2009 Annual Report

 

Big Cat Rescue is more than just a place that provides permanent care for big cats.  It is a movement;  a change in the tide of human perceptions and is the combined effort of more than 60,000 supporters.  If you are one of them, you are a Big Cat Rescuer and the following is the great work YOU did!  If you haven’t helped yet, you can do so now at the top right of the screen or here:  http://bigcatrescue.org/donate

 

Big Cat Rescue’s Mission Statement:  Big Cat Rescue’s dual mission is to provide the best home we can for the cats in our care and educate the public about the plight of these majestic animals, both in captivity and in the wild, to end abuse and avoid extinction.  We are Caring for Cats and Ending the Trade

 

Advances:  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 every other 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 we “only” had to turn away 50 big cats who were unwanted by their owners.  We offered to take all of the cats who were cougar size or smaller, if their owners would contract to never own another exotic cat, but they all refused.  We just do not have enough Senior Keeper staff to take on more lions or tigers.

 

By now everyone knows that communication and fundraising will be cell phone centric.  On April 30, 2009 we added mobile phone number collection to our contact forms and promoted this new request with the Animal Lover’s Dream Vacation Giveaway.

 

We upgraded all phones and Internet service at the sanctuary to FIOS which Increased upload / download speeds by 10 times enabling us to be much more efficient. This was necessary to handle the fact that so many more of our programs are hosted in the cloud, such as Raiser’s Edge, which we invested in, for donor management and online donations.   Another area in which we improved our efficiency was in opening accounts with SendOutCards.com and Enthusem.  Both sites are similar in that they provide a fast and easy way to send real cards from anywhere that you have an Internet connection, but we chose both because they have different aspects that work well for us.  SendOutCards.com has an easy to use interface and Enthusem gives us both a way to track who has responded to special codes that we print into the card and also provides us with an excellent card shop that our supporters can use without having to commit to a contract.

 

Animal Care:  By the end of this year, 74 of our 120 cats are over the age of 15. 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. Even though we offered to rescue the 17 lesser cats who were in need of rescue in 2009, Sophia the cougar and Desiree the serval were the only ones to come here.  We renovated a mobile spay trailer that we had provided to local area feral cat groups, who now have their own clinic, into a mobile rescue trailer.  Vern stayed busy this year with all of the maintenance issues and with these cage improvements:

 

Added a room addition onto both of the rehab cages so that these cats can be shifted to a safe side with plenty of places to hide while their cages are cleaned.  Repaired Serengeti Serval’s cage, and most of the other servals cages that had rusted from the constant spraying. Katmandu & Kanawha Siberian Lynx’s cage  was repaired as was their den, repair of ponds in cougar cage and in most of the tiger cages, Anasazi and Will Bobcat’s den repair, replaced rusted wire on Natasha & Willow Siberian Lynx’s cage, repaired the

Howie Says Committee Emails are Well Written

 

Howie wrote to Carole:

 

I was up before Willow so reading emails and went through x's and for the first time read yours and Jamie’s entirely vs skimming.  I think your and her original  emails were very well worded, and in yours you clearly assumed they would stay on committee and work on the problems, and you made a point to share blame in not giving the partners attention.  But what I really want to say to you my love is that as I think back about how you dealt with them sticking you with all this 7 days before the party, and how you managed as you always do to just make happen what has to happen, and did it so well and in  a way that will turn out for the good, and the way you continue to sort through the staff and  organizational issues, all of which probably would have given me a nervous breakdown, it literally is bringing tears to my eyes to think what an absolutely amazing woman I have married.  I love you so much, but beyond that I am awed by you.

 

The visiting has been nice, but I already miss you and look forward to being home with you tonight.  - Howard Baskin

 

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.

Jamie's letter to the old Volunteer Committee dated 11/25/09

 

December Committee Meeting discussion topics from Jamie:  If you would like I could be available to discuss these issues via web cam.  Carole can bring her laptop and we can meet inside the E-center or the Party House,  I would just need to know the day and time.  And just a reminder; Carole wants to attend the committee meetings, so regardless let her know when and where.

 

Operant/Photo Reward:  i think we should set up some better guidelines for giving out this award at this upcoming committee meeting, and then track who gets it each month.  I uploaded a document located in the volunteer folder that lists all of the awards, when they are given out, and who has one them.  We can add this information to that document as well.

