Carole Baskins Diary

Tribute to Natasha the Siberian Lynx

Natasha Siberian Lynx   http://bigcatrescue.org/natasha/

 

Natasha was rescued when she was only 4 months old from a fur farm in 1993. She would have been killed and made into a coat in 1994 but instead lived out the next 21 years at Big Cat Rescue. Here she was raised with Alexander the hybrid Lynx and Willow, another Siberian Lynx, who was also rescued from being slaughtered for her fur. They quickly outgrew Alex, but Natasha and Willow were lifelong pals until Willow died in 2013.

 

Losing her companion was hard for Natasha, but Keepers did all they could to fill the void. She was visited often and given special attention via operant and enrichment sessions with her.   As she aged she spent most of her time napping in the sun.

 

In 2014, when she began gagging on her food, we examined her and saw there was a tumor growing in her throat. It was cancerous so we called on an expert, Dr. Kane who made house calls to inject the tumor with chemo. By coming to Natasha he spared her the stress of riding to a clinic and reduced the handling time considerably for her.

 

Natasha had two injections over the past couple of months, but was declining in health. All of her meals were being cut into bites the size of chickpeas, and fed to her on a stick, two or three times a day, but it was getting harder and harder for her to swallow. We called Dr. Kane again and told him we were going to X-ray Natasha and take another look down her throat. He would be there to give the injection again, if there were any chance of improvement, but we all gathered solemnly because we were pretty sure that this was going to be the end for our dear Natasha.

 

When Dr. Kane shined the light down her throat he could see that the treatments were not working and that her laryngeal folds were decaying from the aggressive tumor. These folds are what keep you from choking when you swallow and hers were paralyzed and rotting. There was no way to fix this so we said our goodbyes to Natasha and Dr. Justin and Dr. Wynn eased her over to the other side.

 

Now she and Willow are together again and I can just picture them gently comforting each other.  If you could hear them, I believe they would be comforting you as well.  They would be thanking you, not only for their rescue from the cruel fur industry, and not only for what you did to make their lives in captivity bearable but also for all that you are doing to end the trade in wild cats.

 

The fur farm rescue of 1993 was more than 21 years ago and of the 56 Bobcats and Lynx who were rescued that year, only Raindance and Little Dove survive. Their lives, and the millions of animals you never met,  will not have been in vain if we can end the fur trade. You can help by never passing up an opportunity to express your disgust to retailers who sell fur coats. Just ask to see the manager and tell them you are offended by such products.  If enough of us reach beyond our comfort zone and politely speak up, we have the power to end the trade.

 

Photo circa 1990’s.  We do not display photos of people touching cats after 2004.

 

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 da

It Doesn’t Get Any Greener Than This

I moved all of my properties and the sanctuary completely off the grid!

 

Big Cat Rescue is committed to protecting exotic cats from captivity and in the wild and some may think that we put cats ahead of people, but that’s not true. Protecting habitat where cats live free is crucial to saving the planet for all of us because our forests are our planet’s lungs.  We have tried to reduce our impact on the globe by installing two huge solar arrays, thanks to the help of some wonderful donors.

 

These solar panels helped us reduce our dependency on dirty fuels and are a focal point on tours to get people thinking about what they can do to walk more softly on the earth.

 

This week Arcadia Power made it possible for Big Cat Rescue to completely switch to clean energy!  It took about 5 minutes, and will only cost us about $20.00 a month over our typical electric bill for the entire sanctuary.  (For a regular house, it’s more like $7.50 a month over your regular bill) There was nothing to install, no hassle, no red tape; just a quick call and a simple contract that can be freely terminated at any time (if we want to go back to using the dirty stuff).

 

Arcadia Power is the first nationwide Clean Energy utility option. By partnering with wind and solar projects, Arcadia Power provides homes and businesses with 100% pollution-free energy via local utilities. Members support their values through their monthly electricity bills, decreasing demand for fossil fuels and helping to grow American jobs. Arcadia Power partners with sustainability-minded companies and organizations to combat climate change and secure a better future for our planet. To see if it is available to you visit www.arcadiapower.com/bigcatrescue and just type in your zip code to check.

