Why We Quit Breeding in 1997

What most of you probably do know is that PurrFection and PurrSistence the ocelots were litter mates who were born here in 1996.  What you may not know is why.

 

Back then we believed zoos and breeders who said that ocelots are endangered and should be bred for conservation purposes.  AZA zoos were starting up something called the Brazilian Ocelot Project and member zoos were purportedly paying $3,000 to Brazil for each ocelot they took from the wild there to be part of this breeding program.  Their goal was to breed ocelots in zoos and send some of them to TX to re-establish the populations that had been wiped out by hunters.

 

We had healthy ocelots already and wanted to do our part to re-establish these lost TX populations and did not want cats to be taken from the wild, so we offered to help.  What was soon discovered by the zoos though is that ocelots have regional instincts.  In Central and South America ocelots eat snakes because most of them are non poisonous.  When these ocelots were released into TX they went after rattlesnakes, and the project was over almost instantly upon release.

 

That's why PurrFection and PurrSistence still live here and part of why we quit breeding.  Even with the smaller species of wild cats, there is too much risk in trying to breed for release when the real answer is in protecting habitat and enabling native populations to rebound.  You will hear a lot of nonsense by tiger breeders these days claiming they are breeding for conservation.  Now that the US Fish & Wildlife Service is about to rescind the generic tiger loophole, the bad guys are getting even more outrageous by claiming that they are breeding extinct species of tigers and that their tigers are purebred.  This is not true.  The only purebred tigers who can be used in Species Survival Plans are in AZA accredited zoos but even then, there is no legitimate release program for captive bred big cats.

 

I thought you might also find interesting some of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes here involving exotic cats that your hard work is helping to save, even though you may never see the cats.

 

What prompted me thinking about the ocelots was a recent request we got from a woman who was upset that an AZA zoo was keeping an ocelot in a tiny, barren, indoor cell and breeding her every year for more kittens to put in cages.  The reason she was not allowed to be outside where the public could see her is because when she was born her father reached her from under the fence, pulled her into his cage and chewed her leg off.  Not wanting to lose a potential kitten machine, but not wanting to answer the public as to why she was missing a leg, this ocelot was kept in solitary confinement.  She was apparently so traumatized by the events that she would try to kill potential mates, so they bred her using artificial insemination.  We offered to take her.  The zoo didn't want the cat to go to a sanctuary so they quieted the complainant by giving the ocelot some outdoor space.  It's not a very happy ending, but better than the life she's had.

 

Since the last newsletter there have been several cases where people have reported bobcat and cougar sightings.  One was a mother bobcat trying to get her kitten across a busy 4 lane highway in Lakeland.  We drove out to make sure no one got killed.

 

Someone in AZ found a baby bobcat who had been left for two days by her mother as the people stayed back and watched for her return.  After a storm nearly drowned her they decided the mother wasn't coming back, brought her in and began searching for a local rehabber.  No one was calling her back and every where she turned Big Cat Rescue appeared as the authority on rehabbing bobcats so she called us.  We talked her through the emergency care and who to contact at the AZ Dept. of Wildlife to find a rehabber to help make sure this little one ends up back in the wild, where she belongs.

 

Another bobcat sighting was in th