NO PUBLIC TOURS, BUT LIMITED DONOR TOURS AVAILABLE

We continue to be closed to the general public. However, we have a limited ability to provide small private tours. Donors of $500 or more per year may schedule to come with one additional guest. Donors of $1000 or more may bring three guests with them. All guests must be at least 10 years of age. Our tour guides are vaccinated and we ask that you and any guests be vaccinated as well. If you experience any COVID symptoms in the ten days prior to your tour please contact us to reschedule. Masks are optional. Do not bring any pets with you (may seem obvious but it happens.) To schedule a visit email Howard.Baskin@BigCatRescue.org.

Because we can only provide in person tours to a small number of donors we have invested in ramping up our virtual options, such as our LIVE webcams where you can view the cats live and chat with people who love big cats. Our cameras are at https://bigcatrescue.org/cams/ and see our virtual options at BigCatRescue.org/VR 

We are always available to connect with you on our social sites at Facebook, where we go LIVE daily Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok where we post daily updates, photos and videos so you can stay up to date on the cats.

Big Cat Rescue is Caring for Big Cats and Ending the Trade

Join us in the freedom fight for exotic cats!  They were designed to live free; not in cages.  The number one cause of abuse is the practice of posing with big cats and their cubs because it creates a flood of discarded cats that serve no conservation value and end up dead or in conditions that are often even worse.  You will find us to be completely transparent in our values, care of our many wild cats, and finances.

U.S. Residents Only

The Most Important Action You Can Take for Big Cats and their Cubs

Stop Big Cat Abuse (US ONLY)

Call, Tweet, or Email your U.S. Senators and ask them to champion the Big Cat Public Safety Act:

This bill passed the House in a landslide vote July 31, 2022 and is before the Senate on their consent agenda.  Your Senators need to hear from you now!  See what is happening today, or this week at Big Cat Rescue.
Get the most recent copy of the Big Cat Times, a bi-annual print newsletter.

Big Cat Rescue’s Mission

Our Mission is to provide the best home we can for the cats in our care, end abuse of big cats in captivity, and prevent extinction of big cats in the wild.

Our Goal is for our donors to find their gifts to us to be among the most satisfying they make by accomplishing our mission in the most financially responsible manner possible. We consistently receive Charity Navigator’s highest 4 star rating.

About Big Cat Rescue

Big Cat Rescue, one of the world’s most influential sanctuaries for exotic cats, is a leading advocate for ending the abuse of captive big cats and saving wild cats from extinction.  We are the most hated, feared and lied about by circuses, backyard breeders, roadside zoos, cub petting pimps  and pseudo-sanctuaries because we are the most effective at ending the abuse of big cats.  We wear that as a badge of honor.

We are home to lions, tigers, bobcats, servals, caracals, jaguar and other species most of whom have been abandoned, abused, orphaned, saved from being turned into fur coats, or retired from performing acts.

• The sanctuary is NOT open to the public & never takes cats off site for exhibition
• The sanctuary began rescuing exotic cats in Nov. 4, 1992
• The non profit 501 c 3 sanctuary is home to many exotic big cats
• We donate over $100,000 annually to  exotic cat conservation projects in the wild
• The non wildcats at Big Cat Rescue are here for a variety of reasons, including:
  • Abandoned by owners who wrongly thought they would make good pets
  • Abused by owners in order to force them to perform
  • Retired from performing acts
  • Saved from being slaughtered to make fur coats
  • Rescued as babies after hunters killed their mothers.  See our Bobcat Rehab and Release work for releasable cats
• The non-profit organization is:
  • Accredited by the Global Federation of Sanctuaries
  • Certified by Independent Charities of America as a “Best in America Charity”
  • Member of the Species Survival Network
  • Rated 4 Stars by Charity Navigator (their highest rating) and has one of the highest scores of any animal based charity
  • Part of a global coalition including HSUS, IFAW, WWF, GFAS, Born Free and other animal protection groups who are working together to end big cat abuse
• The sanctuary is situated on 67 acres in the Citrus Park area of north Tampa but is not open to the general public.