 

How Big Cat Rescue Went Completely Green. It works like this:

 

Once power reaches the grid, the electricity is indistinguishable – just a bunch of charged particles zipping around – and no one can specifically direct an electron from a wind turbine to your home. What matters is how those electrons are produced, and that’s something you can influence.

 

When you sign up for clean energy with Arcadia Power, you’ll ensure that for every kWh of electricity you use, a kWh is produced and put on the grid by a pollution-free renewable source. You get the same reliability from your local utility, and one consolidated monthly statement. It’s that simple.

 

We are proud to announce that Big Cat Rescue is now running on 100% clean energy! We wanted to share with you our support of an environmentally friendly lifestyle, and encourage you to do the same. We are offering a $36.00 Free Pass to anyone that signs up for clean energy at your home or business via our partner Arcadia Power! It won’t change your current utility company and is easier and more affordable than you think. Click here to read more and sign up.

 

Every year on average, your home will use electricity generated by burning 4,000 pounds of coal. This releases nearly 10,000 pounds of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere and furthers the devastating effects of climate change. This equates to the same as driving an extra 11,000 miles a year, or cutting down 190 trees. Arcadia power provides an option for purchasing clean and renewable energy sources that will bring your CO2 emissions down to zero.

 

We are in the business of protecting wild cats and their habitats, so it is important to us that we have partnerships with businesses that feel the same way. Big Cat Rescue is proud to be a Clean Energy Partner!  Running our business on clean energy seems like a small price to pay for doing the right thing today and investing in the environment of tomorrow.

 

The sign up takes just 5 minutes, and when you do, you’ll get a Big Cat Rescue Free Pass right in your welcome packet.  We are running on 100% Clean Energy – join us! It’s a win-win for everyone! ArcadiaPower.com/bigcatrescue

 

Learn Mo

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

2013 the City Commission of Hallandale Beach, Florida voted to ban bullhooks, bucking straps and other cruel devices used to train and dominate animals to perform tricks for entertainment.

 

The city of Miramar and Leon County, so that they could effectively keep out exotic animals by making requirements in fencing that wouldn't allow the FWC rules to be followed.

 

August 22, 2006 Tampa, FL Lowry Park Zoo: An open cage at Lowry Park Zoo led to Sumatran tiger named Enshalla being shot to death by the zoo’s chief executive officer Lex Salisbury.  The CEO had recently fired a long term keeper who was considered too concerned about the animals’ welfare in favor of hiring staff who would not speak up for the animals.  A keeper with only two weeks of training with tigers was left by himself in charge.  AZA, USDA and the FWCC all acknowledged that there is no standardized training required.

 

February 17, 2004 Dade City , FL: “Pet” cougar is found lounging near neighbor’s pool 3/10ths of mile away from his home. Animal’s possessor retrieves animal without incident, but she will have to appear in court for allowing cougar to escape. ( Tampa Tribune )

 

May 12, 2002 Tampa, FL: A 350-pound African lion at Busch Gardens ripped off the arm of a zookeeper standing next to the lion’s cage while she was giving a private tour to her family. The attack occurred shortly after the zookeeper had fed the lion pieces of meat during training exercises. (Tampa Tribune )

What is a day like at Big Cat Rescue?

Some things happen EVERY day, some things happen a few times a week, some things happen once a month and some things happen once a year.  The problem with all of this structured order is that EVERY day there is some chaos introduced, so it is always a balancing act to take care of both the critically important, and the things that have to get done every day.

 

To Set the Stage

 

There are 100 exotic cats on 67 acres and about 80-100 volunteers and staff to care for them.  Some cats have more than one cage, or Cat-a-Tat, as we call them, so there are 110 cages and most are the size of a person’s home, up to half acre – 2.5 acres in size.

 

Our cats eat every day.  Most zoos fast several days a week, but our cats are old and no one likes to go hungry, so 7 days a week the cats are fed by a cadre of volunteers.  The food is taken from the freezers to the cooler a day or two in advance to thaw, and then each day special diets have to be made up for a huge number of our cats, because of medical issues they have, and all of the cats are fed.  We feed whole prey rats and rabbits two days a week and the rest of the week it is a combination of a ground beef diet, that has their vitamins and minerals pre mixed in, and chicken and beef chunks.

