May 2 2017

Big Cat Updates

Your online donation to Big Cat Rescue TODAY (May 2 between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. ET) will help us reach our goal of $61,000 for our cats – AND help us win up to $12,000 in cash prizes!   

Give Day Tampa Bay is a 24-hour, online giving event in our community. It has historically been one of the largest fundraising days all year for Big Cat Rescue. 

https://www.razoo.com/story/B9u50f

We will use your generous gifts this year for two very important purposes. The first is to purchase and renovate a building to be used as the recovery area for injured rehab bobcats so they can quietly recuperate after surgery. It will have four rooms and can also serve as an overflow recovery area for our other cats. This building will be located near our new state-of-the-art bobcat rehab area and will cost approximately $31,000. 

The second purpose will be to purchase new transport cages for our biggest cats. We desperately need new cages to bring rescued tigers, lions, leopards and cougars to our sanctuary. Our old ones can no longer be repaired after years of wear and tear. We will also use the new cages to transport the big cats within the sanctuary and to/from our Windsong Memorial hospital when they need medical attention. The cost to purchase four new transports is $30,000.

Can our cats count on you again this year to reach our goal of $61,000?

We greatly appreciate your donations to Big Cat Rescue throughout the 24-hour event (May 2 between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. ET). And if you donate between the hours of 11:00 am and 1:00 pm ET your gift could help us win the $2000 “Power Lunch” prize for our cats!! 

Make your tax-deductible gift of $5 or more to Big Cat Rescue by credit or debit card here:

https://www.razoo.com/story/B9u50f

Thank you for supporting Big Cat Rescue so generously and for making Give Day Tampa Bay such a GRRREAT success for our cats!!

If you already donated to the cats via Give Day this year THANK YOU VERY, VERY MUCH!

Watch the Leaderboard here: https://givedaytampabay.razoo.com/giving_events/tb/largeNpo-donors-LB

CatRescue.biz

Tote Divinity Bobcat Paw Prints

Facebook Live Video Replays

Evening meds w/ Momma Becky and Lynda. Meet tigers: Seth Meet lion: Joseph Meet Bobcats: Anasazi, Nabisco, Mrs. Claws, Dryden Meet Servals: Nala, Frosty, Tonga Meet Cougar: Reise Meet Leopards: Sabre, Sundari, Jade, Armani, Cheetaro Meet hybrids: JoJo and King Tut.

BigCatTV.com

BigCatRescue.biz

Shirt - My Bobcat's In Rehab at BCR Women's Scoop

People Often Ask

Can I just come out and stand in front of the one cat I love?  You can on a private tour, but with our new renovations we hope to make it possible for guests to see Tiger Lake and some of the other cats from the deck around the Gift Shop.

 Projects

The Cat Walk is coming down faster than I expected.  I'll be doing a Facebook LIVE update on it today.

Big Cat Challenge

Today's challenge is find one new person in your contact list with whom to share the Big Cat Rescue videos, like the Wild Pizza Party above.

Viewer Pix

Today's cover pic was by Saina Demers.

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 is 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.

• February Keeper - Afton Tasler
• February Partner - Andrew Sardone
• March Keeper - Barbara Zingg
• March Partner - Dennis Mitchell

The Value of Volunteer & Intern Hours

February = 3175 volunteer hours contributed by 92 volunteers. That is the same hours as more than 19 full time paid staff.

February = 1617 intern hours contributed by 7 interns. That equals the same hours as more than 10 full time paid staff.

March = 3680 volunteer hours contributed by 93 volunteers. That equals the same hours as more than 23 full time paid staff.

March = 1897 intern hours contributed by 9 interns. That equals the same hours as more than 11 full time paid staff.

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 these amazing interns and volunteers we only have to pay about 15 staff members because they 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.

Note To Viewers:  We want to THANK OUR VIEWERS, too!!  These amazing volunteers have truly enjoyed sharing their stories and photos with you and your response back has been very encouraging for all of us.  Also, they volunteers and interns want to THANK YOU ALL for the kind gifts of snacks, coffee, and tea you have sent to them from Smile.Amazon.com.

 Viewer Videos From Explore.org/bigcatrescue

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

• Jamie Veronica:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsY6X3rUv8UlIUbrxNeu-Aw
• 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
• Janie M https://www.youtube.com/user/donutgirl100

  WANTED – Graphic Artists

Carole is looking for a graphic artist who really gets what we are all about and would would like to help us with some graphics for shirts.  If that is you or if you know someone like that, please have them email Carole at cat@bigcatrescue.org

 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