January 28 2019

Big Cat Updates

Alexa Flash Briefing

Coordinator Report – Lauren Buckingham

Today was still cold but thankfully no rain! We had a great number of volunteers to help out.

Tanya and Bethany got food prep finished before lunch so we could do projects in the afternoon. Steph C and Dylan spent the morning going around the tour path and behind barricades picking up sticks. Fred, Dylan and Candy worked, whilst others were on tours, to get Kali Tiger’s enclosure cleaned up. Thank you to Candy for staying a lot later than she was signed up for.

Bethann and Cindy gave all the cats their Cicles. MC gave out PM supplements and snacks. Intern Mazz took her cougar cleaning class and got her first sign-off. A number of volunteers went out to do operant with their cats. We also got some operant sign offs done

Thats it from me!

Videos of the Day

Q&A at Big Cat Rescue- Follow along as Keeper Brittany shows you many of the Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Jaguar, Cougars, Lynx, Servals, Bobcats, Savannah Cats and an Ocelot that Call Big Cat Rescue Home! Cats featured: Cameron, Zabu, Gabrielle, Dryden, Tiger Lilly, Zimba, Beacher and Manny.

Operant Conditioning

Keeper Brittany shows you another example of simple operant conditioning with Kali Tiger.
BigCatRescue.org/Kali

Kali Tiger is 18 years old and can be very food aggressive. Trainers need to remain calm and assertive with her or she can easily take over the session and become unruly.

Big Cat Rescue’s Animal Training Program is based on operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behaviors are altered by the consequences that follow them. The behaviors are not forced, but “caught”, reinforced and therefore trained. We train only natural behaviors, no entertainment types of behaviors.

Operant Conditioning can:

Reduce the stress loads imposed by captivity
Enhance keeper safety
Facilitate routine care
Improve animal welfare
Enrich the animal and volunteer experience

Big Cat Rescue’s Operant Training Program is intended for:

Eliciting calm behavior from each of our animals while they are in the presence of their keepers and veterinary staff
Training behaviors that are dependable regardless of the trainer present
Providing mental stimulation for our animals
Enabling safe emergency and non-emergency transportation of the animals
Providing public education

Learn more about this at:
https://bigcatrescue.org/operant-conditioning/

Merchandise of the Day

Do you have the newest BCR Bracelet yet?

Gold Leopard Charm Tiger Eye Bracelet available on Amazon!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KJGZZJ4

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!

Photos of the Day

These two! True love sees no difference.
Photo by Afton – January 17, 2019

Cameron Lion and Zabu White Tiger These two! True love sees no difference.

Keisha Tiger got up from her nap to come over and say hello.
Photo by Jamie Veronica

Good night Big Cat Rescue Friends! 🌙
Silly Andre is ready to call it a night! 💤💤
Sweet dreams everyone! 🌟✨🌟

Manny Jaguar says, “LOL, I am SOOOO SNEAKY!!! If I stand real still and hide behind these leaves that keeper with the sicles won’t see me until I pounce out at her.”

Apollo Siberian Lynx is lounging in one of his favorite afternoon napping spots.
Photo by Keeper Mary Lou Geis

King Tut Savannah Cat can’t decide whether to hide or not. He is waiting to see if the keeper has treats before making his mind up. Photo by Keeper Mary Lou Geis