Kaban ni D_BystandeR; PINUY-ANAN NGA GIPANDAY SA GUGMA ALANG SA MGA HAYOPAN!!!

HAVEN BUILT ON LOVE now fights for its survival. CALI, Columbia - Ask Ana Julia Torres how many children she has, and she'll say 652: two human offspring plus the hundreds of tigers, lions, mules, snakes, monkeys and other species residing at her refuge north of here. The creatures have typically been seized from or cast off by narcos, circuses, animal traffickers and bored collectors.

Her reference to the "children" inhabiting her 8-acre private facility, named Villa Lorena after her daughter, reflects her deep love for the animals. One of her four lions seems to return the sentiment. After Torres approached his cage, she and the enormous cat named Jupiter exchanged a hug through the bars. "That was the most sincere hug I ever get," said Torres, a 54-year-old private high school principal.

"It's human hugs hat frighten me."  Since she opened the refuge in southwestern Columbia in 1984, National Police officers assigned to an environmental crimes unit have brought her lions, camels, tigers, ostriches, monkeys, flamingos, turtles and other wildlife that public zoos don't want or can't accommodate.  

Many of the animals, particularly the big cats, have been abandoned - and often mistreated -  by circuses. Others were once in the private collections of drug traffickers, who have a penchant for accumulating exotic species. One of her 11 Bengal tigers was owned by a narco who fed it human flesh, police say.  "Usually the only other option we have for these animals is euthanasia,"  said Columbian National Police Cpl. Eliecer Zorilla, a member of the environmental squad, who said most of the animals arrive at Villa Lorena sick, malnourished or abused. Before buying land to open the refuge in 1984, Torres took in stray dogs, at one time housing 35 of them.  But Torres said love alone can no longer sustain the refuge. She has plowed all her available assets, including an inheritance, into the shelter, she said, and will have to close it within a year unless she gets financial help. She hasn't paid her 10 employees in three months, she added.  The local and national governments have turned down her request for aid and she has had to hustle for private and corporate donations. She declined to disclose her annual budget, but said she was tapped out and that the bank was threatening to repossess her pickup truck. Still, she said, she doesn't turn away any animals.  The  environmental police help out by donating the main source of food for her big cats: the carcasses of horses killed by autos. Supermarkets give her leftover meat and fruit.  But the funding shortfall means a sick tiger has gone without medication because she doesn't have the $250 to pay for a veterinary visit. "If she closes, we'll be up in the air, with no place else to go," Zorrillaa said.  Columbian law prohibits releasing animals seized from collectors into the wild, because they either can't defend themselves or could pose a risk to the rest of the population. 

With time and love they become docile," Torres says of the often-abused animals that arrive at Villa Lorena. "Every one of them thanks me in the way. But I can only go on so much longer, taking on the responsibility and the costs myself."

(Bug-os ang  pasalamat sa KAHAYAG ngadto sa magtatampo  nga si JOHNNY LOVE, nga nagpaambit sa pahibalo gikan sa Chicago Tribune. Nagtakuban siya sa pangalan, "D_BystandeR".  Natawo siya sa Sugbo apan anaa na karon manimuyo sa Illinois sa tinipong nasod sa Amerika. Ang kusog nga koneksyon sa kasayuran pinaagi sa internet kanunayng naghaling sa iyang kadasig  pagtuki sa mga nagbukalbukal nga hisgutanan dinhi sa atong nataran. Usa siya ka magsusulat nga gradwado sa kursong komersiyo padulong sa pagka accountant sa University of San Carlos kaniadtong tuig 1961.  Nahimo siyang miyembro sa usa ka hugpong sa mga batan-ong magsusulat nga gitawag ug STUDENT PRESS.  Nahimo usab siyang   Associate Editor sa basahon  USC-JPIAN sa tuig 1962-63. Magtatampo usab siya isip magsusulat sa nasudnong magasin,  "Philippines Free Press" ug sa mga nag-unang peryodiko dinhi sa dakbayan sa Sugbo sa lunhaw pa ang iyang pangedaron. Nahimo siyang mamumuo sa usa ka pribadong kompaniya sa dakbayan sa Sugbo, ESCAÑO LINES, sulod sa napulo ug duha (12) ka tuig  dayon niyang tapon  ngadto sa NAPOCOR  ug nahimong kawani sa kagamhanan  sulod sa bayente dos (22) ka tuig. Niadtong tunga-tungang bahin sa tuig 2000, nilalin siya ngadto sa tinipong nasod sa Amerika ug sulod sa napulo (10) ka tuig, nagtrabaho siya sa  buhatan sa kagamhanan sa nasod sama  sa  UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE (USPS).  Karon sa pangedaron nga 68,  gihuptan gihapon niya ang walay pagkutat nga kadasig ug walay busganan nga kaikag sa pagpaambit sa iyang nahuptang abilidad  ug kabatid sa panulat.  Dili niya mapugngan ang kaugalingon sa pagpaambit sa iyang mga hunahuna labi na kon molambigit kini ug hisgotanan nga makadani sa iyang mga mata. Makadawat siya sa inyong mga hunahuna mahitungod sa iyang sinulat sa johnnylobedica@yahoo.com)