CLAREMORE, Okla. — The Wild Heart Ranch is in the process of raising more than $275,000 to purchase land, with which, they will do nothing.
The acreage near the ranch's site is quiet, and Annette King, its founder, intends to keep it that way.
King says wildlife has always gravitated to her.
“I’m not afraid of them, that is the simple …. it’s lack of fear,” King said.
She’s not afraid of much. Just two days before she spoke with 2 News she discovered the land was for sale.
She felt that if she didn’t buy it, someone else would develop it or use it for hunting, so she and her husband Daniel Hardt decided to buy it.
King ponied up $5,000 of her own money, and has since raised nearly $180,000 from donors across the US and the world. She’s buying the land for $275,000.
“We’re not gonna do anything with it,” King said.
The wildlife will get to enjoy it. Through this purchase she’s ensuring no humans will take over. Humans, she says, cause most of the animals to end up at Wild Heart.
- SEE MORE >>> Pictures of the wildlife currently at the ranch
“It’s our fencing, it’s our cars, it’s our dogs, it’s our cats, it’s our kids, it’s our buildings, it’s our phone lines, it’s barbed wire,” King said, “It’s all of the stuff, that we have to have to have our existence. And it’s colliding with theirs.”
King and Hardt put their necks on the line, relying on donors from around the US and the world, all because they care for Oklahoma’s wildlife.
“Because no one else does,” Hardt said, “That’s why we’re here. There was a need to care about these animals when no one else would.”
“I know there’s going be developers one day, cursing my name, but that’s my purpose,” King said.
The $180,000 was the tally as of Oct. 15 at 5 p.m. Organizers expect the funds to grow quickly.
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