 

I know we kind of set this award up for people that were on the board multiple times, but usually the people that are on the board are always on the board, so then it becomes something of a popularity with the committee contest.  I have two suggestions;

 

One, we make it a random selection, that way it is not favoritism and everyone has an equal shot at getting a cool reward (I mean really everyone deserves to be rewarded, they are all volunteering their time).  At the beginning of the meeting we could have everyone write their name on a raffle ticket and put in a bowl, then at the end of the meeting we could draw out a name to choose a winner.  This would also add something positive to a usually negative monthly meeting.  Or two, let the volunteers vote.  I don’t like this one as much because it doesn’t really give the wallflowers of the group that great of a chance to win.

 

Annual Volunteerism Awards:  For some reason we did not do our annual September reward where we give the volunteers pins to recognize how many years of service they have contributed and we take their photos by year group and sponsor conservation projects.  I am going to try and get pins ordered in time for the December meeting, so we need to plan on doing this then.  Who set up which conservation projects we did last year?   If not, and we do not have someone to do this, I will  choose the projects.  We will need to separate the volunteers into groups under a year, 1 year, 2-4 year, 5 year, 6-9 year, 10+ years and take their photos.  Then we can print the photos with info on their sponsored project to post online, in volunteer sign in, e-center, and food prep.

 

Holiday Gift:  I believe that Honey is doing sweatshirts as the holiday gift for volunteers that attend the December meeting.  I also want us to give each volunteer a bottle of the Papio wine located in the room where summer camp was held in the party house.  We really need to get rid of this stock of wine and this would be the perfect time.  Let’s try and get rid of it all, sending more than one bottle home with each person if necessary.

 

Volunteer Party:  I need to know the names of the awards and the names of the winners for the awards that will be given out at the appreciation party.  I have not heard back from anyone regarding the idea of having the ceramic plaques like in the tour waiting yard made as the awards.  These only cost us about $15 so I think that these would be a nice gift to give as the award.  I need the names as soon as possible (before the actual committee meeting) in order to have them made and ready for the party.  Perhaps you all could get together this weekend and come up with a list of the award names and winners.

 

Partner Privileges:  I know a while back we started a program for the Partners where they can take a chair out to a cat and read to them as an alternative to operant conditioning.  Is anyone participating in this?  I think we should announce at the meeting that this is available again for those who may have forgotten.  Also since it is on the tour side of the barricade, I would suggest that this program be available for the Partners to participate in during a

Freckles Liger Wakes Up Unexpectedly

 

Freckles was sedated for a dental and she didn’t go down easy.  She’s a fierce cat and maybe even more dangerous than most because she’s a liger.  A cross between lion and tiger; she’s just not sure who she is and we are left without a whole lot of experience with that blended personality.

 

We’d gotten her into her lockout cage by covering it entirely with wood so she felt safe.  We had to disassemble all of that, and remove one wall of her feeding lockout, in order to get her out of the cage, and into the back of a truck that would haul all 500 lbs of her into the cat hospital.   After pulling off the wall of the lockout and straddling her to pull her out, she lifted her head and just about sent all of us screaming and running for our lives...

 

Except that we couldn’t do what came natural.  We had to freeze, keep our wits about us, and wait for her to lay her head back down and go back to sleep.  

 

Tribute to Tarzan Jungle Cat

Male Jungle Cat  DOB 5/1/93 - 12/3/09  Arrived at Big Cat Rescue 9/19/94

 

Tarzan came to Big Cat Rescue in the Spring of 1995. His owner had purchased him for the purpose of breeding hybrids, but Tarzan hated domestic cats and so became worthless to his owner. When Tarzan arrived, he was neutered and placed in a large natural enclosure with a very feisty female Jungle Cat, Shaniqua. He fell in love with her right away and the two have been inseparable ever since. Tarzan is one of the more food motivated felines at the sanctuary and absolutely loves to eat. You would never know of his voracious appetite to look at his sleek build. Tarzan is also very vocal and is often heard caterwauling as the sun sets. The sounds that come from these small cats are unbelievable and rival their larger feline cousin, the leopard.

 

12/3/09  Tarzan went in to Dr. Wynn's clinic today because he was seen limping. He has been struggling with renal failure and treated almost continually over the past year for upper respiratory infections. He has also been slowed down considerable by advanced arthritis. His x-rays indicated he had fractured his leg and with his bones and joints being so far gone and arthritic, the only humane option was to put him to sleep. At the age of 16, he was our oldest Jungle Cat and it is not likely that he could have withstood surgery and the long and painful healing process given his advanced age and ailments. It is always a hard decision to make, but we believe it was the kindest option for Tarzan. Be sure to give Shaniqua a little extra love as you walk by.

