April 23 2018

Afton’s Coordinator Notes for 4/20/2018

Oh Yeah, I am back on Friday’s!! It is almost like I never left!

Our green team stepped it up and came in to help clean! We had just enough keepers to cover feeding, cleaning, and specialty tours! Alex, Brandy, and myself knocked out food prep this afternoon.

We got a water delivery today with extra bottles and jugs for the approaching hot weather.

All cougars and up, as well as Tonga and Ginger, got fly traps. It is that time of year!

Angie Gabor’s Coordinator Notes for 4/21/2018

What a Day!!

We started the day with a full house of volunteers that did a great job feeding and cleaning the cats.

We had a great work group that did an excellent job of clearing Hoover’s former enclosure. It is move in ready! From that enclosure over 20 fishes were relocated to the lake from the tiger pools. The work group and interns on the project got a kick out of fishing from the tiger pools.

The Holley’s came in and took down Andy Tiger’s old platform and he was inspecting the entire process.

Lots of sign offs were done today; feeding, cleaning, operant, even a final keeper tour sign off. Also, interns got their Animal Observation class.

Lots of tours and a couple of private tours.

All in all, it was a wonderful day at Big Cat Rescue.

Running Bear Bobcat – Is sad and missing Little White Dove.  Keepers and interns and spending time with him, giving him extra treats, and lots of extra enrichment to keep him busy and distracted. In fact, Carole posted this for keepers and interns: “Running Bear is being reported as very sad, so if he likes you, please spend some time with him and make sure he gets lots of distracting enrichment. Thank you everyone for providing such wonderful care to the cats.”

**HEADS UP** Tomorrow, April 24th, around 5:00 PM we will be in the Windsong Hospital with Andi Bobcat for diagnostics and Clover Bobcat because she has a wound on her face.

Andi Bobcat – Dr Wynn came to the sanctuary today and is pretty sure Andi Bobcat can’t see. She is coordinating w/ Dr. Miller’s office to see when we can sedate and examine her. Meanwhile she’s eating fine. It could be hypertension which we could treat her for, or she could have suffered a stroke, and has brain damage. We won’t know until we get some blood and have a look at her eyes, but at 21 years of age we only want to sedate her once, if possible, so we are trying to coordinate that.

Zeus Tiger – Zeus Tiger has been eating less and less and his quality of life seems to have diminished greatly. He no longer does all the things he used to do, like watch keepers, come over anytime you even looked at him, or even moving around his cage much. It’s mostly straight from the den to water or food and back in. He’s not grooming himself and he’s having a very hard time getting around. We will be watching him closely but wanted to let you know that he may be reaching the end of the road.  If you watch this video Carole talks about what’s up with this precious old tiger. https://www.facebook.com/bigcatrescue/videos/10155307835581957/

Nabisco Bobcat – Nabisco was on the charts a couple days ago for another seizure like episode. In between he seems perfectly normal, so the next steps for him could be an MRI or spinal tap, which are both pretty dangerous. The vets are talking about taking him to a specialist for diagnostics.

Are you tired of hearing bad news?

Are you ready to heard some GOOD NEWS?

If you are lucky enough to have an animal in your life, you know how much joy they can bring, how much personality they have, and how capable they are of feeling a full range of emotions.

And, are you ready for some good news? Do you want to hear some amazing stories about people who are working to make life better for animals?

We are inviting you to >>Join Us Now<< for a free online event that we’re participating in.

It’s a really informative interview series called:

“Creating Sanctuary for Animals How 21 Heroes are Saving Animals’ Lives”

And it’s free!

The following kittens are ready to return to the Human Society of Tampa Bay to find their furever families. Karma the “Kitten Napper” will pick them tomorrow mi-morning.

Nimbus
Stormy
Bolt
Flash
Bumblebee
Callie
Charles
Chelsea

Little Camilla also sees the vet again tomorrow.

She-ra Kitten will move to the Himalayan Intern House so she won’t be alone.

Modglin Intern House is preparing to receive at mom with five newborn kittens.

If you would like to contribute funds or items to the kitten fostering program or are interested in adopting a kitten, please email Karma at kittens@bigcatrescue.org

Alyssa is a volunteer at Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, FL who is saving big cats. Want to get involved? Check out http://bigcatrescue.org/get-involved/ 🦁  She is putting in a full day doing projects for the cats!!🐯

Reise cougar is excited to let everyone know that after correspondence with Big Cat Rescue for a couple weeks about their recent television commercial featuring a real cougar, Farmers Insurance has agreed to NEVER AGAIN USE REAL BIG CATS in their advertising! Thank you Farmers Insurance!

Why can’t we just set them free?

We get that question all the time. There are actually several reasons why they cannot go free. Check those reasons out at http://bigcatrescue.org/gofree/  When you see this question on the comments this is a great link to give people.

Photo by Jerry Lee Gingerich

Let this reporter and paper know that big cats don’t belong in circus acts. SEE ARTICLE

Some big cats come into our lives, touch our souls, and we are never the same for having known them. Mickey Cougar’s life story is heartbreaking and his indomitable spirit touched many lives. This is especially true for Big Cat Rescuers Lauren Elizabeth Lynn and Marlene Coalter Russell.

When Mickey passed away in October 2017, they wanted to do something special to honor him. Big Cat Rescue has a Life from Ashes program where the ashes of a cat are planted with a new tree at the sanctuary. Lauren and Marlene purchased a palmetto tree for Mickey which was recently planted at the end of the ramp of the new Gift Shop. Mickey loved lying on and playing with his palm fronds!

Lauren and Marlene also donated a beautiful black granite memorial tile to be placed at the base of Mickey’s tree so all who see it might be as inspired by him as they are. These magnificent big cats belong in the wild, not in cages. Together, we can DO something about that. In Mickey’s honor, please make the Call of the Wild to ban the private possession and breeding of exotic cats so no more will suffer as horribly as Mickey did before we rescued him. BigCatAct.com

To read Mickey’s story, visit BigCatRescue.org/mickey/

Joseph’s Memorial Photo Book Update

Joseph’s Photo Memorial Book is at the publisher now. I got word the first batch has been shipped and should arrive here on or before April 30th. As soon as they arrive they will be sent right out to all of you. The second batch ordered is almost through production and the third set ordered has entered the production phase.

REMINDER:  There are only about 40 copies still available.  If you want on there is still time to get your order in at http://chatbigcats.com/joseph-memorial-photo-book/