May 31 2018

Keisha is still in the outside hospital recovery cage and is being carefully monitored.  Her new meds seem to be helping and keepers are getting to her to eat as much as possible.  Some days she eats more than other days.

The two new rehab bobcat kittens, Bravo & Tango, are eating well, every four hours, around the clock.  They are gaining weight so all is well there. They are still so young that their vision is still developing. Jamie got hissed at this morning so we are getting closer to wearing masks and having fewer people around during feeding.  The kittens are 2 to 3 weeks old and both are males.

Noel & Aphrodite, rehab bobcats are doing well.  Hunting, getting stronger, etc.

Rehab bobcats, Lucky, Shamrock, and Clover are now all three together in the same enclosure.  Hopefully, the three will function as a litter in the wild would have.  At this age in the wild kittens would still be together and still be with their mother.

Have you been able to catch Brittany’s early morning Walkabouts? It is a different view than Carole’s afternoon walkabouts.  You see different cats and different activities around the sanctuary.

Afton’s Coordinator Notes for 5/25/2018

Great day, and we managed to dodge the rain!!

Keisha took all of her meds and ate 4 lbs total!! We have to be careful to not drop her meat or fumble on our way to her mouth because that makes her unhappy!

Housekeeping came to Cyrus’s enclosure today. The enclosure was cleaned from top to bottom, his dens and platform were scrubbed, and it was grass seeded. The outside of his enclosure need to be raked, the sticks picked up, and some palmettos clipped to make it easier for keepers to get by during cleaning.

* Everything on the cleaning slab was washed and put away.

Dylan, Lauren, and Teaugan all passed their walking test with flying colors.

* What is the Cleaning Slab?  There is a concrete slab, like a patio that is near a hose hookup.  That is where we can easily scrub and sanitize buckets, feeding wagons, transport cages, etc.

Sue Messineo’s Coordinator Notes for 5/26/2018

Cloudy and fairly cool morning. We had plenty of volunteers to feed and clean. Interns got food prep done, gave tours, and did a great job raking and trimming palmettos around Cyrus’ and Diablo’s enclosures. A couple of interns took classes.

The afternoon was a wet one so Food Prep and Kitten Cabana were scrubbed clean.

Cameron enjoyed his whole turkey this morning. Picky cats ate pretty well today combining AM and PM feedings.

All open air cats are locked in their roofed sections pending the storm coming.

It was a beautiful day at Big Cat Rescue

Sue M

What is Food Prep?  Food Prep is the building that the big walk-in freezer is next to.  It houses the walk-in cooler where we thaw the cats’ meat.  It has the sink and counters where we prepare the cats meals.  It also has the big dry erase board where we note things like cats who need another keeper to follow up with.

What is Kitten Cabana?  This is the special building where the domestic foster kitten play during the day while their interns and work caring for the big cats.  You can watch the kittens playing on a high-quality Explore.org LIVE webcam.  Find the Kitten Cabana link at BigCatCams.com

Can I buy a turkey for the cats?  Yes, you can.  This is a secure donation link that is used most around Thanksgiving but you can use it year round to purr-chase turkey treats for the cats.  BigCatRescue.org/turkey  Right now Cameron and Keisha are loving getting extra turkey treats.

What does “open air cats” mean?  Some of the cats have a section of their enclosure that does not have a roof.  Cats who have an open-topped (unroofed) section of their enclosures: Kali, Cameron and Zabu, Nikita, Seth, Andy, Vacation Rotation.  All open-air (non-roofed) sections are connected by doors to roofed sections.  When a storm is coming, the cats are closed into their roofed sections and not given access to open-topped sections.  The roofed sections are safer for them in a storm.

Lynda Licht’s Coordinator Notes for 5/27/2018

It started as a rainy and ominous day thinking we’d be getting the high winds and storms of Tropical Storm Alberto, but we lucked out and most of the strong storms missed us. We also had a great team of volunteers for this final Sunday of the month and long holiday weekend.

Interns and volunteers alike got Feeding Tour and Keeper Tour signoffs, two feeding signoffs, 2 cleaning signoffs, enrichment signoffs and a lot of classes taken. With the influx of all these new interns, it’s so important to keep up on these things.

In the morning, interns went around the front small cat section and picked up fallen branches from the rainstorms. We’ll be tackling this ongoing for a while as the rains are sure to continue. Even though it rained, we soaked the potted trees by staff housing.

In the afternoon, several interns, Rebecca, and I got into Kali’s and CamBu’s open-air enclosure to mow and weed-eat as soon as there is blue sky. We got it done and also had time to send some interns into the area behind these two enclosures to pick up more branches. It turned out to be a really lovely afternoon with bright blue skies and a fantastic breeze. We didn’t have to cancel any tours today.

Thanks, everyone for a job well done.

