Advocat 2014 07
This month has almost too much good news to share! It is because of people, like YOU, who speak up for the big cats that we are seeing so many good things happening for them and such a huge shift in the way people think about them.
First up in the good news Cat-egory:
The Senate had a hearing on S1381, the Big Cats and Public Safety Act, and is moving forward on the bill. If you are new to Big Cat Rescue and our issues, this is THE MOST IMPORTANT BILL EVER to protect captive big cats from being bred for life in backyard cages. Lend your voice here.
Got Roku?
If you do, then you have more than 600 episodes of Big Cat TV waiting for you for FREE in the Channel Store! Series include our best videos from each year going back to 2007. Big Cat Vets, Cat Chat Show, and Big Cat Rescuers, our weekly big cat reality show. We will only be in the NEW section of the Channel Store for the next month, so please take a minute to use your Roku box to go to the Channel Store, pick New, then pick Big Cat TV. If you add our channel and give us a 5 star rating, it can help us reach people who might not have any idea that the tiger could disappear in their lifetime, if they don't join YOU and take action now.
The Real Cost of Posing With Big Cat Cubs
Mainstream media in America is starting to listen and take note of the messages YOU help us share about tiger cub petting schemes! These two great articles denouncing tiger cub petting have been published just this week:YouBeauty.com - https://www.youbeauty.com/relationships/animal-tourism-bad-for-wildlifeLouisville.com -- https://www.louisville.com/content/cost-tiger-baby-playtime
Ban the Use of Wild Animals in Circus Acts
CIRCUS ANIMALS IN THE US NEED YOU TO TAKE ACTION THIS WEEK! Please spare just a few moments of your time to urge your Congressional Representatives to co-sponsor the bill to ban wild animal circus acts, TEAPA. We need ALL OF YOU IN THE US to send a message!Having considered the inherent animal suffering – the constant travel, the severe restrictions on movement and the unnatural lifestyle the animals are forced to lead – 27 countries around the world banned wild, or all, animals in circuses. IT’S NOW TIME FOR THE US TO DO SO TOO!PLEASE MAKE A DATE to contact Congress about TEAPA this week. The elephants, tigers, bears and other wild animals presently suffering in US circuses need us to speak on their behalf. WE HAVE A WEEK TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Spread the word and share this message on Facebook, Twitter, and any other way you can.DO IT FOR THE CIRCUS ANIMALS https://bit.ly/1pe5xxxLive outside the US? You can still support the campaign by signing and sharing our petition https://bit.ly/1s1hVDy
Drag Queen Bingo at Hamburger Mary's
Wednesday August 6, the queens of the jungle will come out at Hamburger Mary’s in Clearwater for “Drag Queen Bingo” to benefit the tigers at Big Cat Rescue. No cover. $10 gets you 10 games. With grrrr..eat prizes including a private tour of the cats for 10 people worth $700. All proceeds benefit Big Cat Rescue. It’s a wild night with outrageous host Melanie and her risqué humor. Seating is limited, so make reservations today. Call 727-400-6996. Eat great food, drink and laugh with Melanie to help big cats at Hamburger Mary’s next Wednesday, August 6 at 28910 US Hwy 19 N Clearwater, FL 33761
The Big Cat Times Summer Edition
Due to the cost of printing and mailing, you have probably noticed that you rarely get anything in the mailbox from us. We create a quarterly, print newspaper called The Big Cat Times, but we only mail it to donors and those in our neighborhood, unless you have asked to be on that mail list. Each quarter we post a digital copy here and the Summer edition was recently added.https://bigcatrescue.org/big-cat-times/If you subscribe to our website, you will never miss an update.
