September 5 2018

Big Cat Updates

Hoover ate well yesterday, so we are hoping his vomiting was just because he refused to eat for a couple of days and had nothing in his system to sop up the acids. Hoover has been a picky eater and has had digestive issues since his arrival here. Because of that, he does not usually eat all his breakfast so is offered more food later in the day. You cannot force a cat to eat we can only offer a variety of items, different size cuts, different times of day, and offered by different keepers. In the wild, tigers may only eat once or twice a week. Here at Big Cat Rescue, we feed seven days a week and with the picky cats like Hoover, they are fed more than once per day, every day.

Maya is enjoying FunCation

Amanda and Andre are enjoying Vacation.

Hoover ate well yesterday but refused to eat today.  Cameron

Kittens got an adorable new bench cover.

Update on Alpha, the baby wild bobcat can be seen below.  This little girl gave us quite a scare yesterday.  See Carole’s Flash Briefing video below to find out what happened.

Alexa Flash Briefing from 9/4/2018

Baby Bobcat, Alpha, gave us quite a scare.

Alexa Flash Briefing for today, 9/5/2018

Update 9/5/2018 Baby Bobcat, Alpha

Kathryn says she felt good enough to climb up into the bed of her cat tree and to hiss.  Here is a new photo of this precious 2-pound bundle of wild bobcat kitten.

Relationship with Law Enforcement

Jennifer Leon has done a great job nurturing our relationship with law enforcement. It was great to see the Sheriff’s office, who helped with the rescue of Gilligan, Skipper, Ginger, Mary Ann, Lovey & Thurston get recognition for their work. Download Article Sheriff Deputy Madazin BCR Article July/Aug 2018

Coordinator Report Devin Saari 9/4/2018

Fun Day! Great day today!  Lots of volunteers came in the help get feeding and cleaning done. Some cleaners finished early so they were able to work on food prep and projects before lunch!

In the morning Victoria, Fred, Dylan, and Austin worked in Running Bear’s back cage bubble. They were able to do a full cage clean on that section and finish before lunch!

Steph C. and Tanya worked on food prep after they finished cleaning and finished before lunch which was great so we could work on projects in the afternoon.

Marie, Sharon, and Victoria did the afternoon cicles and some Operant Conditioning, too.

After lunch Steph C., Mike, Megan, Fred, and Kerry worked in the Texas Tiger suite of cages. They were able to finish the first sections closest to Cam and Bu and have started working their way down the strip.

Keisha did great today eating over 8 lbs today!

We had two full tours with lots of happy guests even though it started to rain a little bit.

That’s all from me!  -Devin

Devin’s photo from 9/4/2018

Wish List Item – THANK YOU!!

We do not know who sent this, but THANK YOU!!!!  Jamie needs them for the camera traps.

Find all the wish list items at https://bigcatrescue.org/wishlist/

Foster Kitten Update 9/1/2018

The following kittens have been adopted

• Melissa
• Mischief
• Mongo
• Zuki
• Shane

Fingers crossed that momma Sheena finds her purrfect home soon!

Coordinator Lauren Grant 9/2018

I haven’t posted photos lately, but I wanted to get these out from a couple of weeks ago 🙂

Landscaping and grounds maintenance are the never-ending jobs that interns and keepers do, always with a smile.

Food prep is a daily task that takes many hands on deck.

Coordinator Lynda Licht 9/2/2018

Today was special because we celebrated Mac cougar’s 22nd birthday. We went LIVE and gave him a meat cupcake and sang to him. All the volunteers on the property came out to enjoy the party.  We also enjoyed the return of Jen R after being away for several weeks. She multitasked in pulling vines and picking up sticks as she walked around and got familiar with where all the cats are after recent moves. Matt helped her as well.  Otherwise, it was a fairly quiet day with lots of tours which kept the interns busy. Here’s Alec heading out with an afternoon tour.

Thank goodness Alyssa, Mary and Amanda stayed to help with all the clean up of dishes from food prep and 3 pm tours.  Rebecca also stayed late to do pm supplements and snacks. Here she is with Running Bear, coaxing him out of his den.

Coordinator Sue Messineo 9/1/2018

It was a great day at Big Cat Rescue! We had just enough volunteers, along with our wonderful hard-working Interns to get it all done.  Kristin, Amanda, Barbara, Mary, and Andrew worked together to get littles and cougars cleaned and Rich, Bethann, and Steve cleaned all the big cats’ enclosures. Alyssa, Mary, Amanda, and Andrew jumped in to do food prep. Barbara, our weekend stick picker upper loaded Gerty up to the top.  Zucari is very interested in his new neighbor, Zimba. All picky cats ate really well today.

Narla, the Office Kitty

As many of you know, a while back Afton rescued an adult domestic cat.  The adorable kitty has adopted staff and taken up residence in the sanctuary offices and leads a pampered spoiled life.  Occasionally, Afton posts some fun photos of her.

Coordinator Devin Saari’s Photos 9/2018

Fun day of projects.  Amazing day, today, lots of volunteers to help get feeding, cleaning, and projects completed!!  Feeding and cleaning got done in good time today and everyone was done by 1:00.

Projects were completed all throughout the day. Steph, Matt, and Gina were a great help and finished scrubbing the platforms in Tonga’s cage. They all also finished cleaning out Moses and Bailey’s cage. There was so much sawgrass!

Victoria stayed late to mow and weed in Cam and Bu’s cage so it’s nice for them to go home.  Fred, Mary, and Bethany also stayed late so that they could finish weed-eating and scrubbing the platforms in cage 1 of the rehab area. They were able to finish right before it started to rain!

Keisha did great today eating 9lbs!

Previous Flash Briefings You May Have Missed

Flash Briefing August 31, 2018

Flash Briefing September 1, 2018

Flash Briefing September 2, 2018

Flash Briefing September 3, 2018

Big Cat Rescue Learning Units

Have you checked out Big Cat Rescue’s new learning units?  It is a fun easy way to learn about the sanctuary and big cat issues.

Under each Unit (subject) is a series of posts.  At the end of each post is an “I’m Done” button.  After you read each post click that “I’m Done” button to track your own progress through the units.  At the end of most units, there is a short fun quiz to allow you to test your knowledge.  Check them out and see how you do.

You can take these Unit Lessons in one of two places.

Big Cat Rescue’s Public Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/BigCatRescueUnits/  In this group you are taken directly to the list of units.

They are also available in Big Cat Rescue’s Closed Facebook group at https://facebook.com/groups/BigCatRescue/  In this group you will have to navigate to the units by going to the Units Tab.

Be sure to click all of your “I’m Done” buttons and take all the quizzes because beginning in October we will be doing drawings for some goodies from Big Cat Rescue gift shops.

In the public group so far 3,500 unit lessons have been completed and in the closed group, 3,100 units lessons have been completed.