 

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.

Tribute to Trucha Tiger

Female Siberian/Bengal Tiger Hybrid   DOB 1993-8/29/2009

 

With one final breath she lifted out of the cancer ridden body that had once been Trucha the tigress. She had literally been bred to death. In the wild she would have had cubs once every three or four years as she spent the time in between raising her family and teaching them all about what it means to be a tiger. In captivity tigers are bred two to four times a year because there is a huge demand for cute, cuddly cubs.

 

Breeders, like the notorious Robert Baudy of Savage Kingdom, who used Trucha until he lost his USDA license, will purposely inbreed their cats to try and produce the white coat color that accompanies the genetic defect. The cubs can only be used for petting sessions, photo ops and other pay-to-play schemes for a month or two before they are too big to handle. Many die from the rough handling, being dropped, and being starved and having diarrhea induced to keep them small. Meanwhile their mothers are already pregnant with the next litter of cubs to be exploited.

 

Trucha had just taken her last breath, but I felt like the weight on my chest was such that I would never again be able to breathe. I suspect that those who stood with me, Dr. Wynn, Scott, Cathy and Chris were all experiencing some similar form of grief as we eased Trucha out of her captive existence to whatever lays in store for her next. No matter what that is, it has to be better than the lousy hand she was dealt this time around.

 

Imagine being born in some tiny, filthy jail cell and then ripped from your mother at the age of only two weeks. The only one who would ever care about you, your mother, calls your name, moaning for the return of her cubs, but you are put into a metal cage in the breeder’s house. He is a slovenly sort and uses the lure of playing with baby tiger cubs to get young girls into his home. They will do just about anything to be the one who gets to feed you that bottle of cold, putrid liquid that bears no resemblance to the warm milk of your mother.

 

The young girls are often outcasts who do not have strong family or social ties and are subject to the bad influences so prevalent in big cat owners. They are often drunk or high on drugs when they come to care for you. They have no real training and your needs go untended due to neglect and ignorance. As soon as your eyes are opened you are subjected to hours upon hours of flashing light bulbs as you are handed from one laughing, giggling person to the next. You scream for your mother. You scream for it to stop, but no one hears your cries. Those who would rescue you have no legal recourse to liberate you from your tormentors. Those in charge of insuring your welfare are never there for you.

 

You have grown too big in just 3 or 4 months to be used this way. Your mother has already produced another litter of cubs, who are being pulled from her to start the process over. Your eyes have been so badly damaged that you only see shadows. You jump at everything and your world darkens in around you. Maybe it is better that you can’t see what is going to happen to you next.

 

You are relegated to some small, concrete and steel cell where you will be fed rotting flesh of whatever is cheapest; road kill, sick cows; the meat that cannot be sold. Your water bowl will be green with algae or swimming with mosquito larvae if it has water at all. The temperatures at both extremes will challenge your will to live because all you may have is a leaky box for shelter. You will be thrust in with other inmates, including your own litter mates, in the hopes that you will breed young. Your ragged ears and many scars are the visible result of having to battle for every day of your existence.  The inner stress is far more debilitating.  Your incestuous breeding is exactly what the breeder wants because that will get him more white cubs and the white cubs fetch more money.

 

You become the tiger version of a pu

It has been a fabulous year so far

 

Sent this to Trundy Stairs today after she sent hers to me:

 

1. What time did you get up this morning?   5:20 am (but that's rare, lemme tell you)

2. Diamonds or pearls?  diamonds (who picks pearls?)

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?  Something with Jamie, but I forget what even though it wasn't that long ago.

4. What is your favorite TV show(s)?  the Tudors on ShowTime.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast?  scrambled eggs

6. What is your middle name? Ann, what Chuck always tags onto my name because if it was heard in our house, it was because I was the one in trouble for a change.

7. What food do you dislike?  grits

8. What is your favorite CD at moment? The Four Hour Work Week

9. What kind of car do you drive?  truck

10. Favorite sandwich ? peanut butter and pickle

11. What characteristic do you despise?  laziness

12. Favorite item of clothing? does a haku lei count?

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?   insane, as long as I could be guaranteed a round trip ticket

14. Favorite brand of clothing?  Carole Little (yes, that really is a brand and not just the backward way of what everyone in the family calls me when I am not in trouble)

15. Where would you retire if possible? RETIRE???

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?  My most memorable bday was my 6th (I am 47)  Not that it was such a great birthday, but it is the ONLY one that I remember.

