Carole Baskins Diary

Yes, I am up early.

The only thing I can attribute that to is that last night we celebrated New Year’s eve, a day late, with a lot of champagne.  What is most ironic is that my New Year’s Resolution is to be more kind to myself.  In my world that means taking time to eat right, meditate, exercise and give myself time to rejuvenate.

 

But, I was working too hard over New Year’s Eve to even have a glass of bubbly.  Sheesh!

 

Anyway, got the celebrating done last night and had a very good night’s sleep.  I only recall waking for very brief hot flashes and then going right back to sleep.  I woke up feeling ready to seize the day.

 

Another habit I wish to maintain (as I’ve faltered from it over past weeks) is to write down three things I’m thankful for.

 

Autocorrect is something I am hugely thankful for because this book wouldn’t be worth reading, if not for it.

 

I appreciate Devin Saari, our intern turned Green Level volunteer.  He has stuck out to me because he’s a boy and we almost never have male volunteers.  When JJ lead a faux fur photo shoot at my house and I let all the interns dress up in my prints for a promotion that Panthera? was doing, he and Martin were the only two boys I remember getting all dressed up in drag for the cause.

 

Yesterday he told me about Snapchat Spectacles and showed his pair to me.  I know we need to embrace Snapchat, mostly because anything that feels so awkward and foreign to me, the tech maven, has to be cutting edge.  I took him to lunch in exchange for a half hour tutorial in using the silly thing.  Things are about to get pretty “Snappy”!

 

I spent the rest of yesterday working on the 2016 Annual Report and got about 90% of it done.  That may be a record.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.  Closing graphic with permission from https://youtu.be/F_AtgWMfwrk

My mother asked me why I don’t believe the Bible yesterday.

Then she followed with this passage from Job:

 

Job 38:1-41:34: "Why are you using your ignorance to deny my providence?  Now get ready to fight, for I am going to demand some answers from you, and you must reply.  Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Tell me, if you know so much.  Do you know how its dimensions were determined, and who did the surveying?  What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone, as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?  Who decreed the boundaries of the seas when they gushed from the depths?  Who clothed them with clouds and thick darkness, and barred them by limiting their shores, and said, 'Thus far and no farther shall you come, and here shall your proud waves stop!'?  Have you ever once commanded the morning to appears, and caused the dawn to rise in the east?  Have you ever told the daylight to spread to the ends of the earth, to end the night's wickedness?  Have you ever robed the dawn in red, and disturbed the haunts of wicked men and stopped the arm raised to strike?  Have you explored the springs from which the seas come, or walked in the sources of their depths?  Has the location of the gates of Death been revealed to you?  Do you realize the extent of the earth?  Tell me about it if you know!  Where does the light comes from, and how do you get there?  Or tell me about the darkness.  Where does it come from?  Can you find its boundaries, or go to its source?  But of course you know all this!  For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced!  Have you visited the treasuries of the snow, or seen where hail is made and stored?  For I have reserved it for the time when I will need it in war.  Where is the path to the distribution point of light?  Where is the home of the east wind?  Who dug the valleys for the torrents of rain?  Who laid out the path for the lightning, causing the rain to fall upon the barren deserts, so that the parched and barren ground is satisfied with water, and tender grass springs up?  Has the rain a father?  Where does dew come from?  Who is the mother of the ice and frost?  For the water changes and turns to ice, as hard as rock.  Can you hold back the stars?  Can you restrain Orion or Pleiades?  Can you ensure the proper sequence of the seasons, or guide the constellation of the Bear with her satellites across the heavens?

 

Do you know the laws of the universe and how the heavens influence the earth?  Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain?  Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct it?  Who gives intuition and instinct?  Who is wise enough to number all the clouds?  Who can tilt the water jars of heaven, when everything is dust and clods?  Can you stalk prey like a lioness, to satisfy the young lions' appetites as they lie in their dens, or lie in wait in the jungle?  Who provides for the ravens when their young cry out to God as they try to struggle up from their nest in hunger?  Do you know how mountain goats give birth?  Have you ever seen them giving birth to their young?  Do you know how many months of pregnancy they have before they bow themselves to give birth to their young, and carry their burden no longer?  Their young grow up in the open field, then leave their parents and return to them no more.  Who makes the wild donkeys wild?  I have placed them in the wilderness and given them salt plains to live in.  For they hate the noise of the city and want no drivers shouting at them!

