They may look cute but when people keep wild animals as pets they can end up doing more damage than good. One Colorado group is on a mission to save them.

7News photojournalist Doug Schepman follows along on a 1,300 mile journey, to Linden Iowa, Omaha, Neb., and back to Keenesburg to make sure some wild animals don't have to be killed.

As the sun rises, we are already one hour into the 10 hour drive to Linden, Iowa. Once we're there, Casey Craig and Ashley Watson will pick up a 5-year-old black bear named Ben.

Mike Woodvine, Ben's owner explains, "I just answered an ad in the newspaper and they had two cubs and I was only able to get the one."

Woodvine had good intentions, he bought this black bear five years ago because he was afraid the animal would end up at a taxidermist.

He loves Ben but a new law requiring a permit and liability insurance has made it too expensive to keep Ben. Woodvine said, "It already costs me $100 a week to keep him now."

Ben will get to stretch his legs in his new home at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg.

Woodvine said he would miss Ben and he's not the only one.

As the sun sets we approach our next stop, Omaha Neb., to pick up a bobcat from the Nebraska Humane Society.

Kirsten Steeve, the shelter manager, said, "We confiscated him with 43 dogs and four other cats. A lady was breeding wolf hybrid puppies and selling them over in Iowa."

Nursed back to health, and nick-named "bobby," this bobcat needed a home.

Steeve said, "After taking care of him for two and a half months we've gotten really attached to him. If there is a place to take him we would rather see that than the other route which is euthanasia."

At the sanctuary the next morning, both animals saw their new home for the first time. It took them a little while to adjust to the new surroundings.

Pat Craig said, "That's all he has to do is sniff around his territory and know that he is safe and know that he doesn't have to worry about anybody else and he will be fine."

Like Bobby, Ben will have his own pen, allowing him to adjust to his new surroundings before being released into the 20-acre bear habitat.

For the last 27 years, saving animals has been Pat Craig's life.

"Back in 1980 I found that a lot of these animals were falling outside of the zoo system and were being kept in basements, apartments, and garages and places like that and so I started taking in animals and giving them a place to live for the rest of their life instead of euthanizing them."

Unlike Ben, most of the animals here were confiscated and removed from deplorable conditions.

"The reward is being able to see the animals get to be , get out there and live more of a natural life and get to interact with their own species and play and get to do things that they would never get to do in the zoo system let alone in the conditions they were in initially."

For Ben and Bobby this sanctuary is a happy ending for them.

For more information on the Wild Animal Sanctuary click here.