January 6 2019

Big Cat Updates

Happy Birthday to Andre Tiger & Amanda Tiger who are now 23 years old! On this special day, of course, we are deeply missing their brother Arthur, but we want to focus on the happiness of watching these two enjoy being on Vacation Rotation for their birthday! Find the Live Streaming Webcam links at BigCatCams.com

Happy Birthday Amanda Tiger and Andre Tiger

Learn their stories here:
https://BigCatRescue.org/amanda/
https://BigCatRescue.org/andre/

Sponsor them here:
https://big-cat-rescue.myshopify.com/products/tiger-sponsorship

Alexa Flash Briefing

Coordinator Report - Linda Licht

Back to a normal Sunday Funday for me and all my regular volunteers were here. Chilly morning made for a great day to be working outside.

Since there are only 3 interns this week and we were totally sold out for tours today, I had every Senior/Master keeper help me with food prep. It was a great refresher for them to participate - thank you to Jennifer Ruszczyk, Cindy Kuharek, Michael Heap, Rebecca Williams, Brittany Mira for helping out.

While waiting for feeding to get done, Stephanie Witherspoon and Deidra Ritchie vacuumed and mopped the Wingsong hospital and Candice Casey cleaned the keeper cafe so Dylan Lavigne and Susana Zhong could go to the gift shop, where they pretty much stayed all day.

Big thanks to partners that covered all the other tours: Jennie Jamison, Marilyn Halpin, Christine Hamblin, Lisa Spencer-Novak, Debra Bogstad, while Edith Parker kept the gift shop humming. Mary Jerome stayed to back up a tour again. So helpful to stay all day like that. Dennis Mitchell and June Marsilia answered Aleesa Salcido's call for help and came in to cover the third 3 pm tour.

Tanya Chute did the meat inventory of the freezers and created a new tab with totals starting totals. She also helped w/ afternoon supplements, double checked food prep and did all the afternoon chores.

Michael Heap did another big cat feeding observation as a refresher and Cindy Kuharek got another operant signoff on leopards and cougars. Susan Reed came on to get a signoff observing the keeper tour so she went out with Desmond Fowles.

Jennifer Holley and Darren Holley were here and dismantled and took out the small platform with the criss-cross ramps in the enclosure on tiger island across from Keisha Tiger. They'll be back next week to build a tiger-sized one.

I was busy and didn't get around to take a lot of photos of people. Shame on me. I had to care for the hospital cats (thanks to Michael for help cleaning them), so I'm leaving you with one picture of Ginger Serval in her cage. (See it in Carole's Alexa Flash Briefing.)

Videos of the Day

Hoover is a tiger who was owned by Circo Africano, a circus in northwestern Peru, where for many years he was forced to perform in circus acts and live and travel in a tiny, barren cage.

These days he enjoys his life at Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, FL, where he spends his days swimming, exploring, and teasing his keepers. Hoover is usually a pretty mellow guy, but take a look at this 360 footage from a rare occasion when he got the zoomies!

This looks AMAZING if you wear Oculus Go, HTC Vive, Rift, Cardboard or any other sort of HMD. Get our inexpensive headset and support the cats at the same time at BigCatRescue.org/VR

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 $89,000 for the cats!

Please visit BigCatRescue.org/amazon-smile for how to sign up and let us know you did so we can thank you. :)

Operant Conditioning

Keeper Brittany shows you an example of simple operant conditioning with Smalls bobcat. 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 Operant Conditioning.
http://bigcatrescue.org/operant-conditioning/

Big Cat Merchandise

Do you have your Texas Tiger swag yet? Once it’s gone it’s gone! Limited time only to get your Iconic Texas Tiger gear! Go to BigCatRescue.biz and search Texas Tigers

Photos of the Day

Hoover Tiger is ready for Sunday Funday

Hoover Tiger is ready for #sundayfunday

How would you caption this cougar photo?

Inspirational Quotes

Good morning Big Cat Rescue Friends! ☀️
Beautiful Kewlona Bobcat wishes you a CATastic Sunday! ?
Photo: Keeper Sarah D.

Beautiful Kewlona Bobcat wishes you a CATastic Sunday

Collin Speckner is an incredibly talented photographer that visited our sanctuary on a Photo Tour and graciously offered to let us share his amazing captures! Check him out @collin_speckner
Smiling Sundari Leopard

Sundari Leopard

Collin Speckner is an incredibly talented photographer that visited our sanctuary on a Photo Tour and graciously offered to let us share his amazing captures! Check him out @collin_speckner
Simply stunning Armani Leopard

Armani Leopard