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Exotic animal shelter moves By PAUL FATTIG CAVE JUNCTION -- The Wildwood Exotic Animal Shelter in Eagle Point has moved -- lock, stock and tigers. Opens this week What : Wildwood Endangered Animal Sanctuary. Where : 27893 Redwood Highway, Cave Junction. When : Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays. Closed Saturdays. Admission : $10. Children under 2 get in free. Renamed the Wildwood Endangered Animal Sanctuary, the nonprofit shelter established in 1995 by Bob and Bonnie Ringo is now located a mile south of Cave Junction on property that had been used as a zoo for more than three decades. The site opened as the Woodland Deer Park about 35 years ago, then changed owners to become Noah's Petting Zoo in the 1980s. The property is zoned for keeping exotic animals, Bonnie Ringo said. The facility opened to the public this week. Its grand opening is set Sunday. "This will facilitate our goals of being a rescue and educational facility," Ringo said. "Part of the reason we want to exhibit these animals is to tell the story of what is happening to them." Although Ringo would rather the big cats remained wild, she said there is a need for homes for lions and tigers and other large exotic animals that can never be released to the wild because they were raised in cages. Many of those animals are abused or neglected, she added. The Ringos are charter members of Friends For Life, a nonprofit group working to prevent the abuse and neglect of exotic animals. They also are licensed by the state and the federal government to handle big cats. They participate in a federal breeding program for endangered exotic species. The sanctuary's mission is to provide a home for neglected or abused exotic animals as well as to educate the public about the dire straits of those animals, many of whom are endangered, she said. "This is perfect for what we need," she said of the nearly 5-acre parcel. "If we get cats in we cannot keep, we will place them" with other sanctuaries, she added. The couple moved 14-foot-high cages and chain-link fencing from Eagle Point a little over a month ago. The Ringos, vegetarians who spend about $1,500 a month to feed and care for animals, had been looking for a new sanctuary site for the past couple of years, hoping to find one that was more suitable than their home along Highway 62. They had taken out a $55,000 loan on their Eagle Point house to help bear the cost of supporting the sanctuary. They put their house up for sale and held fund-raisers to help pay the feeding costs. The big-cat population at the new facility now includes three lions, 15 tigers and a lynx. Other animals, including a bear, lemurs, leopards and a coatimundi, are expected soon, Bonnie Ringo said. A petting zoo for children includes llamas, goats, sheep and rabbits. But the star of the facility is a female Bengal tiger cub born about eight weeks ago in Eagle Point, Ringo said. "It's a baby golden tabby that we have yet to name," she said, adding that the public is invited to submit names. Contributions of $1 or more are requested along with each name to Wildwood Endangered Animal Sanctuary, 27893 Redwood Highway, Cave Junction, OR 97523. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA