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2019-02-05 Carole Baskin’s Diary
Who was this beautiful tabby?
I drove to work today because I have an appointment with the the creative team at the mall about the space they are giving us. I saw a cat in the road on Northbridge, so I pulled over to pick him up. As I was digging around to find a bag and gloves (I carry for this specific purpose) I see a woman pull over on the other side of the road, where the cat laid. She’s screaming at people to slow down because we live in a Latin neighborhood and even though the speed limit is 30 I swear they are usually doing 60 through there. I don’t ever remember a time when someone else stopped to help.
She asked what I was going to do with the cat and I told her that I’m from Big Cat Rescue and that I’d see to it he was cremated with our other beloved cats who pass on. She noticed that he looked like he’d just been hit, but he was in a huge pool of still wet blood and was definitely dead. As I cradled him I noted how gorgeous his fur and what excellent condition he was in. This was someone’s beloved pet and probably had just escaped. He was an intact male, so I’m guessing nature called to him and he made a run for it. He had no idea what to expect out here. Tonight someone may well be calling his name, but he won’t respond and they will probably never know what happened.
Part of me thinks I should post his fate on a pole nearby, but part of me thinks that may be worse than not knowing.
Later in the day: I sent this to Haley, Joyce and Patrick at the mall.
Great meeting you guys today and if helpful to your process, I'm happy to tour you around the sanctuary. You can bring friends or family so you can observe how other's are impacted by the stories of the cats we've rescued. My contact info is below and I'm here 7 days a week, so I usually only need a day's notice.
Our primary goal is to end cub petting, as that drives the vast majority of breeding, abusing and discarding of big cats. None of the cats bred for this purpose serve any conservation value because they are all cross bred and inbred. The latter is because of the public's fascination with white tigers which only comes from severe inbreeding.
The primary message we want to get across in this space is that cub petting, or paying to see cubs on display, is what is actually causing their extinction in the wild. The cubs aren't taken from the wild. They are all bred in captivity, but it is the glut of last year's cubs (about 200 per year conservatively) that stimulates demand for their parts, which results in more poaching for tigers in the wild.
This is our animated explainer video that cub petting is causing the extinction of the tiger:
https://youtu.be/QFn8mwD757s
It's gotten about 15,000 views in the past 2 weeks on YouTube and 368,000 views on Facebook. Reading the comments gives you some insight as to the effect it is having. https://www.facebook.com/bigcatrescue/videos/2246856182261587/UzpfSTEwMDAxMjI3MTcxNDc1MTo2MjE0MzEzMjQ5NDI1ODY/?q=shocking%20truth%20about%20cub%20petting&epa=SEARCH_BOX
It's a tough message to get across without traumatizing animal lovers, but I think we've found the right balance in this piece to make the case. Showcasing this video in a way that people can both see and hear it would make the best use of the space for our mission.
Our ultimate goal is that people stop paying to see and play with cubs so that places like Big Cat Rescue don't need to exist to clean up the mess. Our federal bill will be re introduced soon as the Big Cat Public Safety Act, and I think it can pass this session. It bans cub petting and private ownership of lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and cougars. That will fix 99.9% of the problem. Getting people to call their member of Congress is where we are focusing most of our attention at BigCatAct.com and I mentioned that we can make one of the coupons that appears on people's phones, after watching the VidPicAR app video, be "Text CATS to 52886"
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By Carole BaskinWho was this beautiful tabby?
I drove to work today because I have an appointment with the the creative team at the mall about the space they are giving us. I saw a cat in the road on Northbridge, so I pulled over to pick him up. As I was digging around to find a bag and gloves (I carry for this specific purpose) I see a woman pull over on the other side of the road, where the cat laid. She’s screaming at people to slow down because we live in a Latin neighborhood and even though the speed limit is 30 I swear they are usually doing 60 through there. I don’t ever remember a time when someone else stopped to help.
She asked what I was going to do with the cat and I told her that I’m from Big Cat Rescue and that I’d see to it he was cremated with our other beloved cats who pass on. She noticed that he looked like he’d just been hit, but he was in a huge pool of still wet blood and was definitely dead. As I cradled him I noted how gorgeous his fur and what excellent condition he was in. This was someone’s beloved pet and probably had just escaped. He was an intact male, so I’m guessing nature called to him and he made a run for it. He had no idea what to expect out here. Tonight someone may well be calling his name, but he won’t respond and they will probably never know what happened.
Part of me thinks I should post his fate on a pole nearby, but part of me thinks that may be worse than not knowing.
Later in the day: I sent this to Haley, Joyce and Patrick at the mall.
Great meeting you guys today and if helpful to your process, I'm happy to tour you around the sanctuary. You can bring friends or family so you can observe how other's are impacted by the stories of the cats we've rescued. My contact info is below and I'm here 7 days a week, so I usually only need a day's notice.
Our primary goal is to end cub petting, as that drives the vast majority of breeding, abusing and discarding of big cats. None of the cats bred for this purpose serve any conservation value because they are all cross bred and inbred. The latter is because of the public's fascination with white tigers which only comes from severe inbreeding.
The primary message we want to get across in this space is that cub petting, or paying to see cubs on display, is what is actually causing their extinction in the wild. The cubs aren't taken from the wild. They are all bred in captivity, but it is the glut of last year's cubs (about 200 per year conservatively) that stimulates demand for their parts, which results in more poaching for tigers in the wild.
This is our animated explainer video that cub petting is causing the extinction of the tiger:
https://youtu.be/QFn8mwD757s
It's gotten about 15,000 views in the past 2 weeks on YouTube and 368,000 views on Facebook. Reading the comments gives you some insight as to the effect it is having. https://www.facebook.com/bigcatrescue/videos/2246856182261587/UzpfSTEwMDAxMjI3MTcxNDc1MTo2MjE0MzEzMjQ5NDI1ODY/?q=shocking%20truth%20about%20cub%20petting&epa=SEARCH_BOX
It's a tough message to get across without traumatizing animal lovers, but I think we've found the right balance in this piece to make the case. Showcasing this video in a way that people can both see and hear it would make the best use of the space for our mission.
Our ultimate goal is that people stop paying to see and play with cubs so that places like Big Cat Rescue don't need to exist to clean up the mess. Our federal bill will be re introduced soon as the Big Cat Public Safety Act, and I think it can pass this session. It bans cub petting and private ownership of lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and cougars. That will fix 99.9% of the problem. Getting people to call their member of Congress is where we are focusing most of our attention at BigCatAct.com and I mentioned that we can make one of the coupons that appears on people's phones, after watching the VidPicAR app video, be "Text CATS to 52886"