 

The mountain ranges are their pastureland; there they search for every blade of grass.  Will the wild ox be your happy servant?  Will he stay beside your feeding crib?  Can you use a wild ox to plow with?  Will he pull the harrow for you?  Because he is so strong, will you trust him?  Will you let him decide where to work?  Can you send him out to bring in the grain from the threshing fl

Greatest gift for Christmas is that My Life is what it is

 

Last night I dreamed that I ran into Jamie’s father, Mike Murdock.  We spent some time catching up and both in the dream and when I awoke, I had the greatest sense of gratitude that I did not stay married to the abusive mechanic, despite the fact that my religion dictated that I do just that.

 

I thought about what my life might have turned out like if I had stayed married.  We would be poor.  Mike never did anything more than work as a mechanic and he drank himself to death in his early sixties.  His abuse toward me would have only made me more bitter and angry and even less loving to the child that came of that awful era.

 

Jamie probably would have ended up doing drugs and drinking, because I would not have had the money to bribe her to not smoke, drink, do drugs nor get pregnant.  I would not have been able to afford her implants and later her tubal ligation, so who knows how many snot nosed kids she might have had and how miserable her life would have been with the kind of low life that would be attracted to our dirt poor family.  Jamie is so smart and creative, but without the money to make the best of those talents I fear she would have been mired in self pity for her lot in life.

 

For that matter, I wouldn’t have been able to afford my own tubal ligation, circa 1984, and who knows how many of my own kids I could have brought into existence to deal with this dying planet as their inheritance.  

 

I might have been able to keep up the furniture sales from the back of a truck, as I was doing the day before delivering Jamie, but that was never going to make us rich.  I can’t imagine that I could have carried on that back breaking work into my fifties now.  I can barely lift 40 lbs, much less the book cases and desks that I had to carry up onto and off the truck every day as I set up on street corners to sell.

 

My parents would have lost all of my mother’s investments in the stock market crashes that depleted her pension from Gulf Controls.  My Dad gave up his furniture store in 1996, and would have been un employable had he not come work for me.  No one would have been able to deal with his orneriness.  That means they wouldn’t have had insurance to give him the extra years he got from the triple bypass heart surgery.

 

My brother wouldn’t have his own home, because my parents would not have been able to afford it, nor would he nor his three kids have new houses, new cars, college educations, trips to vacation sites, or any of the many things they enjoy.  There wouldn’t be big family dinners every couple of weeks because my parents would be barely scraping by on social security.

 

I would have missed out on meeting Howie and that would have been a horrible loss.  To never know kindness at the hand of a man or to never have someone I could really admire and trust as a mate, would have been so sad.

 

There have been a lot of awful things in my life, but I am so glad that every single step happened just as it did so that we have this blessed life we have today.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out ou

Bobcat Rescue Call in Estero FL (yesterday)

When people call to report an injured bobcat I usually insist on a photo because most people can’t tell a house cat from a Florida Panther or a coyote from a bobcat.  I also don’t want to waste a lot of precious time chasing my tail because some animal abuser thought it would be a good way to keep me busy or to lure me to my death.  For some reason I believed this caller.

 

Julie said her boyfriend, Jeff, was working a construction site on Corkscrew Road near Alico Road in Estero and saw an injured bobcat.  I asked her to have him text me a photo, but an hour later, and still no text so I called her back.  She said he wasn’t allowed to answer his phone, except at lunch which is when they had talked about what he’d seen.  I tried calling him twice and went to voice mail so I explained that it would be 2.5 hours before I could get there, which would be about 4:30 - 4:45 PM.

 

Half heartedly I loaded up the Dodge van, since the Tundra was being used to haul a trailer around the property on a mission Chuck, Gale and Josh had started; of clearing underbrush from the swamp.  It’s our busy time of year so I didn’t want to take anyone from the sanctuary and Jamie was busy with Frosty Serval, who had to see the vet.  I decided to drive down to Estero to see if I could find the cat.  I took the van because I figured that if I were able to net the cat, all I’d be able to do, would be to carry the netted cat back to the van.

