Niagara School of Film arranges to film at the sanctuary Carole Baskin, My name is Lauren Groleau and I attend Niagara College in Welland, Ontario (Canada) for Film Production. Five other passionate students and I are currently in the pre-production stages of producing a documentary to be filmed in March entitled Taming the King. The documentary is based on a current and rapidly changing topic – exotic cats in captivity. As you are aware, the subject of animal rights and protection has been sweeping media outlets. We want to shed some light on both ends of the story. Taming the King will take the viewer through an exploration of wild animals in captivity throughout North America and the trials they face. Big cats are fast approaching extinction in their natural habitats, yet thousands of lions, tigers and other species are held in captivity around the world for our personal enjoyment. Those in the wild now only survive on the grounds of National Parks and various conservations in Africa. Taming the King explores exotic cats in captivity firsthand, through interviews with those who know these creatures best; their owners, keepers and the skilled people out to protect them. That’s where Big Cat Rescue comes in. As the largest accredited big cat sanctuary in the world, we would love to have the facility, cats, keepers, and volunteers be part of the documentary. The Taming The King film crew plans to travel to Tampa, Florida to visit your sanctuary between March 17th-28th in order to explore the volunteer and rescue opportunities as alternatives to partaking in zoos and circuses. The six of us are also more than willing to volunteer in any way while visiting the rescue center. In order to produce this film, we spent the past couple of months fundraising. We’re happy to share that we’ve raised over $7,000 toward the documentary and spreading the world about big cat rescues. With hundreds of supporters and donors, we are well on our way to creating a powerful and educational film. The link to our Kickstarter campaign is below, it includes a more detailed explanation about the documentary itself. www.kickstarter.com/projects/199842799/taming-the-king-big-cats-in-captivity For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us through email or phone. Thank you very much for your time and consideration, hope to hear from you soon! Sincerely, Lauren Groleau Producer – Taming The King Dear Lauren, Your mother was right when she taught you that animals are as emotionally complex as humans; maybe even more so. A mother cat will kill her young rather than let them suffer, if they are born into a situation that is too unfavorable to their happy existence. Yet we use the term "tiger mom" to convey the fact that a tiger will fight to the death and sacrifice herself to protect her young, as will any other cat. Humans don't usually cover that range of emotion. I don't know of human mothers who chose to kill their babies rather than have them be enslaved, but big cats do it all the time. It is the excuse that big cat breeders use for taking the cubs as soon as they are born. They say the mother wouldn't take care of the cubs, or might kill them. That is your first clue that captivity is unbearable to the cat and that they believe you are better off dead than in a cage. I almost didn't even respond to your inquiry about filming at Big Cat Rescue because I hate the name of the project. In our industry we always say "you can train a big cat but you can never tame them," because it is true. People do punish cubs, with hold food and water, and beat, kick and shock juvenile and adult exotic cats to make them appear tame, but no one ever tamed a wild cat and no one ever will. The kind of people who breed these magnificent animals, for lives of captivity and deprivation; who steal the cubs from their mothers as soon as they are born; who force the cubs to eat food that is not sufficient for growing lion or tigers (you can't buy tiger milk