Annual Appeal
Because we don't send out much direct mail for fundraising, we really do need you to help out when we do. This week we are sending out our Annual Appeal, but it only goes to existing donors, so if you have never donated, please check out this page to see why donating to Big Cat Rescue can be YOUR legacy in saving wild cats.https://bigcatrescue.org/2014appealletter/
Videos Since the Last Issue of the AdvoCat
https://youtu.be/RlwCG7r4sawhttps://youtu.be/zFvjkR4HpNQhttps://youtu.be/OGV5bqGY0jshttps://youtu.be/Daay4obrGnUhttps://youtu.be/qaiLSpqeBHY
Credit Card Processing Savings Lower Our Costs
For years we paid a credit card processing company on a “tiered” basis where they round up the dozens of different levels of fees they pay. Recently I learned from a company called Gulf Management Systems that there is a much fairer and less expensive way to do this. The credit card processor passes on their cost with a small fixed added profit, no rounding up to increase the fees. The net for us has been a savings of thousands of dollars a year in fees.We have used Gulf for years to do “direct debit” when supporters become Sustaining Donors and sign up to donate monthly from their checking accounts. We have also used them for direct deposit of our payroll checks. The customer service has been fantastic.As our contract with our credit card processor came up for renewal, I asked them to review it.When they showed me how much we had been overcharged on credit card fees because of the rounding up tiered system the banks and big merchant service companies typically use, all I could think of was how much better use we could have made of that money.If you operate a business that takes credit cards or does direct deposit and would like to get a no cost or obligation cost comparison, contact Matt Witte at (727) 669-7644. You can save money, and help the cats because (full disclosure here!) if you mention Big Cat Rescue we get a donation from them!
Media Producer Job
All the great videos that you have seen in the past 6 years have been brought to you by Chris Poole, who started at Big Cat Rescue as an Intern. He and his wife have decided to move to CA, so we need a new media producer. Check out the requirements and apply here:https://bigcatrescue.org/media-producer-wanted-2014-july/
Do You Shop on Amazon?
If you do, you can help Big Cat Rescue with every purchase, at no additional cost to you by making Amazon Smile your log in page to Amazon and selecting Big Cat Rescue as your charity of choice!
Top Shocking Incidents of Big Cat Exploitation – July 2014
We hope by sharing a new list with you each month that you will join us in speaking out for the big cats and cubs that are exploited across this country every day. We encourage you to take one small action today and contact one or more of the offenders below to politely express your concern. Together we can be the voice for the voiceless...together we can make a difference. If you learn of exotic cats or cubs being exploited in your area, please contact Susan.Bass@BigCatRescue.org.
White tiger cub on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in June.No. 1 Big Cat Rescue was contacted by several of you, our awesome supporters, concerned about this white tiger cub on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last month. The handler confessed that the cub is from the Wildlife Zoological Foundation in Miami, which we believe is one of the country’s worst places for big cats.Read a recent Mother Jones article about the founder of Wildlife Zoological Foundation here:https://m.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/mario-tabraue-cocaine-kingpin-lobbying-congress-big-catsPLEASE help us educate the producers of the Tonight Show that animal lovers do not want to see tiger cubs or any exotic cats exploited to entertain viewers. Politely let the producers know you will NOT watch the show if they continue to feature big cats and cubs.Executive Producer Lorne Michaels: lorne.michaels@nbcuni.comProducer Gavin Purcell: gavin.purcell@nbcuni.comProducer Katie Hockmeyer: katie.hockmeyer@nbcuni.com See the clip here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciqlC8lOgfI 
Large caged tiger being gawked at by hundreds of people in Florida. Note the man has his hand inside the cage. No. 2 This adult tiger was displayed in a small transport cage recently in Safety Harbor (Florida) during the city’s monthly event called Third Friday. We received a number of complaints from local residents and contacted the city about the tiger. Nobody from the city responded to Big Cat Rescue.Please let the City of Safety Harbor know that many people – not just Big Cat Rescue -- do NOT want to see big cats exploited at events. It is so stressful for an exotic cat to be stuck in a small cage with nowhere to hide while hundreds of loud people gawk! Ask the city to institute a "no exotic animals" policy for city events.City Manager Matthew Spoor at mspoor@cityofsafetyharbor.com and 727-724-1555Special Events Supervisor Joe Cooper at jcooper@cityofsafetyharbor.com and 727-724-1572Leisure Services Director Andrea Norwood at anorwood@cityofsafetyharbor.com and 727-724-1555City Clerk Karen Sammons at ksammons@cityofsafetyharbor.com and 727-724-1555 No. 3 It’s difficult to convey the sheer idiocy of what happened recently at the Visitor Center at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park (California). The park had a mountain lion pelt on display, which spokesperson Daniel Williford claims “allowed for people to learn about and touch a mountain lion in a safe way.” WHAT? Certainly not safe for the mountain lion!The pelt was recently stolen. Williford told the Press-Banner newspaper “it’s disappointing that the Visitor Center has become a place of crime.” What’s REALLY disappointing is that this state park is promoting and condoning big cat abuse in the name of “teaching the public about wildlife.”Read the article here: https://www.pressbanner.com/view/full_story/25423951/article-Mountain-lion-pelt-stolen-from-Henry-Cowell?instance=home_news_bulletsWilliford also says the Visitor Center will try to replace the pelt if someone doesn’t return the stolen one. Please help us educate this state park and the Press-Banner newspaper that visitors do NOT need to touch a dead mountain lion’s fur in order to appreciate nature! Also ask them not to replace the pelt.Daniel Williford at Daniel.williford@parks.ca.gov and 831-335-7077Editor at the Press-Banner at pbeditor@pressbanner.com No. 4 A recent Japanese animation convention called Colossolcon (Ohio) featured 30-minute “play dates” with baby tigers as part of their event. They sold Baby Tiger Passes for $150 each and sold out! Even worse, we’ve learned that this is not the first year they have had tigers and we believe they plan to do it again next June. Please email the Directors – we only know their first names – and politely explain that exploiting tiger cubs to make money is not cool and should not be part of their convention going forward.Donnell – at donnell@colossolcon.comMark – at mark@colossolcon.com No.5 We’ve included the Frisco family’s Bengal Tiger Encounter traveling circus act in this list before. This week the circus family has 5 adult tigers and 2 white tiger cubs at the Elkhart County 4-H Fair (Indiana). The local paper the Elkhart Truth (ironically named) ran a story quoting Felicia Frisco saying the circus act is “an educational show to raise awareness about the plight of the tiger.” Umm, no.Please help us to educate the management of the fair, the 4-H staff and the newspaper that using big cats and cubs for entertainment is abusive and needs to end. Cats in traveling shows are usually kept in tiny transport cages for days on end, subjected to endless stress due to loud noise and people, and trained using abusive methods. This outdated mode of entertainment is cruel and unacceptable.Contact the Elkhart 4-H Fair at info@4Hfair.org and 574-533-3247Contact the Elkhart County 4-H staff:
Robert Kelly at kelly115@purdue.edu and 574-533-0554
Sthele Greybar at sgreybar@purdue.edu and 574-533-0554
Contact the Elkhart Truth newspaper:
Editor Greg Halling at ghalling@elkharttruth.com and 574-296-5937
Managing Editor Marshall King at mking@elkharttruth.com and 574-296-5805
Reporter JC Lee at jclee@elkharttruth.com and 574-296-5802
Give 5% Back
Would you be interested in shopping from a company that gives back 5% to Big Cat Rescue and 7-20% to Carole Baskin which is automatically signed over to Big Cat Rescue each month? Find out more: https://bigcatrescue.org/household
Interns Dive to Save Lives
Interns come to us for 3 months at a time and work around 60 hours a week. They can complete up to 4 internships – Lisa, Lauren, Ciara, Erin and Cody are all in their 3rd and 4th level. They wanted to do a fundraiser for the cats and have decided to Skydive to Save Lives. Find out more:https://www.razoo.com/story/Dive-To-Save-Lives
A GAME REMINDER from Big Cat Rescue
(Click here to watch short video)Dear Big Cat Rescuer,We are asking you to help us raise funds at NO cost to you. For those that have helped us, we send our deepest thanks. For those that have not, we are asking that you take 10 to 15 minutes out of your busy day to click on one of the below links and play one of our FREE online or mobile games. When you do, the game distributor pays us a fee for your trying the games out.IT COULDN’T BE EASIER!In fact, if you click on a link after reading this email and try one or more of our listed games that would be very helpful.Click on the link now to try out one more of our: Online Games and/orOpen this email on your smartphone and try out one or more of our: Mobile GamesOne more way to help raise money at NO COST to you: Yahoo has agreed to help us by providing a special search site that is branded just for us. They will also share revenue from searches to help us raise needed dollars.Just click on the link and check it out…It's that easy. Please try 5-10 natural searches using this search engine, after all you already use the Internet to search. Now you can search using a branded search engine built exclusively for us, of course the more you use it the better it is for us.(You can save this special link search page to your favorites). CAN YOU BELIEVE IT; JUST DOING YOUR NORMAL SEARCHES FROM THIS SEARCH LINK, HELPS US RAISE NEEDED FUNDS!!! “Search Link”Thank you for your support!Please participate now so you won’t forget, we would love 100% participation in the next 24-72PS: Please send this email to at least on friend or family member, so they can have fun and help us all at no cost!!
American Mustang Film
Florida Voices for Animals will be showing the film "American Mustang" on August 25, 2014 at AMC Westshore. More info here: https://www.tugg.com/go/qcmi1v