 

Jamie and I had done something similar with Tommie Girl.  It’s a dangerous proposition, but locking yourself in a closed van, with an injured bobcat does insure that he isn’t going to get away.  It does not insure that you are coming out unscathed, or that the cat’s going in the carrier, but all things considered, it’s the choice we make if a bobcat’s life is at stake.

 

You might think that if the bobcat is in good enough shape to escape the net and carrier, they are going to be fine, but when we rescued Bellona, she ran across a field, through a creek, ran across another field and wasn’t netted until she was half way across a pond.  Her pelvis had been completely shattered during a car strike and she was running and swimming faster than I and a much younger, stronger, faster, male helper could go.  She would have died from her injuries if not captured.  She was pretty much running with her front legs and dragging the rest of herself.

 

So, for two and a half hours I’m playing out every possible scenario for how this could go down.  I’m also fighting the miserable steering on this 1998 Ram van.  It is just awful to drive, but there isn’t enough room for bobcat wrestling in the back of the topper for the 2011 Tundra pick up.

 

When I get to the location the work crew is gone, so I call Julie again who has Jeff call me.  He says he can direct me straight to where the bobcat was seen and stays on the phone with me as I follow his route and report to him that:

 

I’ve found the second culvert,

I’ve found the white floaty thing,

I’ve walked up the drying creek bed about 75-80 feet,

I see the footprints of him and his co workers where they all stopped to stare at the cat,

I see the tree where the bobcat was supposedly hiding…

 

There is no bobcat here.

 

Julie convinces Jeff to drive back to the scene to show me where I’ve lost the trail.

 

Meanwhile I have an hour or two to look around and I find bobcat prints.  I’m pretty elated as I find the drag marks in the slightly damp sand and follow them into an impossible tangle of underbrush.  Getting down and crawling, I make it out into a clearing on the other side and the prints and drag mark continue, but now there is a second set of tracks that are as big across as my foot and they are feline.

 

Florida Panther!

 

At once I am both elated and nervous.  Jeff kept saying the cat he saw was bigger than a bobcat.  Could this be an injured Florida Panther?  I still want to help, but the stakes just got higher.  I can wrest

From Chuck today about Christmas Family Dinner

As all of you know, our sweet precious Novak is finally home with his Mama, Tata and brother Dule.  We have decided to have Christmas at our house instead of Katie's because we don't her doing ANYTHING but resting and taking care of Novak. Since Marinko is now off for Christmas, I was wondering if we could change our Christmas to Sunday evening , 12/25/ around 4:30. That way it wouldn't be so late to visit, and everyone is off on Sunday. Please let me know if that works for you. Also, I know we didn't really have a menu except we were doing breakfast for dinner so can you please let me know what you would like to bring so I can make sure we have a good variety. I will be making waffles, and bacon. Don't forget we are also wearing our pajamas, and yes, we will be taking pics again!!!

 

Sent from my iPad - Chuck

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.  Closing graphic with permission from https://youtu.be/F_AtgWMfwrk

I became Hercules the Snow Leopard

I’ve come to really look forward to Sundays now, as I take advantage of the time I used to spend at church in praying and meditation.  Yesterday’s meditation took me to the peak of the Himalayan mountains where I became one with Hercules Snow Leopard.

 

At first I was cold, but then I became the blood that seeped through his veins.  I could feel me, coursing through him, becoming “me” in the form of a snow leopard.  As his blood, I could feel myself reaching every cell in him, first from the inside out and then in whole.  Once we had completely merged, I could again feel the world around me.

 

I felt the snow crunch beneath my huge, fluffy, snowshoe-like paws.  I could feel the wind on my nose and blinked against the sharp gusts.  I felt warm all over though because my coat was perfectly designed for days like this, and it was a beautiful day too.  I could see for miles and miles and miles.  The bright blue sky had only wisps of clouds that looked like the feathers of a great swan.

 

I noticed Cloe and Zoe Snow Leopards walking with me.  They were silently, breathtakingly, stunning.  All I could do was stare.  I could hear the hum of the Universe and it diverted my attention to gazing back out over the distant, snow covered mountains.  I could see past them to the stars, the galaxies and the beautiful colors beyond.