17. Favorite sport to watch? None, naught, nada, gag me with a spoon...

18. Farthest place you are sending this?  Odessa

19. Person you expect to send it back first? I almost never even read these things, but found yours to be interesting and thought I would reply

20. When is your birthday? June 6, 1961

21. Are you a morning person or a night person? Morning

22. What is your shoe size?   8 (weight 155 lbs, height 5'7" in case you were wondering)

23. Pets? Not enough time for this one.  Maya the bengal cat at home and Howie's two cats, Garfield and Sidney.

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? Jamie, the volunteers and I released Hope the bobcat this morning up at Starkey's Ranch.  I have been seeing the world all day through her eyes.  What a wondrous, awe inspiring world this is.  I bet she walks for three days straight, just because she can.  Free at last!

25. What did you want to be when you were little? vet

26. How are you today?  seeing the world as if through the eyes of a captive set free

27. What is your favorite candy? anything chocolate, except cake

28. What is your favorite flower? live ones.  I cannot stand the thought of hacking the heads of perfectly beautiful flowers to bring them inside.

29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? The day AFTER the Fur Ball.

30. What's your full name? Carole Ann Stairs Murdock Lewis Baskin and nearly a few others. I prefer just Carole Baskin.

31. What are you listening to right now? The sound of Howie typing up our annual audit.

32. What was the last thing you ate? horrid, dry shrimp that I cooked.  The latter part of that sentence explains the first part.

33. Do you wish on stars?  Yes

34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?   I loved your answer on this one.  I would be the color a kid would be least likely to stick in his mouth.

35. How is the weather right now? Perfect, I just got in from a long walk on the beach and it was another glorious day.

36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? Jamie asking if I was awake because she didn't want me to miss Hope's release.

37. Favorite soft drink?  I don't like soft drinks.

38. Favorite restaurant? Macaroni Grill

39. Real hair color? dirty blonde.

40. What was your favorite toy as a child? a ragged, black cloth cat with no eyes and just a pink nose embroidered on.

41. Summer or winter? Summer

42. Hugs or kisses?  I really don't like to be touched but I am trying to force hugs.

43. Chocolate or Vanilla? Always cho

Tribute to Shatia Canada Lynx

DOB 5/17/93-4/14/09  Arrived at Big Cat Rescue 6/26/93

 

Shatia came to Big Cat Rescue from a game farm in Ohio. She has Cardio-Myopathy, a heart condition, so she will never be as big and beautiful as the other Canadians, but she has a lovely disposition. Although declawed on all four paws, she can climb any tree by leaping up to the first branch and then climbing like a monkey, wrapping her oversized paws around each branch. She was raised in the house and has the best house manners of any exotic we've known, but she was moved to a pen with two other tame Canadian Lynxes when she came into her first heat in 1995 and began, as they all do, to spray bucket loads of urine on everything. She now lives in  a huge pen next to  Dances With Wolves. The pen has a magnificent old tree as its centerpiece!

 

We tried introducing them back together but they didn't get along and we had to separate them again.  They seem to like each other best as neighbors, rather than room mates.  Shatia died in her sleep at the age of 16 due to lung disease.  Game farms are places where wild animals are bred to be used and killed.  Please help us end these kinds of practices at CatLaws.com.

 

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.

2008 Annual Report

 

 

A Year in Video by Jamie Veronicahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo4O2srCwX4

Big Cat Rescue is more than just a place that provides permanent care for big cats.  It is a movement;  a change in the tide of human perceptions and is the combined effort of more than 80,000 supporters.  If you are one of them, you are a Big Cat Rescuer and the following is the great work YOU did!  If you haven’t helped yet, you can do so now at the top right of the screen or here:  http://bigcatrescue.org/donate.htm

 

Big Cat Rescue’s Mission Statement:  To provide the best home we can for the animals in our care and to reduce the number of cats that suffer the fate of abuse, abandonment or extinction by teaching people about the plight of the cats, both in the wild and in captivity, and how they can help through their behavior and support of better laws to protect the cats.

 

Advances:  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. Read why, and about the offers we made this year and why their owners would not agree to our terms. http://bigcatrescue.org/000news/0articlesbybcr/2008AbandonedBigCats.htm

 

At least one big cat sanctuary has dropped “Feline” from their name as the new laws have caused such a dramatic decrease in the number of unwanted big cats that they are turning their attention to other animals. We are on the brink of no more abused and unwanted big cats.  This change only happened because of you, and I just can’t thank you enough!