 

This is the happiest time of the day for the cats.  A couple hours before feeding they all start pacing around and calling out to the Keepers when they hear the wagons hauling the buckets full of food coming down the path.  Keepers shut the most dangerous cats out of the feeding lockouts before feeding time, so they can safely drop the food in on the platters.  Then the cats are let in.

 

Another thing that gets done every single day is the Cat-a-Tats all get cleaned.  That’s like cleaning 110 homes a day where the inhabitants poop all over the place and try to hide it.

 

Each Cat-a-Tat has one to three bowls for water and a platter for food.  Every single day the water is dumped out, the bowls are scrubbed and refilled and the platters are washed down.  If the cats dragged their food into the cage, the Keepers have to spot it and pull it out using long, L shaped scraper rakes to get the stuff to the side and tongs to pull it out through the side of the cage.

 

A lot of things are going on while the cats are being fed and cleaned as well.  All Keepers are looking for changes in the cats’ condition, behavior, food left behind and what the cats’ poop looks like.  They are looking for cage and grounds maintenance issues as well.  As soon as they finish feeding and cleaning they log into the computers and log their observations.  Those observations immediately generate emails to the vet group for animal health issues, and to the maintenance people for the cage and grounds work.  The Operations Manger, the CEO and the President are copied on all of these observations in real time so we all know what is happening.  Any of our volunteers or staff can subscribe to these alerts if they want to be informed and they all have access to our BigCat.me Intranet site where these issues are reported.  The Operations Manager then has to check off the Observation, once she has taken a look at the issue, so that everyone knows that someone in charge has double checked the situation.  All of the health related issues become a permanent part of each cat’s record.

 

Public Tours

 

We are closed to the public on Thursdays, but every other day of the week we have guided tours.  All tours are guided, with a back up to keep everyone together.  They are done in groups of 22 or less, so everyone can hear as the guide shares the stories of the cats and what people can do to protect them in the wild and from captivity.

 

Weekdays

 

We have a tour every week day at 3 PM (except Thursdays)  We also often will have busloads of children from schools, scouts, summer camps, etc. and busloads of cruise ship guests.  We offer private tours throughout the day, as we have volunteers avai

Howie’s Heart Surgery

I kept the following log so I could keep Howie’s extensive friend list up to date on his progress.  

 

1/4/15

 

The whole day of preparing for, flying to and arriving at the Cleveland Clinic for Howies open heart surgery had me so freaked out, I couldn't speak. I just tried to smile and act confident but kept tearing up. I knew I was in the edge when I read a Facebook post by Dr Wynn recounting her trying day, that included a cat spraying her hair right before going out to see the Phantom of the Opera, and I burst out crying.

 

Howie has a bad mitral valve, which means that when his heart pumps the valve doesn’t shut all the way and some of the blood leaks backward, rather than pushing through his system.  He’s had a murmur his whole life, but the last 4 years the situation has worsened, and in the last few months he’s become short of breath just from walking out to the car.

 

1/5/15

 

Howie spent the entire day being poked, poked again to confirm, prodded, x-rayed, and sonogrammed.  I think this is the worst part for him.  He just hates needles.  The day started at 7 am and ran until almost 5 pm.

 

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.