 

From that space images of relatives past came to me.

 

First my father’s image (Vernon Stairs) appeared.  Our ice blue eyes locked across the ether and I thought about how he had built Big Cat Rescue into a peaceful haven for these many displaced exotic cats. I thanked him for doing so with such precision, creativity and care, that millions of people around the world are daily awed by the beauty of the place and the wonderful homes we’ve been able to give the cats.

 

If not for his 20 years of toiling at his craft here, we would not be the example that others strive to achieve.  We would not be able to first mesmerize and then educate those who see the cats in these natural looking enclosures.  It is the perfect combination of the natural life they should have in the wild, and the sad fact that they are caged, that gets our message across so well.

 

I then saw Momma Jacquie (my mother’s mother Jacqueline Norris) and thought about how her shrewd, yet fair business practices were the example that made it possible for me to take on the challenge of caring for over 200 exotic cats over these past 24 years.  If she had not been my example to mimic, of someone who was driven to create a financial empire, I would not have been able to carry the sanctuary for the first 11 years when it cost far more to run than was provided by donations.

 

I thanked her for showing me that hard work pays off.  I thanked her for showing me that taking the high road always leads to better business.  I promised her I was still working on being beautiful and elegant like she was.  She wanted me to grow up to be a movie star, like the ones she grew up with; Carole Lombard, Lucile Ball, Mae West.  I wonder if she’s happy with my silver screen being Facebook?

 

Then I saw my maternal grandfather, BigDaddy (Floyd Norris) and thanked him for showing me how to love even the most unlovable.  I acknowledged his great patience and quiet demeanor that conveyed nothing but absolute love.

 

Next I saw, in great contrast, my paternal grandfather, (Harold Stairs) who always seemed to hate my mother and I because of her religion.  He didn’t seem to bear the same ill temper toward my brother, but maybe he held out hopes that Chuck would grow up to be like him.  Thankfully, that didn’t happen, but there were still lessons taught by my German grandfather that were equally important.

 

Sometimes people teach best by their bad example.  His example of being intolerant of those he considered inferior taught me to be tolerant.  His example of being a bully to his wife, taught me to be respectful to my spouse, in cont

my favorite quote by Wayne Pacelle, which was said to me as he, Mike Markarian and I were walking into a restaurant for lunch; “You can accomplish anything, if you don’t care who gets the credit for it.”

 

I don’t care who gets the credit for ending the trade in exotic cats as pets, props and parts.  I just want it done, NOW!

 

Cats are amazing!  Their ability to heal themselves, and others, is beyond compare.  Priya Tigress arrived with a 20 lb infection in her uterine horns and we removed it the next day, but her infection was resistant to the array of antibiotics we tried.  Her body was so seeped in the bacteria that her stitches could not hold and she had to undergo surgery again to seal the wound.  Meanwhile the bacteria was cultured and we found a better antibiotic for it and began treatment.

 

Priya did better, and we thought she was healing because she was no longer seeping from the incision and her appetite and temperament improved immensely.  However, a week before she was to be released back to her earthen floored enclosure, keepers noted a pink slit in the stitches.  Due to her baggy belly folding on either side of the gap, it was hard to get a photo of it to see the extent.  Priya seemed be getting more and more uncomfortable and began to refuse food unless coaxed extensively.

 

I noticed a change in her sleeping habits.  She began to sleep on her back, with legs splayed wide.  It gave me a better opportunity to get a photo of the opening incision, which led our vet team to decide that surgery was again needed to close the wound.  What I didn’t know at the time was Priya’s wisdom in dealing with her own injury.

 

We went into surgery thinking it would be a minor issue of putting in a couple of stitches to close the gap again, but what Dr. Justin Boorstein saw, made him say that her prognosis of survival was not good.  He was clearly distressed when he saw that the tissues had separated to the point that air was seeping into the open layer between her skin and her muscle.  When he invited me to touch her skin and feel the crackling of it, as the air was compressed beneath my touch, I was horrified.  I’d never felt anything so foreign to the feel of a sleekly muscled and furred cat.