 

CFO, Howard Baskin was a finalist in the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s CFO of the Year awards.

 

We became the first animal charity in the world to be qualified for and utilize Mobile Giving Foundation’s Text 2 Give program.  Text tiger to 20222.  We discontinued the service in Dec. 2011 however as the carriers were constantly requiring us to change the text everywhere the call to action was posted and we often did not have access to places that reposted our videos.

 

Animal Care:  Rescued liger and 2 tigers.  What do we do when a baby Florida bobcat arrives that is still nursing? We find a domestic cat who is nursing kittens and hope she will “adopt” the baby bobcat.  Big Cat Rescue’s version of Growing Up Bobcat takes you day by day through the challenges of rescuing a baby bobcat, hand rearing her and teaching her all she needs to know so that she can one day be set free.  Watch for Hope to be released in the spring of 2009.

 

Big Cat Rescue planned Chance the bobcat’s escape for months. Last year a baby bobcat call came in as the third one in three weeks. He only had one eye and a lump on his belly the size of an orange. Big Cat Rescue was there to get him the medical attention he needed. Emergency surgery repaired the hernia in his abdominal wall. The swelling was the contents of his intestines and other internal organs that had spilled out of the muscled area and were rubbing away at the inner lining of his skin. The attending vet, Dr. Liz Wynn, believes that his hernia and missing eye were caused by some sort of trauma. The area where he was found is completely surrounded by development in West Tampa, but bobcats are often reported there and last year one was found as road kill. After months of recuperation and rehabilitation, Chance the yearling bobcat was released. Watch the movie and see his wild dash for freedom: http://bigcatrescue.org/video/00190.htm

 

As our population of exotic cats continue to age, we are dealing with more and more medical issues.  You may have seen some of these procedures on our You Tube site where we have dealt with abscesses, tumors and rotting teeth.  Our cats live about twice as long as cats would in the wild, so their parts begin to wear out, long before the cats are throug

Tribute to Shaquile the Leopard

Date is approximated.  DOB 1991-2008

 

Shaq arrived at Big Cat Rescue on 3/4/96. He is retired from a nightclub act in Las Vegas. He arrived with a cougar whose face and head had been so severely beaten that she arrived with an infection in her brain from the open wounds and has since died.  We were told that Shaq's former owner beat him to the point that the skull around his eyes has been so badly damaged that the eyelids roll in, causing his eyes to tear a lot.  Perhaps they are tears for all of his kindred spirits who are still made to perform for man's entertainment.

 

It is understandable that he hates most men.  His memory of the abuse he endured still lingers.  But, the female volunteers all go out of their way to give Shaq extra special attention, to speak gently and softly with him and it is heartwarming to hear him purring and rubbing up against the cage affectionately in return.  He loves the comfort and attention we lavish on him and will roll over and play with his ball and bat it around his cat-a-tat as long as you’ll stay and watch him.  We are so incredibly happy that we have been able to provide a nurturing home for him where he can feel safe and loved by all. He will always have a home here, no longer forced to endure abuse at the hand of man!

 

THE DAY HE DIED

 

Tears dropped down onto his lifeless form from the eyes of those who had gathered around Shaq to ease him over to the other side.  His black spotted fur, dappled by the afternoon sun, glistened but no longer gave rise and fall to his sedated breathing.  His 17 year prison sentence ended today.

 

We were remembering the proud, fearless leopard and how he had touched all of our lives with his strength to overcome the awful lot he had been dealt.  Shaq had been born in a cage.  He was bred to be used in a nightclub act by a trainer who made his living from the suffering of many big cats.  As long as people would pay to see big cats doing stupid pet tricks he could count on a good living by providing the disposable product of the trade; young, compliant felines.

 

Cubs live with their mothers for the first few years, so breeders pull the cubs before their eyes open and bottle raise them to be completely dependent and subservient to their human master.  By the time the cats are a year old, they are nearly full sized; appearing to be adults, but still mentally kittens.  The crowd is wowed by the mastery of the trainer over what they think to be a full-grown and fully intact lion, tiger or leopard.  Usually they are declawed, defanged cubs who have been beaten into submission repeatedly behind the scenes.