Speed Trap Heart Attack I don’t even remember the last time I got a speeding ticket. Chalk that up to old age; either I am driving like a little old granny these days, or I just can’t remember… I didn’t get a ticket today, as I drove past a speed trap, but nearly had a heart attack. The opponents to protecting wild animals are an evil lot, who don’t respect life in any form, and over the years I’ve been physically attacked, threatened, and intimidated by a number of back yard breeders and exploiters. As a result, I am always a little on edge, but didn’t realize how much I constantly scan the scene for danger until today. My parents gave me two costly gifts in the past few months; a pretty little cherry red golf cart to use at the sanctuary and a 2012 Toyota Tacoma Pre-Runner. My mother and I spent an hour and 15 minutes at the DMV doing the title transfer this morning and on the way to the sanctuary is when I nearly flipped the new truck over to escape being shot! Or that is what I thought was happening… As I scanned to the right, I saw an unmarked police car, in the driveway to a store that shut down last year. The driveway is often used by the convenience store patrons and the church on the other side, so it was a place you would expect to see someone sitting, as they were just waiting for a break in traffic, and not a place one would expect a sheriff’s deputy to have set up a speed trap. As I glanced at the car, I notice what appears to be a man pointing a gun at my face and adrenaline flushed through my veins like a tidal wave. There was that instance of fight or flight where I was struggling to remember if my gun (I have a concealed weapons permit and am a very good shot) was in this car or not. I was considering evasive action, but was hemmed in by traffic. I considered just broadsiding my assailant but (thankfully) thought better of that. And then the pieces began to fit as I cruised on past... He didn’t shoot... My windshield was intact... Typical shape of an unmarked police car... That gun was too broad at the nose... My thumping heart began to calm, but I just couldn’t help but think how badly all of that could have gone if just one of those reactions, to the constant harassment I face, had caused me to take some action other than just passing by. Constantly challenging the way we treat animals and encouraging people to rethink their involvement, such as paying to pet lion and tiger cubs, or going to the circus, or buying designer hybrid cats is not for the faint of heart. Big Cat Rescue is pressing for laws that will protect wild animals from these abuses, but Joe Biden famously said, “No fundamental social change occurs merely because government acts. It’s because civil society, the conscience of a country, begins to rise up and demand – demand – demand change.” The animals, and I, need you to “demand – demand – demand change.” Dad, Mom and Jamie on her golf cart. Jamie added the spots to both our carts. Nat Geo Wants to Film From: Devon Massyn Subject: [Big Cat Rescue] Filming at Big Cat Rescue: Hi there, I 'm a producer for Big Cat Week on Nat Geo Wild and would love to talk to a representative about filming at your facility. Thanks, Devon Massyn Susan Bass followed up with him. I don’t know if he ever actually came to film. Maybe with her. We get pitched all the time and they frequently film but then sometimes it’s years before we see any evidence of their work and sometimes never.

 

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 misconce

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

Backstory on Big Cat Blackfish to Lou Ferrante This is inspiration for why we need a Big Cat version of Blackfish: Blackfish has huge impact on animal abuse: http://www.animals24-7.org/2014/12/13/sinking-seaworld-shoves-311-staff-overboard/ When most people who are pitching such a show call me, these are the questions and answers we typically give. Are there lots of people still trying to buy tigers as pets? The problem isn't that there are a lot of people out looking to buy a tiger. The problem is that there are a lot of people who will pay to pet a tiger cub, or to swim with a tiger cub, or to have their photo with a tiger cub, or to see cute cubs on display. They don't stay small and cute very long, so the abusers are constantly breeding or buying more, but taking care of an adult tiger costs $10,000 a year, so the abusers will often give away their juvenile cubs, who have outgrown their cute stage, to unwitting people who think that just because they can walk that cub on a leash today, they will still be able to do it a year from now. When the cat is about a year old and over 200 lbs is when those owners often start looking for a sanctuary. Sadly there are pseudo sanctuaries, like Tiger Haven, in my opinion, that has 300 tigers, who let the same bad actors breed cubs each year and then dump them straight onto them. When we take a big cat we make the owners sign a contract that they will never possess another wild cat, but most sanctuaries don't take that precaution and are just enabling bad behavior. Where do they buy them? We think two of the biggest suppliers of cubs are GW Zoo in Wynnewood, OK and T.I.G.E.R.S. in Myrtle Beach, SC, but it is nearly impossible to prove. USDA asks for a census, but it is up to the owner to say how many cats they have, because no one really counts them. How often people are calling you because they want to get rid of a big cat? 2003 was the worst year. We had to turn away 312 big cats, but that same year a federal law passed that made it illegal to sell a big cat, over state lines, as a pet. Since then nearly a dozen states have passed bans or possession of big cats so the number we have to turn away is decreasing. Now the largest problem are all of these pseudo sanctuaries that fail after taking in more big wild animals than they can afford. In this documentary we'd also like to show how big cats are Abused by owners in order to force them to perform. You are never going to see this because training is done behind closed doors and the abusers know that the public would put an end to their trade if they ever saw what they really do to train big cats. You can see the tricks they use to make the cats think that they have the electric prods in the circus ring though. These prods are usually a couple feet long and they wrap them with ribbons, so the cat knows that if they don't do the trick, they will zap the cat and sometimes even shove the hot-shot down the cat's throat. In the circus ring they carry a stick, wrapped with the same kinds of ribbons, usually in a back pocket, and whips in their hands, to make the cat think they still have the cruel instrument of torture on them. Attached is a list of the tigers we know of, but it doesn't include pet tigers, because no one counts them. Tim Gress, the man we got Kali Tiger from in GA said he will talk to someone on camera for a documentary about the wildlife trade. He knows a lot of the bad guys very well. Another very important topic to cover are the lies the animal abusers tell that really confuse and mislead the public. The worst seems to be that they say they are breeding, allowing contact and exhibiting big cats in order to "save the species." This page addresses the lies they tell: http://bigcatrescue.org/abuse-issues/issues/pet-cubs/ How lions end up in tacos in America: http://bigcatrescue.org/lions-on-the-menu-send-a-letter-now/ I have an AdvoCat who is updating the cubs who have been born and exploited since 2011. The big li

