dirt floors, spacious sleeping stalls and pipe hallways for introduction and socialization of new elephants; some barns have indoor therapy pools. The Asian elephant barn contains dirt sleeping stalls specially designed for older elephants with foot and joint problems.

The Asian, African and bull elephant habitats contain hills, large oak and other native trees, grass, rocks, native brush as well as lakes, ponds and pools. We have hundreds of acres available for future expansion.

CONSTRUCTION COST COMPARISON!
Most zoo budgets for construction of elephant enclosures exceed $10,000,000.

APPROXIMATE COST PER ANIMAL

BEARS:

• Food and general care for one healthy bear, approximately $18,000 annually
• Habitat construction—one acre fenced, approximately $200,000
• Den and smaller holding area, approximately  $50,000
• Pool—approximately $50,000
• Veterinary care—approximately $5,000+ annually

LARGE FELINES:

• Food and general care for one healthy feline—approximately $20,000 annually
• Habitat construction—one acre fenced—approximately $200,000
• Den and smaller holding area—approximately $75,000
• Pool—approximately $50,000
• Veterinary care—$5,000 to $10,000+ annually

SMALLER FELINES:

• Food and general care for one healthy feline—approximately $10,000 annually
• Habitat construction—6,000 sq. ft.—approximately $100,000
• Den and smaller holding area—approximately $25,000
• Small pool—approximately $10,000
• Veterinary care—$3,000 - $5,000+ annually

SMALL PRIMATES:

• Food and general care for one healthy primate—approximately $8,000 annually
• Habitat construction—8,000 sq. ft.—approximately  $80,000
• Indoor housing and heating—approximately  $50,000
• Landscaping and climbing structures—approximately $15,000
• Veterinary care—$3,000 - $5,000+ annually