Feb 27 2017

Big Cat Updates

Reise suffers from a bad declaw and has to be sedated periodically to have her malformed claws trimmed.  We will probably do this next Monday, if not sooner.

 Sabre’s Upcoming 25th Birthday

Many of you messaged asking about doing something to honor Sabre’s 25th birthday on March 1st.

Jamie said we have plenty of of his favorite spices for now but what we could really use are large red Solo cups to make daily sicles in.

We hand out a LOT sicles every day, especially to the old cats like Sabre who need the extra hydration that sicles give them.  The old cats that move slower are not as into playing with balls and big toys as they used to be in their younger years, however they do LOVE their daily sicles.

 Big Cat Gift Shop

Here are some items in out main online gift shop that features Sabre Leopard.

Sabre Pendant

Silver finish fancy oval setting features stunning image of Sabre the leopard under glass tile.  Pendant is 1 1/8″ x 1 1/2″ and comes with a 24″ – 1.5mm diameter silver chain necklace.

Tote Bag featuring Sabre

The purchase of this item helped to rescue Sabre the leopard as well as provide a great home to countless big cats. Read Sabre’s story here: http://bigcatrescue.org/sabre/  Show your love for Sabre the leopard with the purchase of this custom made tote. 100% spun polyester weather resistant fabric, dual handles 100% natural cotton bull denim, bag 15″ x 15″, made in America.

 Keeper Corner

~Keeper Alyssa 2/21/2017

Today is an Amazing Day! 🙂  

Zeus Tiger

Keeper Honey

From Keeper Honey, who is also our gift shop manager, posted this on Feb 22, 2017.

We had a double rainbow over BCR today!!! I guess that makes food prep the pot o gold at the end of the rainbow….it definitely is for all of the cats!! Enjoy your evening everyone.

Keeper Nancy S.

Keeper Nancy S. got a great shot of the double rainbow, too.

Double rainbow. Am I fascinated because it is one of nature’s wonders or because it looks like an ever-lasting gobstopper ~Keeper Nancy

Keeper/Coordinator Lynda L.

Sunday 2/26/17

Overall a good day. Good volunteer turnout and interns dedicated to tours and a couple red shirt keeper trainees were backups as well.

Picky cats ate well: Hoover almost 12 lbs, TJ almost 9 lbs, Joseph over 7 lbs and all other cats ate well. Cameron ate 3 lbs this morning and was last holdout for Becky at PM meds time eating and she fed him 2 turkey thighs and 1 wing (2 lbs 10 oz)

In terms of projects: The big section in small cat section was raked and picked up (No more piles around Ana and Will!!). The cages that the rehabs were in were cleaned and put away. Sticks were picked up as well.

Moses had his cone taken off by Jamie and Justin and had shifted over so the far cage was cleaned and bedding changed out. All laundry done- just one final load in the dryer right now.

Lynda

 Viewer Videos From Explore.org/bigcatrescue

I LOVE Watching these video!!!  Do you?

There are some GREAT videos recorded by viewers at explore.org/bigcatrescue that you will really enjoy watching.

Seth Tiger LOVES the Lake

Seth Going for Another Swim

Seth is swimming, again.  Attacking the Keg!

He even swims several times at night.

I encourage everyone to check out these links if you want to watch some cute fun biog cat action.

Here is a list of YouTube channels that feature videos of the cats here:

• Susann  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUFOZiTvzKRvj-oVbzdByvg
• Ruxandra https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvCsjKptd1gM9BhfDkGQGNg
• Donna P:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcFbhMc8Sqr-8MreWuYr4Bg
• Shawna https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfl9S-vDPJIgjl8QpM6Aypw
• Cathy S https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6ynHBFLKj0BVnK5jo2gTnw
• A Heart For Nikita https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSxAXUTh29XWQw35acpU1Ag

 Big Cat Challenge One

Today’s Challenge – Watch & Share this video

Fur should NOT be fashionable. Take the Fur-free pledge and don’t buy fur. Don’t support celebrities, retailers, advertisers and others who wear/use fur. Tell them on their social media pages you don’t like them because of this. Take action and support the bill to end leg-hold trapping. Thank you.

 SAVE Award Feb 2016 (not 2017)

Scratch’s Award for Volunteer Excellence, the SAVE Award

For outstanding volunteer service, the February SAVE Award goes to Alex Foxx. She is a great worker who helps wherever she is needed with a smile on her face. Alex is enthusiastic and always wants to learn something new. Thank you so much and congratulations!

A donation of $1000 has been made in your honor to the Cape Leopard Trust to fund the conservation of caracals in South Africa.

The Cape Peninsula is a biodiversity hotspot that has lost almost all of its large mammals such as cape lions, leopards and brown hyenas. Caracals as a result may play a major role in maintaining the ecosystem as they are the largest remaining predator in the area. This study on caracals is a tool to understand how urbanization may be threatening wildlife and other parts of the world affected by similar factors.

Aims of the project:

Establish baseline information about the caracal population in the Cape Peninsula: population size, health of individuals, and the distribution of caracals across the Peninsula.
Evaluate the effects of urbanization on the behavior, movement patterns, diet, and genetic health of caracals in the Peninsula.
Assess threats to survival for caracals in the Peninsula and potentially beyond to other parts of South Africa.

Data will be collected using radio collar tracking of individuals, remote wildlife cameras to monitor the caracals, genetic analysis of individuals, and pesticide and disease testing.

Funds will be used to purchase equipment such as radio collars with four months of satellite tracking to collect data as well as for veterinary health assessments of the caracals being studied.

 Free Phone/Tablet Wallpaper

Here are a couple low-res wallpapers for your phones & tablets.  Numbers 1 and 2 were made about three years ago.  Number 3 was made today.  LOL, I was trying to remember what steps I used in to make the first two.  Have not quite purr-fected it yet.  If you want one of these phone/tablet wallpapers, email me at lawanna.mitchell@bigcatrescue.org and let me know which one you’d like to have.

1.  Joseph  
2.  Bengali  
3.  Cameron

Questions For Viewers:

• Do these fit your phones and tablets properly?  If not are they too tall or too wide, etc?
• Should we offer more of these low-resolution wallpapers?
• Would YOU be interested in computer screensavers made like this?  PC Windows or Mac

Let me know in either the comments below or email me at lawanna.mitchell@bigcatrescue.org to let me know what YOU think.

 Global News

ONE:

Delhi Zoo to burn MILLIONS of dollars’ worth of seized heads, horns and skins to prove to poachers that wildlife crimes will NOT be tolerated.  The Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is planning to do burn stockpiles of ivory and rhino horns on March 3, World Wildlife Day As per reports, money generated from wildlife crimes is almost always routed into big crimes like terrorism, drugs, arms smuggling and human trafficking.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-4260164/Delhi-Zoo-burn-seized-heads-horns-skins-animals.html#ixzz4ZtkW66Qg

TWO:  

Uganda: Government Okays Life Sentence for Wildlife Crime Offenders http://allafrica.com/stories/201702250169.html

THREE:

Trophy Hunting – Leopard Update

http://africageographic.com/blog/trophy-hunting-leopard-update/

 Quick Links

As per viewer suggestions, Quick Links now has it’s very own page http://bigcatrescue.org/quick-links/

Bookmarking it will help you find things quickly.  That will come in handy for:

• Helping us answer questions on social media
• Finding answers to some of Carole’s Facebook Live questions