February 12 2019

Big Cat Updates

Max is one of the three Guatemala Rescue Tigers we are currently supporting while awaiting their arrival here.

Everyone wants to know when the three tigers from the Guatemala circus will be arriving and we just don’t know. We had hoped that FWS would publish our import request in the Federal Register last Nov. which would have meant 30 days of having to wait for them to process comments on it, and then hopefully the cats could arrive in Jan. Thanks to the slow process and the government shut down, our application still hasn’t made it to the Federal Register to start the 30-day countdown. As soon as it does, we will let you know.

Meanwhile, thanks to you, we have been able to provide their care in the ADI temporary camp in Guatemala which has now exceeded $26,000 and climbing.

You can help with this ongoing rescue effort by going to https://www.facebook.com/fund/bigcatrescue/ and setting up a Valentine Facebook Fundraiser for Big Cat Rescue.

Alexa Flash News Briefing

In case you missed any of Carole’s previous daily Big Cat Flash News Briefings you can find them all at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCPv8ivo6o4CZHFifkfRYDw

Coordinator Report – Devin Saari

Great day today and we had just enough people to get everything done on this very busy day!

Gabby Tiger’s enclosure was finished today thanks to Fred Pagan, Michael Heap, Moe Mahamud, and Caity Farr.  We moved a lot of furniture today from Kathryn’s old house to the new staff house. Thank you Megan Myers, Moe Mahamud, Bethany Smith, Christina Cochard, Mazz, Kathyrn Stapleton, and Devin Saari.

Thank you Marie Schoubert and Sharon Henry for doing the cicles today!

Bobcats, Tango and Alpha, were introduced briefly today and it went very well! They are separated overnight.

Thanks to everyone who helped out today!
-Devin Saari

Foster Kitten Program Update

Tomorrow after the staff meeting, the following kittens will be returning to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay to await their fur-ever families:

• Snowball
• Snowflake

Merchandise of the Day

NEW to Teespring.com/stores/bigcatrescue FIERCE and BEAUTIFUL Amanda Tiger designed by BCR supporter Tisha Broyles!

Find Tee Shirts, Sweatshirts, Tank Tops, Totes, Coffee Mugs and MORE:
https://teespring.com/amanda-tiger-art

Videos of the Day

Andre Tiger is getting Valentine’s Day Enrichment

Cameron Lion and Zabu White Tiger get Valentine’s Day Enrichment ❤️

Andre is a 23-year-old tiger. Although he is double the age that a wild tiger would live, he still knows how to have fun!!  For some reason, this ADORABLE Video is not playing on the page but if you click on this link it will play from Facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/bigcatrescue/videos/328384961115355/

Armani Leopard and Natalia Leopard get Valentine’s Day Enrichment

The STARS Award 

Stars Prize: Each month volunteers who dedicate 25% over their minimum hourly requirements are put into a pool from which one partner and one keeper are randomly selected to win a prize. The prize for this year will be a paw painting from one of the cats. We will be making all of these paw paintings in big batches. So while you will not get to choose the cat who paints your paw painting, you will get to choose from the collection of completed paintings.

• December Keeper – Desmond Fowles
• December Partner – June Marsilia

HOURS:

December = 1,199 intern hours contributed by 5 interns. That means Interns collectively put in the same hours as more than 7 full time paid staff would have during that same time.

December = 3,107 volunteer hours contributed by 98 volunteers. That means on-site volunteers collectively put in the same hours as more than 19 full time paid staff would have during that same time.

If you look to any other animal sheltering type group you will find that they usually have dozens of paid staff if they have our level of income. Thanks to interns and volunteers we only have to pay about 19 staff members because interns and volunteers are doing all of the cat care and most of the guest relations. That means more of the money earned and donated can go to the cats and to ending the abuses that cause so many big cats to be discarded.

If you have wanted to show a keeper some love for Valentine’s Day you can sponsor a cat in their honor.  They’d really get a kick out of that.  https://big-cat-rescue.myshopify.com/collections/sponsor-a-cat  If you need help putting together this fun Valentine’s Day surprise for your favorite keeper email lawanna.mitchell@bigcatrescue.org

Photos of the Day

Amanda Tiger is ready for a nice quiet night of relaxation.

Chaos Caracal doing her best impression of a bread loaf <3 PAWS UP and SHOUT OUT if you know what the Call of the Wild is and where to make it at!

Gilligan the Canadian Lynx feels like looking down on everyone from above today! He sure enjoys being up high on his rock ledge. Inside that rock ledge is his air-conditioned den.

Beautiful Miss Ariel bobcat is showing us her best impression of Tongue Out Tuesday! 👅

CAPTION THIS funny photo of our very dramatic Sundari Leopard <3