Wild Halloween Party

The picture sort of says it all. Video later. I spent all day cleaning up the carnage.

Seriously though, the volunteers did a great job of dividing out the food to the intern houses and volunteers and all I had to do was take down and store the decorations.

Big Cat Updates

Zouletta Serval Date: 2016-11-06 Vet Issue: acting weird

Notes: kind of doing the serval neck arch; noticed she was posturing very uncomfortably closing lockouts this morning, and then at feeding she held her head and neck very awkwardly, and didn’t really look like her eyes could focus. she also picked up and carried each indvidual piece of chicken out of lockout to eat, which I have never seen her do before. Jen R took a video and sent it to the vet group
Reported By: Jocelin/Jen R/Honey

Mara Cheetah Project Funded by Big Cat Rescue

At present, the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem is one of the two remaining strongholds for the global cheetah population. Whilst in the Serengeti there has been a long-term cheetah project running for over 25 years, surprisingly little is known about the cheetahs in the Greater Mara Ecosystem. As a result the Kenya Wildlife Trust set-up the Mara Cheetah Project in June 2013. Using a research-driven conservation approach the main objectives of the project are to:

Determine the current and long-term status of the cheetah population
Collect baseline data on cheetah ecology and behaviour
Identify the threats that cheetahs are facing
Develop sustainable solutions to mitigate threats

This long-term project will have important implications for cheetah conservation both in Kenya and in the rest of Africa. You can read more about their great work here: http://www.maracheetahs.org
NOTE: The Mara Cheetah Project stood out to us a prime example of how conservation should be done, WITHOUT unnecessary contact with the cats. Dr. Femke Broekhuis, Project Director of the Mara Cheetah Project shared her concerns and opinions on contact with the wild cats – “In recent months there has been growing concern regarding cheetahs jumping on, and in some cases into, vehicles and people proudly sharing these images on social media. Getting up-close and personal with a wild animal in a wildlife area is risky for both the animal and the people involved. People should avoid posting images on social media of such behaviour as it only creates more of a market for it. If you come across such posts, condemn them rather than commend them”.

Read the full article here: http://www.maracheetahs.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Swara-opinion-piece_cheetahs_FBroekhuis.pdf

See more of our insitu work to protect wild cats in the wild at BigCatRescue.org/insitu

Dade City Wild Things Witness Speaks Up

I wish more of these people who get sucked into working at tiger mills and tiger pimping operations would speak out like this young lady did.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1808701606051455&id=100007348995806

How to Generate Leads Using Facebook Ads

When a fellow sanctuary founder contacted me and asked how we do this, I figured it would be easier to make a video and then it can be shared more broadly.