Once a year, up to four guests get to spend a weekend with lions, tigers and hundreds of other animals at Cedarhill Animal Sanctuary in Caledonia.

The guests are winners of a raffle that is the sanctuary’s end-of-the-year fundraiser, which has resulted in $4,000 for the sanctuary in each of the last two years. Ticket sales this year have already netted the sanctuary about $1,900 — money that goes directly to assisting the 11 tigers, two lions, three bobcats, 11 horses, one donkey, 25 dogs, four exotic birds, seven or eight pigs, two bunnies and approximately 200 domestic cats, all of whom have found a permanent home at Cedarhill.

This is the third year Cedarhill has held the raffle and director Nancy Gschwendtner said the winners have never left disappointed.

“People haven’t stopped gushing,” she said.

The raffle is the only opportunity for people who aren’t volunteers at the sanctuary to visit Cedarhill, which is closed to the public. Almost all of the animals housed there — particularly the exotics such as lions and tigers — have been rescued from situations where they were abused or neglected.

“Kay McElroy (Cedarhill’s founder) just feels that these animals have all been exploited,” Gschwendtner said. “They’ve all lost their place in society through no fault of their own. Most of them have no use for humans. We’ve let them down.”

That’s why none of the domestic animals, like dogs and cats, are up for adoption and why Cedarhill isn’t open to visitors, she said — with some notable exceptions like students at Mississippi State University who come for education purposes and of course the raffle winner.

“The budget each month here is between $50,000 and $55,000 a month,” Gschwendtner said. “And that’s just to keep it up to date and going forward. So we really count on these end-of-year donations to fill the coffers.”

Close to the animals

The raffle goes through Dec. 31, with the winning ticket being drawn Jan. 2, 2019, said program developer Karen Amundson. There will be one winner who can bring up to three guests for their choice of weekend in 2019, though both Amundson and Gschwendtner say they don’t recommend the summer, when the temperature is high and the animals lethargic.

The cabin where the guests will stay overnight is right outside the enclosure that houses the sanctuary’s two lions, Zeus and Sheba.

“You have lions at your front door,” Amundson said.

The guests will have a tour of the sanctuary and can play with the cats, dogs and other domestic animals. No one, including Cedarhill employees, ever touches or comes into any direct contact with the big cats, but guests will still be able to participate in their “enrichment,” an activity for the big cats to keep them from becoming bored.

“(The guest) will pick a canvas and choose paints and they will watch as the tiger or lion walks around on it or possibly rolls around on it,” Gschwendtner said. “But it makes its own unique painting. Sometimes you get a really good paw print in it. We’ve got little hairs in it from their tail or their coat. It’s kind of unique and they really like that.”

Another activity for the big cats is to fill a pinata with meat and let them open it

“It brings them up and close with the animal,” she said.

Those wishing to enter can pay $20 for 10 tickets, $55 for 30, $90 for 50 and $190 for 100 tickets. It’s a change from last year, said Amundson, when $20 only purchased one ticket.

“Basically for the same amount, you get more raffle tickets,” she said.

Amundson said last year’s weekend with the big cats was so successful that the winner, a Meridian resident, has entered again this year.

“She loved it,” Amundson said. “She said, ‘I can hear (roaring) all through the night.'”

Gschwendtner agreed, calling Cedarhill her own “nirvana.”

“The bruised soul often comes here and walks out better for it,” she said. “When you’re watching a three-legged dog climb a fence and jump over it, how can you feel sorry for yourself? Or watching a blind cat swat a fly in the air and getting it? … Cedarhill makes you grow as a person. It makes you more compassionate, if you have that in you.”

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