 

A well-known tiger tamer boasted to me that the way you teach a big cat “who is boss” is to chain them to a wall and beat them with a whip, standing just out of reach.  After a while the cat learns that no matter how hard he tries, he cannot retaliate and after a while gives up hope.  His spirit dies and he is considered tamed or trained.  The training goes on behind locked doors because the public would never support these wild animal acts if they knew the truth.

 

The trainers all claim that they only use “positive reinforcement” and when in front of the public they do, but the cats are ever reminded of the brutal force that will be used against them if they fail to comply.  Sometimes it is in the carrying of a whip, which the trainer will defend as only being a guide, and sometimes it is in the verbal threats using words that only the cats in the ring can hear.  It can be as subtle as a look (remember how your mom could do that?) or a gesture that the cat associates with pain.

 

At Big Cat Rescue we use positive reinforcement or operant conditioning as it is often called as a way to keep the cats’ minds stimulated and to assist us in their care and it works… when the cat wants it to work.  This sort of training involves rewarding the cat with a little cube of meat for doing something we need them to do, like

Musings of a Keeper Walkabout Dec 10, 2008

 

If well received, this may be the first in a series of Keeper Walkabout notes by our staff and volunteers. As I walk about the sanctuary each day I often think how much our supporters would love to see what we see on a daily basis. It is so sad that these cats are in cages, but inspirational to see them make the best of it. This is an effort to convey the daily life at Big Cat Rescue.

 

As I arrived Kathryn was scurrying to the gate for a tour. Honey was busy in the gift shop and Jessica popped in to update me on the medical conditions of some of the domestic cats she has taken home to foster and place. The new intern was cleaning inside and outside there were “Blue Shirts” everywhere, buckets in hand, cleaning the cages.

 

Later Honey updated me on Hope and Ace the rehab bobcats. Hope weighs about six pounds now and has finally figured out that if you stick half your body into the pipe where the rats come from, the rats won’t come that way. Back before Ace was diagnosed with AIDS she would have been able to show Hope how to cheat, which is to get in the highest place in the cage and watch all of the rat holes at the same time. Because we don’t want the rehab cats to associate people and food Jamie had installed pipes to send the rats into the rehab cages, with the entry point far from the bobcats. Because Hope is getting too good at catching the rats, keepers had to extend the pipes much further away so that the arrival of the rat did not coincide with a keeper coming to clean their water bowl. There is a screen to hide behind while cleaning the water bowl, but bobcats are pretty smart, and we do all we can to insure they will survive in the wild when they get to go free.

 

The sun is shining through the fuchsia colored Bougainvillea that drapes over Windstar the Bobcat‘s cage outside my window. It is too pretty outside to be sitting at the computer, so I head out. The first cage I notice appears to be waist high grass throughout and guests must wonder why we don’t mow in there, but if you stand and gaze at the enclosure, you start to notice a maze of tunnels. Little bobcat size tunnels that weave and wind all over the 1200 square foot space. There is one special little sunning spot where the grass is padded into a purr-fect little cat bed with a view of the white sand beach and lake. Little Feather is the resident here and would surely throw a hissy fit if her grass labyrinth were altered in any way other than her own choosing. Mike was cleaning bobcat cages nearby but he knows that poo and leftovers are all you can take from Little Feather’s cat-a-tat.

 

About 30 mallards, here for the winter, took to flight as I walked too close to where they were hanging out with the swans and guinea hens waiting for Mary Lou and Rosie to feed them. That caught the eye of Apollo, Zeus and Anastasia, the Siberian Lynx nearby. Old Anastasia is crippled and diabetic, but was working on a mat in her ruff when the commotion began. A couple days ago it was 40 degrees and today it is 75 degrees and her coat doesn’t know if it is coming or going. As the old coats shed and new coats come in, some of the lynx look like Rastafarians with their dreadlocks.

 

Calvin the Palm Civet cautiously watches from inside his new den in his new enclosure. This new place has so many more great places to climb and root about thanks to the hard work of our keepers in transforming an otherwise bare space into a Palm Civet wonderland. Also enjoying his new digs, is Pappa Bear the Coatimundi. His former owners had cut off all his toes in a botched declawing attempt and shaved his tail to hawk him as the “world’s largest rat.” After the old bobcat Sheera died, Pappa Bear was the perfect candidate for her cage since he cannot climb or dig. Today he was rooting obliviously in the leaves and brush of his new piece of real estate.

 

Adonnis and Bagheera the Black Leopards were sacked out and sleeping so soundly that