May 5 2019

Big Cat Updates

Alexa Flash Briefing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbgPbqckcJ0

In case you have missed previous days’ news briefings you can find them all at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCPv8ivo6o4CZHFifkfRYDw

Coordinator Report – Lynda Licht

We all expected it to rain all day but we lucked out and the storms only really hit between 1:00 and 2:00 pm. Fortunately, all the cleaners and tours were in by then. There were some lightning bolts really close and we lost power just a few minutes. Still, it made for very light tour numbers.

Everyone who needed a sign off was able to get one today. Brooklynne Dillon and Dylan Lavigne got feeding sign-offs. Sarah Copel got another keeper tour sign-off and so did Dylan Lavigne. Rebecca Williams was happy to watch Sarah and listen to Dylan. New keeper trainee Nicole Weaver was back for the second day in a row and she cleaned center supervised by Deidra Ritchie. (They got the shelves all cleared off in food prep and organized all the container tops and bottoms while waiting for feeders to come back). Level 3 Mazz got another big cat cleaning sign-off going out to Outback with Brittany Mira. MC Streator was a surprise when she showed up but it worked out great – she cleaned & double checked 2 sections and still had time for an operant sign-off before she left. Sarah C took Tanya out for her operant sign-off later in the day.

Tanya Chute led the Feeding Tour – doing both the feeding and speaking. I knew she wanted to do this before the end of her level 4 and this was a perfect day for it. It turned out there was a guest from South Africa on her tour and she was able to speak her native language with him for the first time in the year she has been here. What a coincidence and what a global presence Big Cat Rescue has!!

Edith Parker, Karma Hurworth, Jennie Jamison, Lisa Spencer-Novak, Regina Turgeon, and Marilyn Halpin had Sunday tours covered as usual, so interns Brook and Ashley Tait were able to focus on food prep in the morning. They did great and finished it on their own. Mazz doubled checked it and everything was cleaned up by 12:30.

Kathyrn Stapleton went out for supplies so when she got back after the big storm, we all helped put stuff away.

Because of the threat of lightning, we couldn’t do a cage project, so we did some indoor stuff. Dylan and Tanya scrubbed the food prep floor and cleaned up/organized the tool sheds. Brook and Mazz deep cleaned the kitten cabana after the storm. Sarah made a bunch of cicles. I did a lot of the laundry, kept an eye on Hoover and MaryAnn in the hospital and went around and picked up all the fallen branches from the tour path before the tours went out. There has always been something so satisfying about pickup up sticks for me. LOL.

The storm blew over Hoover’s canopy so the Nest feed got disconnected for a little while. Here’s a picture I took of him to satisfy his adoring public.

I’ll be back next Sunday for Mother’s Day. Don’t forget about mom!!

Lynda Licht

Videos of the Day

Isaac Cabe Interviews Carole Baskin 6/18/2014 for Cracked.com. I don’t know if Cracked ever ran the story. It was just a short, list type thing if they did. It is typical for me to talk to reporters for hours, only to ever have a few minutes ever see the light of day. You might have figured out that I’m cleaning out my hard drives and finding all kinds of old stuff. I think I’ve found the last of the interview files for now.

ACTION ALERT – COLORADO RESIDENTS ONLY

We have a rare opportunity to save thousands of lives. A Colorado resident has submitted a citizen’s petition to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commissioners (CPW) to ban the recreational and commercial hunting and trapping of bobcats in Colorado. Every year the bobcat death toll rises and sometimes endangered lynx, who look a lot like their bobcat cousins, also get caught in the crosshairs.

Can we count on you to be a voice for bobcats? Commissioners will vote on the petition during their public hearing this coming Thursday, May 9th from 11 am – 2:30 pm at the Courtyard Marriott on 765 Horizon Drive in Grand Junction. It is imperative that people show up in support of this petition. The location of this meeting isn’t an accident. Set in the heart of bobcat trapping territory, officials don’t expect people who care about the health and well-being of bobcats to attend a meeting so far away from urban areas. Let’s prove them wrong.

Our friends at prairieprotectioncolorado.org (PPC) have worked tirelessly to organize support for this petition. In fact, it was a PPC supporter who recently alerted Big Cat Rescue to this opportunity. We’re late to this fight, but we want to bring all the support we can to help Colorado’s bobcats.

During the hearing, CPW will ask people to stand up for a count of who is in support and who is against the petition. Hunting and trapping groups from around the country have mobilized their supporters. Bobcats need your presence! We know we’re asking a lot, but this is so important. Please, do everything in your power to attend this meeting and show the commissioners that the citizens of Colorado oppose the hunting and trapping of bobcats!

Can’t make this meeting? Then please submit a comment ASAP (no later than Noon on Monday, May 6th) to CPW Commissioners asking them to support the citizen’s petition to ban the hunting and trapping of bobcats in Colorado. https://bigcatrescue.salsalabs.org/coloradobobcathunt/index.html

Bobcat Rehab – Sky & Her Kittens

Good morning,

Sky and the kittens had a very quiet night. They nursed and napped a lot overnight.

The kittens did get some playing time in though. They are so cute! They wrestle together the minute they wake up, lol.

They even managed to get some play time in with Sky, getting up on her back and biting, lol.

They all napped together and none of them went under the den last night. That’s a first! Yesterday during my CamOp shift, the walking tree frightened Cobalt and he climbed the fencing all the way up to the top of the camera, then went through the space where the cam is mounted and crawled along the top of the fencing around to the far side of the left side of BRIC. Even though I know they climb up trees and do all sorts of scary things in the wild, it still scared me to death! He was at the very top and was trying to figure out how to get down. Sky did turn around and watch him, but she was also frightened by the walking tree. Cobalt slipped down the fence, then would grab on and climb back up, but eventually, he slid down the fence low enough that he saw the ground and then jumped down. He was still scared when he got on the ground and walked slowly picking up his paws to walk in the long grass, which at first scared me that he hurt himself.

He got over by the tree in front of the plastic den and laid there watching for the walking tree.

A couple of minutes later Sky went to check on him and he ran to her, so I knew he was okay.

Then a little later he was running and playing with his sisters. I kept the cam on him the whole time and got some photos that I attached. The little stinker! I’m sure they will be doing all sorts of things that will make us hold our breath and scare us to death, lol. It’s so amazing to watch them grow and do new things! 🙂

I wish all of you a wonderful and blessed Sunday!
Warm wishes, Kristine Metzner