Lynda

What are signoffs?  Here at Big Cat Rescue, we are very detail oriented about everything which includes keeper training.  We have developed our own training classes that everyone here takes.  After interns & volunteers go through those classes they then work with a more experienced purr-son so they can see the procedures in action.  They are then observed several times doing the tasks.  When their trainer is confident they are proficient at a task they sign off that the purr-son has passed a class.

We post all of our training classes at ZooCollege.com which is open to all ages and all education levels.  There are three free lessons there for you to enjoy.  If you like them and want to take al 50 classes you can do so for $9.00 per month.  You can cancel any time.

Some people finished all 50 lessons in a month while others took their time and spent weeks or months enjoying the lessons.  YOU ARE INVITED to take the lessons, too.  Again the link is ZooCollege.com

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Kathyrn Stapleton’s Coordinator Notes for 5/28/2018

Happy Memorial Day!

So far we have not gotten any more rain but it was a blustery day! The cats with open-air sections are still in there roof sections till this wind dies down.

We were able to get part of Breezy’s cage cleaned up and the area around Skipper and Gilligan cleaned up and raked. Three full tours went out.

Luckily an uneventful day.

That’s it for me!
Kathryn

Devin Saari’s Coordinator Notes for 5/29/2018

Great day today! We had enough volunteers and interns to get feeding and cleaning done in good time. Interns that needed classes and sign-offs today got them.

Cameron got a whole turkey today a loved it! He ate 10lbs of it! ( As mentioned above, you can buy more turkey treats for Cameron, Keisha, and your favorite cats at BigCatRescue.org/turkey )

The big blue dumpster was picked up, dumped, and returned. Cage cleaning for vacationing cats was done. The two wheelbarrows were removed from behind the Texas tiger cages and were put away. The cicle cats loved their icy treats today as always! The trees by Aleesa’s house were watered. ( This is a task that gets done every day. )

That’s all for today!
-Devin

Kathyrn Stapleton’s Coordinator Notes for 5/30/2018

Was a wet rainy morning!! The rain finally stopped mid-day but everything was pretty flooded. Picky cats ate ok despite the rain. We got a start on cleaning up Chaos’s enclosure till a downpour stopped us. Intern classes and sign-offs were done.

Going home to get dry!
Kathryn

Putting Lucky with Clover & Shamrock – Lucky and Clover are siblings and arrived together.  Lucky is quite a bit bigger than Clover.  After Clover recovered from her dental procedure she was introduced to Shamrock who is younger but closer in size to Clover.

The girls, Shamrock and Clover were neighbors for a while and then introduced and all went well so they have been living together.  A few days ago Lucky was moved over to be closer to them.  The three have been hanging out together and acting like they want to be together.  In the wild a litter this age would still be with their mother.

Today, we are opening the gate to let them be together.  If they can all get along and finish their rehab together they can help each other hone their skills the same as a litter in the wild would.

You can continue watching them at https://explore.org/livecams/big-cat-rescue/big-cat-rescue-bobcat-rehab-and-release The Explore.org/bigcatrescue high quality webcams run 24/7 and has great night vision, too.

Walkabout with Brittany – A general morning walkabout with Brittany while the keepers are handing out morning meds and getting ready for their breakfast routes.

It’s bobcat kitten feeding time with Bravo & Tango! There will be minimal speaking in this video because these are Rehab bobcats and we do not want them getting used to humans. Plus we want you to hear their adorable sounds! Please check out Bigcatrescue.org/BravoTango to learn all about them!

A note from Jen:  “I’ve received confirmation that neither of the Missouri state bills that would have banned localities from restricting the use of animals in entertainment passed in any capacity. Big win for big cats in the circus!

Three months ago we told you how the Missouri state legislature was moving quickly to undermine existing local bans on the use of wild and exotic animals in entertainment. Big Cat Rescue joined with many local and national groups in asking their supporters to speak out against the “Working Animal Protection Act” HB1907/SB917. Thanks to the efforts of animal advocates like you, the legislation died!

Although the main goal of the Act was to protect the carriage horse industry, the proposed language would have negated existing bans on wild animals in the circus and prevented cities and counties from passing such bans in the future. In 2002, the forward-thinking city of Richmond, MO banned the use of lions, tigers, elephants and other wild and exotic animals in entertainment including circuses, carnivals, and cub petting pay-to-play schemes.

This was a surprising win and absolutely the result of Missouri advocates organizing a strong opposition. Just another reminder of the power YOU have to help big cats and all animals!

THANK YOU to EVERYONE who took the time to go to CatLaws.com and make those phone calls and send those emails.

Often times, I hear from viewers that their one voice won’t make any difference.  This big win proves that EVERY SINGLE VOICE MATTERS!!!

Meet Bravo & Tango

See more photos, videos, and their story at https://bigcatrescue.org/bravotango/

These shirts on Amazon benefit the big cats here at the sanctuary.  Each of them is available in a variety of sizes, styles, and colors.

Eve meds and snacks w Angie