2014 Annual Report

 

With your help we are winning in the battle for compassion! Up until 2003 the number of requests for rescues we had to turn down due to lack of space or funds had roughly doubled each year, to 312 that year. We feared it would double again to over 500 in 2004. Instead, it has steadily declined since then thanks to the passage of a federal bill and several state bills that restrict the ownership of exotic cats. This year there were 62 big cats who came to our attention as being abandoned. We were able to take in  7 wildcats plus 2 rehab bobcats. We offered to take 16 of the cats if their owners would contract to never own another exotic cat.  The cats we did not take were those whose owners refused.

 

There is no point to our taking in cats just so an owner can go buy another cute cub to use and discard.

 

Animal Care. Rescues

 

Rescued 9 exotic cats, including Kimba, Zeus, Keisha & Kali the tigers, Mickey the cougar, Sheena the serval, and Ariel the bobcat.  We rescued Ivan the native bobcat, who had lost both front legs in an illegal trap, but he was too badly injured to survive.  We also rescued Cypress the bobcat but she too was too badly crushed from her tangle with a car to survive.  Newborn kittens who are brought to Animal Control are routinely killed because with their immature immune systems they do not survive in the shelter environment.  So we began a foster kitten program with our interns as the fosters.  We have saved more than 170 kittens from being killed.  We raise them until they are 2 pounds and healthy, then bring them to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay to be fixed and adopted out.  See some very cute kitten video here:http://youtu.be/4yMMudueBow

and see cute cats meeting the vet here:http://youtu.be/lfXyynkYmfc

 

By the end of this year,  we have 97 exotic cats and 83 of them are over the age of 12; 74 of those are over the age of 15; and 32 of those are over the age of 20. This is well beyond how long they are designed to live in the wild and much older than most zoo cats. This is a testament to the excellent animal care we provide, but we are dealing with many more age related illnesses and are losing more of our big cat friends every year.  Sadly we had to say “goodbye” to these great friends:  Flavio Tiger 25 (a soulmate of mine), Sasha Lion 20, Precious Bobcat 21, Banjo Bearcat 23, Cleo Serval 17, Nyla Leopard 19, Mr E Leopard Cat 14, China Doll Tiger 19, Amazing Grace Ocelot 22, Kimba Tiger 20, Thing Bearcat 14, TrickE Leopard Cat 13, Shere Khan Tiger 19, Cody Cougar 18, Rambo Jungle Cat 15 and Canyon Sandcat 14.

 

We never gave up on Little Feather the Bobcat after her stroke:  http://bigcatrescue.org/little-feather/

 

Windsong Memorial Hospital - Thanks to the generous donation of an X-ray machine, followed by many donors chipping in to fund a proper building for it, the Windsong Memorial Hospital broke ground in 2014 and should be ready for its first big patient by the mid January 2015.

 

Award Winning Sanctuary 

 

• Top Rated Non Profit at Great Non Profits We have received this award every year since they started awarding it in 2010 due to the many great reviews we get from visitors and donors each year.

• We again received Charity Navigator’s highest four star rating.

• 2014 WEDU Be More Relevant Award winner for best nonprofit video

• 2014 Viator Top Rated Partner Award for consistently rating four stars or higher

• 2014 Origin Magazine listed Big Cat Rescue in their Top 25 Animal Non Profits

• 2014 Give Day Tampa Bay winner of $22,500 in prize money and winner of the most donors on that day.

• 2014 Recognized at Charity Navigator’s top rated charity of any kind for Tampabay area and #5 in animal charities in the nation.

• 2014 Named a Catster Hero

 

Education - Our Education Director announced that she would be going to Peru to help ADI with the circus issue there, so we hired a new Education Director, Jennifer Leon, and will be focusing more on educating adult