LOS ANGELES (KNX) — Los Angeles has lost another animal champion.
Martine Colette, who devoted four decades of her life to rescuing more than 77,000 tigers, chimpanzees, lions and dozens more species in the Southern California region, died Sunday. She 79-years-old.
Colette was the founder of Wildlife Waystation in Sylmar, Calif., a 160-acre sanctuary for animals of all kinds — and larger than most municipal zoos, according to sanctuary officials.
“Colette is credited for changing the entire culture of the welfare and sanctuary of animals,” the sanctuary said in a statement. “She built the model for how to take in and rehabilitate abandoned and injured animals.”
Though she retired in 2019, Colette’s legacy lives on at Wildlife Waystation, where the news of her death resulted in a lengthy obituary being shared to the sanctuary’s homepage.
In it, the sanctuary wrote that Colette developed a deep appreciation of nature during her childhood, as she traveled through Africa with her father and learned about the native plants and animals from the locals.
“It was during these formative years of witnessing the horrors of trapping camps, hunting and exploitation of animals that she recognized her life’s true calling,” the sanctuary wrote, explaining that in 1965 she rescued her first animal.
“Working in the entertainment industry, she was no stranger to watching exotic animals go from fashionable pets to dangerous, unwanted houseguests.”
Once Colette’s home could no longer comfortably accommodate her animals, Wildlife Waystation came to fruition — followed by a purchase of 160 acres of land in the Angeles National Forest.
“The sanctuary grew exponentially, rescuing animals from the pet trade, entertainment industry, and even receiving and rehabilitating native wildlife brought to her by California Fish and Wildlife,” the sanctuary said.
“At its peak, in the 1990s, thousands of animals were being cared for at any one time. And, under Colette’s direction, the Wildlife Waystation became internationally recognized and known.”
The sanctuary added that Colette was also the first to accept chimpanzees from biomedical research into a sanctuary, well aware of the horrible past the primates had endured at the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates in New York.
“Colette was a fearless, magnetic, and a natural-born leader with a quick wit and unmatched sense of humor. Her giant heart never allowed herself to turn away an animal in pain. She put the well-being and safety of the animals above everything else,” the sanctuary said.
“Even during her last weeks, as she fought valiantly against cancer, she still received phone calls from others asking for help placing animals.”
Loved ones said that one of her final comments before she died was, “soon I’ll be walkking with tigers.” Wildlife Waystation officials said they know she will be walking with thousands of other animals, as well.
While details have not yet been announced, the sanctuary said plans are underway for a memorial this spring.
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