 

The air, and any impurity in it, was filling her body and making it even harder for the antibiotics to work; making it harder for Priya to call on her own immune system to heal.  Then it dawned on me that she was laying on her back to try and force the air back out, through the hole in her belly where it had entered.  There was no other way out.  Standing, sitting or laying in a normal cat loaf style would not help her express the air that was building up under her skin and causing her so much discomfort.  How amazing!

 

Surgery lasted about an hour and a half and by the end Dr Boorstein was somewhat more encouraged that she may survive.  During the first repair, the week or so after her original surgery, he could reach his arms into the gap up to his elbows.  Now he could only reach in to his wrists.  She was healing, but ever so slowly.  He also found the tissue to be healthier than he had expected, so there is good reason to think it can bond fully this time.  Only time will tell, but thanks to our expert vets, on site hospital, excellent equipment and the loving care of the volunteers, Priya has a good chance of living a long healthy life at Big Cat Rescue.

 

When Gabrielle and Priya arrived from Big Cats of Serenity Springs in Nov. 2016, both were obese, but their bellies looked particularly distended.  When we found that to be a 20 lb hydrometra in Priya, we feared we would find the same in Gabrielle when she was examined on Dec 12, 2016.  Thankfully, after running blood work, urinalysis, X-rays and a sonogram that was guided by our remote assistants at Oncura Partners, we discovered that she was just fat and not suffering an infection that required the removal of her uterus.  She’s going to be twenty next month, so t

Novak Charles Nikic, 5 lbs 12 oz, 18" long

“Yesterday I sent out an email telling how important December 7, D Day, is in our Country's history but had no idea of just how important it would be for our family history.  Just 17 minutes after midnight on December 7, Katie gave natural birth just after four hours of getting to Tampa General.  Mom and baby are doing fine.  Since Novak is only 33 weeks, he will have to stay in NICU until they make sure he is eating and gaining.”

 

My mother woke me up with a picture of Katie and the baby at 7:08 am and the email above.

 

I just realized that the tax ID number for Big Cat Rescue is 59-3330495  The 59 is for the state of FL.  The 0495 was the month and day of incorporation.  The 333, which has always been a special number for me turned out to be Big Daddy’s infantry division.

 

Dec 7 1941

 

At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II.

 

With diplomatic negotiations with Japan breaking down, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisers knew that an imminent Japanese attack was probable, but nothing had been done to increase security at the important naval base at Pearl Harbor. It was Sunday morning, and many military personnel had been given passes to attend religious services off base. At 7:02 a.m., two radar operators spotted large groups of aircraft in flight toward the island from the north, but, with a flight of B-17s expected from the United States at the time, they were told to sound no alarm. Thus, the Japanese air assault came as a devastating surprise to the naval base.

 

Much of the Pacific fleet was rendered useless: Five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded, many while valiantly attempting to repulse the attack. Japan’s losses were some 30 planes, five midget submarines, and fewer than 100 men. Fortunately for the United States, all three Pacific fleet carriers were out at sea on training maneuvers. These giant aircraft carriers would have their revenge against Japan six months later at the Battle of Midway, reversing the tide against the previously invincible Japanese navy in a spectacular victory.

 

The day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, President Roosevelt appeared before a joint session of Congress and declared, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941–a date which will live in infamy–the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” After a brief and forceful speech, he asked Congress to approve a resolution recognizing the state of war between the United States and Japan. The Senate voted for war against Japan by 82 to 0, and the House of Representatives approved the resolution by a vote of 388 to 1. The sole dissenter was Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, a devout pacifist who had also cast a dissenting vote against the U.S. entrance into World War I. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States, and the U.S. government responded in kind.

