Greetings

February is upon us, and with it comes news and opportunities concerning the big cats. This month, we are featuring updates that include a celebrity feature by Geraldo, event results, furry, four-pawed, feline romance and more. Enjoy this issue of the AdvoCat and let us wish you a happy Valentines week to you and yours.

Carole Baskin, Founder

	Love is In the Air

“Felines, nothing more than felines”…. Can you hear the song playing? We hope it’s a match that will make the best of friends when we move Alachua Bob to a new cage next to Sheera the bobcat.

To give you a brief recap, a couple of good Samaritans discovered an adult, male bobcat that had been hit by a car and lived to tell the tale.  X-rays showed the pelvis to be shattered with little or no hope of full recovery.The bobcat’s injuries were such that he might never be able to hunt and due to his obvious advanced age and the extent of his fractures. “Alachua Bob” got lucky and now he doesn’t have to know the agony of starving to death due to his handicap.

Meanwhile Sheera, our 11 year old southern female bobcat has always been very shy and intimidated by humans and therefore, kept in a secluded cage. She has not had the opportunity to bond with another cat until this point. We decided that we would try to introduce them by placing them near each other. Alachua Bob (neutered) and Sheera should really enjoy each other as new neighbors because she is shy and reclusive and her only neighbors are the four rather wild and introverted bobcats who all have each other.  She has always been the lone cat out.  They are both southern bobcats; long, lean, with southern accents and charm and short coated so they should have a natural affinity to the looks of each other.  Both have plenty of places in the palmetto to hide from each other until curiosity takes over. We are hoping for at best a love connection, and at least, some encouraging companionship for both to enrich their lives.

	We Put the CAT in FCAT

Attention educators. We now have a page to help you find the information quickly that you need to captivate the interest of your students. Big Cat Rescue’s website is more than 10,500 files of information about big cats in the wild and in captivity. We offer a huge array of articles on conservation, preservation and compassionate living. Our games are designed to familiarize children with the exotic cat species to spark an interest in much larger global matters. Kids learn best by doing and have a remarkable ability to gather and store information if they are having fun. Big Cat Rescue’s website is designed to make learning fun. We are learning all the time and welcome your suggestions and feedback.

Check it out …

	Kids, Cats and Candidates Recap

Humane USA’s first ever Kids, Cats and Candidates Day was a tremendous success. 178 guests, including 15 candidates enjoyed a beautiful day of getting to know each other in the relaxed setting of the sanctuary. $1527.00 was raised for the cause and 81 families agreed to join Humane USA’s mailing list to stay informed about animal issues and how they can help. The kids (and adults) enjoyed their Valentine’s Day cards and lots of people posed with Tim Watters impersonation of “Bill Clinton”. Tim Schoonover won the 3 days and 2 nights donated by Holiday Inn Harbourside.

As always, the volunteers did a marvelous job of parking everyone, getting everyone set up and secure and then making sure that the day was fun and safe for all involved. Heather Veleanu, the Chair of the Humane USA FL Steering Committee drove up from South Florida to greet guests while they waited for the next tour and did a fantastic job of raising more than $500.00 for donated art. That day we had to compete with the Florida State Fair’s Kid’s Day, so that brought our expected numbers down a bit, but thanks to the protesters we had several people say that they were just driving by and decided to come because they saw the signs and wanted to see what was going on. That helped increase the amount of exposure to our cause and the funds generated so the day turned out quite well. If you were a Candidate, a Volunteer, a Staff member, or a Guest we thank you for making this a special day for all involved.

See more… .

	WEDU Award Voting Results

We like to bring you the results of things we ask for your participation with. Thank you to all who voted in WEDU’s community award voting. Out of all of the non profits in their 16 county area, Big Cat Rescue made the top 5 Non Profits of the Year.  The Children’s Home was the top charity to receive the award. Our congratulations go to them!

	Geraldo at Big Cat Rescue

	Tigers for Sale

In 2003 a law was passed that made it illegal to sell big cats across state lines as pets but the law lacked the technical teeth to be enforced. The Senate unanimously passed S.1415 to correct that flaw last year but the House hasn’t adopted the language yet and time is running out. Despite the House not doing their part to end this dangerous activity, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed rules that would help end the trade in big cats, and they are considering input until March 2, 2006. Their proposal has some flaws that you can help us fix. One flaw is that anyone with a $40.00 permit from USDA is exempt. Please Take Action by and let your government know this is important to you.

Contribute your letter easily here...

	Photo Contest Update

We’d like to thank all the photographers who submitted their beautiful work to our 2005 photo contest. We are proud to present numerous stunning winners to you. One such winner is featured above as our Grand Prize Winner. This shot is entitled “Breakfast” and was submitted by Lorraine Thomas of Florida. Good work!

There were several categories including:

A Grand Prize:  Cabin Rental, 2 hour Photo Safari, and Internet exposure at our Official web site: bigcatrescue.org

3 First Prizes:  1 hour Photo Safari, and Internet exposure.

3 Second Prizes:  Big Cat Rescue T-shirt, and Internet exposure

There were 3 subject categories to submit to:  Wildlife, Pets & Landscape

It’s not too early to enter the 2006 contest. Judging will be in January 2007 so all entries must be postmarked no later than December 31, 2006.  Get clicking!

Read more about this…

	Feline Fun Fact

Have you ever wondered why after you stroke your house cat, she/he seems immediately compelled to lick the very spot that you touched? Well, many of us are inclined to think that it must have thought we messed up its hair-do. Well, it’s more about the cat’s senses and a compliment to you. You see, a cat’s sense of taste is more acute than its sense of smell. Therefore, when the cat licks the spot that you pet, she can very quickly identify more about you by licking than it can by smelling. It’s summing up where you’ve been, who you’ve been with, what you’ve touched etc. Think of it as a feline “ice breaker” game each time you experience that.