Louis Ferrante, former mob wise guy, called about a documentary

My email to Louis:  Nice speaking with you today.  Here are few items that may be of interest in fleshing out your show ideas.  It is a show that needs to be done, but hasn't because the bad guys are a pretty close knit group and it's hard to infiltrate their facilities.  Even volunteers and interns who manage to get in are usually kept in the dark about what really happens to the animals, where they come from and where they go.

 

I keep a website of the people who have come up on my radar for breeding, buying, selling and exploiting big cats.  It is a who's who list of places that would be great to try and get inside so that you could expose them.  The list is at http://www.911AnimalAbuse.com

 

Mario Tabraue is one of the ones that I think is most likely to be back at his old tricks of smuggling wildlife and drugs, but I have no way to prove it.  He is fighting our federal bill to ban his activities.  The bad guys always try to scare me off by saying they know him and that they can have him make me disappear.  This is one of the best articles about him and is recent:  http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/mario-tabraue-cocaine-kingpin-lobbying-congress-big-cats

 

It sounds like your show is more broad than my scope of information, since all I track or deal with are exotic cats.  I don't know if there is a key element to other issues, but there is with the big cats.  It is all about cub handling.

 

People like Mario Tabraue of ZWF, or Kathy Stearns of Dade City's Wild Things, or Bhagavan Antle of T.I.G.E.R.S., or Joe Exotic Schreibvogel of GW Zoo, or a dozen others like them, claim they can make $25,000 a weekend charging people to pet lion, tiger and liger cubs.  The booking agent for Mario told me they book a million dollars a year in such tours for him.  The thing is that cubs are only allowed to be used, by USDA guidelines, between the ages of 8 and 12 weeks, so every month they need to breed more litters.

 

There are only 300 or so tigers in legitimate, AZA accredited zoos in the U.S.  The other 5,000 - 10,000 are in private hands, roadside zoos, and non accredited USDA licensed facilities.  It only costs $40 and a one page application for a USDA license, so it doesn't mean anything.

 

Where are the hundreds of cubs going each year?  The black market is the only potential market for them; yet it has been very hard to prove.  More about the whole cub petting industry here:  http://bigcatrescue.org/abuse-issues/issues/pet-cubs/

 

Here is a map of big cat owners:  http://bigcatrescue.org/map-of-big-cat-owners/

 

Lots to talk about.

 

12/8/14 to me:  This info is incredibly helpful (though heart wrenching). I will explore these links. And these are the sort of tips I would pass on to my fixers, very good leads. Just finished watching you on Temple Tigers segment with Jane Valez-Mitchell. Another tragedy. Feel free to pass along whatever else can help and I look forward to seeing you Friday

 

12/11/14 I wrote Lou:  Dear Lou,  See you tomorrow morning at 10 at Big Cat Rescue  12802 Easy St Tampa, FL 33625.  Good news today that Mexico banned the use of wild animals in circuses and banned exhibits of dolphins and whales.  Hard to imagine why the U.S. is so far behind when it comes to protecting wild animals.  To date 36 countries, 46 U.S. cities, and 28 jurisdictions in Canada have banned the use of big cats in circus acts. -Carole

 

Lou wrote Carole:  Hey Carole. Yes, we're on. And I know, we're so outta date. The EU would never even execute someone and we do it everyday, how can they care about animals. But I plan to make a hit show and open up the discussion more. Keep sending info like this. See you tomorrow.  Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T