 

The American contribution to the successful Allied war effort spanned four long years and cost more than 400,000 American lives.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of

I woke up crying at 3 am but finally found the words for the sign to pay tribute to Dad. Vernon C. Stairs 1941-2016 By his hands every physical aspect of this sanctuary was created or maintained from 1996-2016. This FunCation, and training his son to take his place, were his final gifts to the cats. An email from my mother to me today December 7 is a very important day in USA history. Thinking about it reminded me of Big Daddy and his important role in WWII with the 333 Infantry which was part of the 84th Infantry, the Railsplitter Division. The attachment has several letters and other information about them. I will also text you some pictures and a copy of Big Daddy's Award of the Bronze Star Medal Citation from A. H. Bolling, Major General, US Army. It may be hard to read in the picture so I am writing it: "Private First Class FLOYD M NORRIS 35842147, 333d Infantry, United States Army. For heroic service in connection with military operations against the enemy in Germany, 8 April 1945. When enemy fire from a house at an important road junction temporarily delayed the attack by his unit upon a German town and wounded several men, Private First Class Norris, serving as an automatic rifleman and with complete disdain for the danger about him, advanced against hostile fire over exposed terrain and neutralized resistance within the house, thereby enabling his unit to continue its advance and successfully carry out its mission. The cool courage, initiative and superior performance of duty displayed by Private First Class Norris reflect high credit upon himself and the armed forces of the United States. Entered military service from Indiana." Later, Big Daddy was assigned to carry the flame thrower which required great strength and courage as the enemy fire was intent on destroying that source of destruction. He had medals for sharp shooter from the military and the Indiana Police Department. Love, Mom Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story. The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/ I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story. My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet. You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile! Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion. Closing graphic with permission from https://youtu.be/F_AtgWMfwrk

Howie just sent a great letter, in response to Kedar Gore of the Corbett Foundation.  I wanted to include it here as a summary of the the work we are involved in re: CITES

 

“The ITC existed under that name for a number of years with Judy Mills as the Moderator and had funding for her role.  I don't recall the exact years but I recall 2009 so may a few years after as well.  It does not formally exist now but some of the organizations continue to work together. Most if not all are members of the Species Survival Network which we joined only a few months ago.  A significant part of our role back in the ITC was to create awareness among the international players of the detrimental role the US captive situation has on the conservation of the cats in the wild.  That is now well recognized and we can talk about it if you like.

 

If you have not read Judy's book Blood of the Tiger I highly recommend it.  Over her career Judy worked both on the ground exposing illegal trade and at the high level representing large NGOs and then ITC at CITES etc.  She was privy to private conversations, particularly with representatives of Asian countries, that gives her an insight that third party reporters do not have access to.

 

This year was our first participation in CITES.  We worked with EIA, Judy Mills individually who was one of the people representing us there, Born Free etc in a number of ways.  We helped fund and organize a side event devoted to the tiger.

 

The event was hosted by South African author and journalist Julian Rademeyer, who is known for his work investigating rhino horn trade. Our featured speakers were 1) Bittu Sahgal, a renowned and charismatic Indian tiger/climate change activist and writer, who is the founding editor of Sanctuary Asia, India's premier wildlife and ecology magazine, known for its work enlisting children in wildlife conservation, and 2) Bui Thi Ha, Education for Nature-Vietnam’s ’s vice director and head of the policy and legislation team, who is a feisty young lawyer and goes after the bad guys with great courage, ensuring enforcement agencies prosecute wildlife crime offenders to the full extent of the law.

 

What I am leading up to with this perhaps too long explanation is that after CITES an informal group has formed to continue the work on CITES issues.  It does not have a name like ITC but operates similarly.  We just had our first conference call this past week. The focus was following up on the effort to create standards for rescue centers.

 

You probably know that the major victory at CITES was preserving the 2007 language about tiger farms that the Chinese were hoping to eliminate.  One exciting development was, Laos announced their intention to eliminate their tiger farms. A great step, now they face the difficult task of figuring out how to do that, the big problem of course being what to do with perhaps 700 tigers.  A portion of this group is working on that. In both cases, while there is no formal leader, EIA seem to be taking on the role of organizing the effort.  We feel that that ending the tiger farms and efforts to legitimize sale of parts and derivatives is key to the survival of the tiger in the wild.

 

Carole had a long history with ITC but involvement in CITES and these efforts is new to us.  I think I have characterized this accurately but have copied my two colleagues who have been more involved.

 

Sooo, given all that, if you would like to be part of these group efforts, I would be happy to make an introduction to Debbie Banks at EIA if you do not know her, which is probably the best way to get a better understanding of the efforts and see if you want to get involved?”

 

Howard Baskin

Advisory Board Chairman

Big Cat Rescue

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole