January 15 2019

Big Cat Updates

Bandit, a wild bobcat, went free today! He was only with us long enough to evaluate his condition to make sure he ready to run…and he was!

Turn Up the Volume – You Will L@VE THIS!

Turn up the volume and listen to the cutest big cat vocalization. The caracal trill is the BEST!

Happy Birthday Frankie Bobcat

Frankie Bobcat is celebrating his 13th birthday this month! It’s his first birthday here at Big Cat Rescue and we are thrilled to spoil him!

Learn his story here:
http://bigcatrescue.org/frankie/

Sponsor Frankie for his birthday:
https://big-cat-rescue.myshopify.com/products/bobcat-sponsorship

Alexa Flash Briefing

Find out what happened at Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Tampa, Florida today.

BigCatTV.com

1. People love to see tiger cubs but they could disappear in the wild in the next 5 years.

2. In 1900 there were 100,000 tigers in the wild, but now there are less than 4,000

3. Petting tiger cubs is one reason they are going extinct

4. and it is a terrible life for the cubs. Here’s why:

5. People see them being handled on talk shows.

6. So they pay to see and pet them and take photos with them.

7. They don’t know that the cubs are ripped from their mothers at birth so they don’t bond to the mother.

8. This is a torment to both mother and cub.

9. The cubs are deprived of the mother’s milk that has antibodies that protect them from disease.

10. They are deprived of sleep, to be available to petting customers, which further weakens their immune systems.

11. To make them sit still for petting and photos, they are physically punished when they do what comes naturally, like run around and jump.

11. Cubs can only be used for about 12 weeks before they can take off a child’s finger.

12. No one tracks what happens to the cubs then. They just disappear – an estimated 200 cubs per year disappear.

13. Some end up in backyards, some at roadside zoos. No one knows how many die.

14. Legitimate zoos don’t allow this. There are just a handful of roadside zoos that do it.

15. Roadside zoos claim cub petting helps conservation, but this is a lie.

16. Here is how cub petting is hurting tigers in the wild:
17. Tigers are being poached in the wild, to use their parts illegally to make rugs, tiger bone wine, and fake medicines.

18. There are Asian countries who want to make it legal to sell tiger parts. If they are allowed to do this, even more tigers will be poached.

19. The U.S. State Department tries to lead other nations in opposing the sale of tiger parts.

20. But our credibility is challenged by pointing out that we don’t know where our tigers are or how many get made into parts.

21. If you want a world where tigers live free we have to end cub petting and private possession of them.

21. Take action at CatLaws.com

Reise Cougar Paw Print Shirts

Reise Cougar Paw Print Shirts! Now available in our Amazon Store – Amazon.com/bigcatrescue

Our Official Shirts:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MPCT4D6
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ML4GT81
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ML4F3XB
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ML4F8R9
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MRWBZB9

Please make sure you check the Size Chart for Amazon because sizes may run differently than you are used too.

You can donate to the cats at NO COST TO YOU when you select BCR as your charity on Amazon Smile and shop Smile.Amazon.com instead of Amazon.com. It is exactly the same as regular Amazon EXCEPT when you use the Smile URL Amazon donates .5% of your purchase to BCR. It’s added up to over $100,000 for the cats!

Coordinator Report by Devin Saari

Today was very cold but we had lots of amazing volunteers come in to help feed, clean, project, and do tours.

Cleaning was started and finished early because most of the cats were fasted today for Panacur. Only a few of the more picky cats were fed today.

Food-prep was able to be started and finished before lunch since we finished cleaning early thanks to Mazz, Fred Pagan, and Dylan Lavigne.

Thanks to Dylan Lavigne, Fred Pagan, Mazz, Amber Johnson, Megan Myers, and Susana Zhong for raking all along serval row. You all got so much done today!!!

Thanks to Brittany Mira for making a lot of cicles today!

Thanks to Dylan Lavigne for adding wire to the rat cages

Kathyrn Stapleton and I added a new den to Frosty’s enclosure for him.

Thank you to Megan Myers and Bethany Smith for staying late and doing a 3:00 pm tour!

That’s all for today!

-Devin Saari

Videos of the Day

Morning Q & A Walkabout to see the cats

Birthday treats for birthday boys- Frankie Bobcat and Gilligan the Canada Lynx ❤️

Sicles, Sicles. SICLES!

We go through a LOT of sicles because many of the older cats get daily sicles. As you probably know from your own elderly domestic cats as cat reach older ages they begin having kidney issues. The same thing happens with big cats. To help with this the old cat all get sicles every day which is something they LOVE and really look forward to each day. As you can imagine this means it is an ongoing task to keep sicles made.

Today, Brittany Mira restocked the freezer with three kinds of sicles.

Before