Dave Welling Told Me to Stop Caring for Animals

Back in the 90s Dave Welling came to do a photo tour at Wildlife on Easy Street and I was his guide.  I was his guide, because I was our only Photo Tour guide.  Throughout the day I learned that Dave had been involved with and on the board of directors at the Wildlife Waystation since 1987.  As evening approached I told him we’d have to call it a day because I had to feed the cats.  I had to feed the cats because back then, it was often only Jamie and me and maybe one other volunteer to feed 100 big cats.  It was a three hour chore every day.

 

Dave said the sanctuary would never succeed if I was the person feeding cats, cleaning cages and giving tours.  As founder, I needed to be out in the community, building relationships with lawmakers and donors.  At the time, I just laughed.  There was no way I could tell Jamie, “Sorry kid.  It’s all on you.  I gotta go schmoozing.”

 

In the mid nineties, the Wildlife Waystation was in its prime and was the model to emulate though.  What Dave said stuck with me and I began looking for ways to get the animal care done by volunteers so that I would have some free time to attend public meetings involving wildlife.  I would much rather have cared for the cats all day, because I love them and that was my comfort zone, but it was selfish.

 

If I wanted to ensure these cats would never go hungry, never be abandoned, never go without vet care, I had to figure out ways to let the public know about their plight.  I had to do things I hated; like talking to strangers, asking for help and becoming the person the media came to whenever there was a slow news day or an attack by a privately owned big cat.  If I really cared for cats, I had to stop being their daily care giver.

 

I had to create a system and structure to enlist the help of volunteers that I could trust and give them the power to make decisions.  Jamie and I built the Volunteer Committee as the ultimate authority over all volunteer matters.  The group of 5-7 people always included Jamie and me, but decisions had to be unanimous, and that led to great thought in every protocol and disciplinary measure.  That body of work became the “sanctuary in a box” that we share with other sanctuaries so they can make the most of their volunteer force without having to reinvent the wheel.  

 

That led to a volunteer force of over 100 people and a staff of 14 who put in the equivalent hours of 52 full time staff and has enabled us to increase our net assets by about a million dollars a year.  It’s enabled us to be the leaders in the political actions to end private possession of big cats and cub petting.  https://bigcatrescue.org/2017-annual-report/

 

I looked him up and found his email addresses:  and saw that he’d reached out to me after Hurricane Irma, but I was so busy then, I’d only written back to say we were fine.  Today I sent him the above.

 

 

Jamie is such a good story teller.  This happened last night and she posted this on her Facebook page:

 

We found a good fossil hunting spot on the river and stayed a little late leaving us not much time to make it back to the launch. Then just as the sun set the battery for the motor died! It got dark quick and we had to paddle like mad, but were making no progress because of the current. 

 

We killed ourselves for every inch gained up the river. Several times we actually were going backwards despite heroic efforts. At times we got out and waded in the darkness dragging the boat behind. This on a day we had seen the biggest alligators ever in the river. 

 

Where it was too deep we tied a rope to the boat and pulled it along the shoreline as we walked the steep banks but it kept beaching. We got stuck in some quicksand and slid down a few muddy clay banks. 

 

Eventually we made it to a place near the launch but the rest of the way was treacherous by water so we beached the boat and hiked through the thick forest in the pitch black back to the t