December 11 2017 | Big Cat Rescue

Big Cat Updates

SUMMARY: Missing Updates, Maya Cougar arrives, Jackson Hole WILD’s new trailer, Holiday surprise & road trip, People Often Ask

Keeper Lauren Grant’s Coordinator Report for Thursday, 12/7/2017

Pretty good day, even if the weather wasn’t!
Feeding and cleaning were able to get done in a reasonable time.
Behind food prep and around the hospitals was mowed and weed-eated.
Stick picking up and raking was continued around the empty enclosure next to Jinx to Kricket & Sheena. It needs to be continued all the way through Kewlona & Dryden’s enclosure.
All of the small or older cats have gotten their heading pads for their dens, including Babycakes. Beacher still needs one before he is put back outside.
That’s about it!
– Lauren G

Keeper Kathryn Stapleton’s Coordinator Report for Friday 12/8/2017

Was a nice windy day today. Cats were enjoying the breeze.
We had a lot of volunteers and the cats got enrichment and operant. Signoffs were done for everyone that needed them.
All the heated dens are in place for Tut, Purrfection, Mrs Claws, Beacher, Diablo, Will, and Babycakes.
We finished Maya’s new enclosure, she has a platform, a Christmas tree and toys waiting for her arrival. Hay in her dens and all the comforts we can do.
The picky cats did pretty well today. Joseph was liking ground turkey today. Cameron was super picky today. Breezy is eating better, hopefully she can go out this weekend.
Beacher is outside and has access to his entire enclosure. He has been very chatty and flirting with his neighbors

Keeper Sue Messineo’s Coordinator Report for Saturday 12/9/2017

Chilly and Rainy most of the day but had plenty of volunteers to help. It was wonderful to welcome our new family member, Maya Cougar. She is very sweet, eating well and flirting with Mac, or vice versa.
Joseph and Cameron have decided that they like ground turkey and ground beef.
Souix and Lakota do not seem fond of pork but they do like red quite a bit.
Quite a bit of Hoovers enclosures were cleaned up, some left to do tomorrow.
It was a beautiful day at BCR!
Sue M

Keeper Angie Gabor’s Coordinator Report for Sunday 12/10/17

Another great day for the cats. It was cold and they loved it. They were all very frisky and having fun.
We had lots of volunteers come in to help. Enrichment, Specialty tours and Feeding sign offs were done today.
Hoover’s enclosure was finished and he was supervising the work the whole time.
Our new beautiful girl, Maya, was very popular today with her neighbors who were trying to see who the new girl was. (And as usual Mac was flirting).
The transport cages and trailer used for Maya’s rescue were cleaned and put away.

Note from LaWanna

Please accept my sincerest apology for the missed updates. I was out of the office for a couple of days and have been swamped since getting back. Beginning tomorrow, Big Cat Updates should be back on track. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Jackson Hole WILD

Good afternoon!

I’m reaching out to you from Jackson Hole WILD, the nonprofit that brings you the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival every other year.

However, our efforts extend past this biennial event. Our newest initiative might interest you because it’s all about CATS.

The International BIG CATS Film Festival is jointly presented by Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, the United Nations and CITES. We launched our trailer today, and we would love if you can push it out far and wide through your own channels as well. By joining together, we will make a greater impact and hopefully gain traction for our CATS.

“At a time when the crisis can still be averted, it is essential to take action that promotes local engagement and personal commitment. Our aim is to galvanize the power of media to inspire wonder, catalyze change and move the dial on the conservation of big cats. We encourage wildlife movie makers around the world to submit their excellent works. Big cats have never come under the international spotlight as a group. But they will soon. Together, we will make the biggest impact.”

– Jackson Hole WILD Executive Director Lisa Samford and CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon

Want to get involved in other ways?

Enter a film here: http://tickets.jhfestival.org/categories.php?page=Film%20Registration

Apply to be a judge here: https://www.jhfestival.org/big-cats-judging.html

Host a screening event in your community here: https://www.jhfestival.org/host-an-event.html

Thank you so much for your support and getting involved to save our BIG CATS. If we work together, we can make a difference.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any further questions!

Best,

Abbey Greene
Media Communications Manager
Jackson Hole WILD

Holiday Surprise & ROAD TRIP

We had two of our kittens pack up and head to their new home in North Carolina!

Liz Schmid and her husband own a Wild Birds Unlimited store in High Point, NC where they keep their store tv on explore.org. One of the feeds they love to follow is the Big Cat Rescue – Kitten Cabana feed! This feed shows HSTB kittens who are being fostered by BCR in a big patio room they get to play in during the day while their foster parents are hard at work at BCR. Liz’s husband had gotten very attached to watching two calico kittens each day as they played in the cabana, so much so that he joked a few times that they should think of driving to Tampa after the holidays to see if they were up for adoption. Liz had other plans!

After some planning with her sister and checking when the kittens would be back from BCR, she told her husband that she was going with her sister for a girls weekend (when really they were driving to Tampa to adopt the kittens he loved!!). So they spent Friday driving down to Tampa, checked into a hotel for a little snooze, and were at HSTB bright and early Saturday morning to finally meet Gigi and Gabby in person and take them home!! It was love at first cuddle, the kittens just purring up a storm as soon as they saw their new mom!!

Everyone should be home as of Sunday morning and dad will be nicely surprised when he comes home from the shop Sunday afternoon!!

Dana Johnson
Foster Care Coordinator
Humane Society of Tampa Bay, Inc.

People Often Ask

What should I do when I get a form letter from my Representative after I made the Call of the Wild?

Sometimes, legislatures will send out a form letter thinking it will make their voters think they got the answer they wanted. If your legislator does not tell you they are a co-sponsor of H.R. 1818, The Big Cat Public Safety Act, and that they are championing the bill, send them back a reply letting them know they still did not answer you and that you see through the answer they gave you.

I send, something like this:

I appreciate your response, but it seems like a form letter to me, saying that you aren’t going to actively champion this bill so that it will be heard in the sub committee. That is why I asked you to Co Sponsor the bill. As you know, that shows your fellow members of Congress that you support this no nonsense bill that ends the practice of breeding lions and tigers for backyards and basements. Please show me that you really care about this issue by adding your name to the dozens of Representatives who have already co sponsored the Big Cat Public Safety Act (HR 1818). Thank you.

Meet Maya Cougar

A Forever Home for the Holidays

Date of Birth 3/19/1999
Arrived at Big Cat Rescue Arrived 12/9/17

December 8, 2017: We are excited to share with you that a team of Big Cat Rescuers is right now driving from Ohio back to our sanctuary in Tampa with a female cougar named Mya! She is 18 years old (which equates to about 100 in human years) and was voluntarily surrendered by her owner to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Not many elderly captive big cats ever have the opportunity for a second chance and a brand new life at an accredited sanctuary. We plan to spoil her and give her the best veterinary care and nutrition possible for her remaining years. She’s going to live in a big enclosure next to Reise, another elderly female cougar. Big Cat Rescue volunteers prepared comfy dens, new toys, and a platform in her enclosure.

AWE!!!!! Mac already is swooning in love. He has done his best to get this new girl’s attention. He has put his best flirt moves out there.

Check out the photos of her Road Trip Home at: https://bigcatrescue.org/maya/ You will also see some funny antics Big Car Rescuer did in the snow. We don’t get snow in Florida so of course, rescuers have to make use of on of their rest stops to play in the snow.

Will you help us welcome Mya to her forever home and donate to her care? You can sponsor Maya as a Christmas gift for a big cat lover on your holiday gift list: https://big-cat-rescue.myshopify.com/collections/sponsor-a-cat