Precious Bobcat Stands Up!

This photo was from circa 2009 when Precious could get up in her tree.  She's had a stroke, at the age of 21, but has been working hard to get back on her feet and managed to do so recently.  The photo below is Levi bobcat during a recent vet check up.

Food Prep Photos

The building was built by friends of Big Cat Rescue in 2003-2004 for $40,000.  The lion's share of the money raised to build it came from Jamie Veronica's college fund, supplied by Jacqueline Norris, her great grandmother.  Jacqueline was known to her grand children as Momma Jacquie, and thus the sign out front that says, Mamma Jacquie's Cool Cat Cafe - Food Prep Center.

At the far left is the "rat room" and laundromat for the Cat Hospital next door.  Live rats are raised there for the rehab bobcats.  This area is screened for fresh air and is also where the hot water tank and water purification system is housed.

We later added on a metal roofed carport for golf cars, our beast wagon and our van.

The right end of the building is a carport styled "roof over" for the two walk in freezers.  The small freezer is for whole prey and frozen treats for the cats.  The larger freezer can hold 17,000 lbs of food and contains the ground diet, beef and chicken.  Having these freezers under the roof will extend their lives.

The back of the freezers shows that the compressors are kept under the roof as well to protect them and the whole area around the freezers has hurricane panels cut for quick installation in the event of an emergency.

Behind Food Prep is a propane storage system and generator, donated by the Body Shop, to run Food Prep in the event of a loss of power.

Inside the main section of Food Prep is the computer where volunteers and staff log in and out for the day.  It is also where another computer is set up for them to log their observations from feeding and cleaning the cats into the Intranet site for Big Cat Rescue.  These entries send emails to the CEO, President, Operations Manager, Maintenance Team and Vet, with the full report of feces found, food left behind and any maintenance or veterinary issue that is observed.

Feeding supplies, such as paper plates, rubber gloves, paper towels etc. are on the top shelves in the back ground and cleaning supplies are on the bottom, so that there is no chance of something spilling and contaminating the food delivery products.  At the left you can see stainless steel sinks and cutting boards where the food is chopped.

Behind the shelves is a huge walk in cooler that is the full width of the building.  In the photo you can see an Intern carrying a box of frozen meat into the cooler where it will defrost for the following day.

Inside the walk in cooler are racks on the left for thawing whole prey and wrapped items and on the right is a stainless steel morgue table for draining the blood off the meat which is captured in buckets below.  The walls are clad in an easy to clean water proof sheeting like you would see in a shower stall.  A lot of our cats are on special diets due to old age and health issues, so the buckets on the rack in the back right of the photo are for creating those diets before the feed wagons leave the Food Prep area.

Special lights are needed inside freezers and coolers and are very expensive.

The stainless steel sinks wrap around three sides of the room.  There is a lot of natural light in the room from windows and there are overhead lights as well.  The floors are all tile and mopped down daily after feeding.

On the left is a cabinet for feed and bedding for the rats and stainless steel rat cages on the right.  The washer, dryer, hot water tank and purification system are behind the rat cages.  In order to keep vermin from entering this area, the screens are covered with a 1/4 wire mesh on a frame mounted to the outside of the room over the screened windows.

When another sanctuary asked for details about our nutrition center or food prep area, I figured I'd just post it here for anyone who is interested.

From our friends at HSUS:

California Restricts Bobcat Hunting and Bans Lead Shot

Today is an important day for wildlife protection in California. Gov. Jerry Brown signed two pieces of legislation today thanks in no small part to all the hard work The HSUS and our supporters have put in to protecting California's wildlife and people.

Gov. Brown’s signing of AB 711 means hunters in California will be required to use non-lead ammunition to stop the incidental poisoning of dozens of species, and stop these bullets from killing long after they have left the chamber. His signature on AB 1213 will add a no-trapping buffer zone for bobcats around Joshua Tree National Park and stop commercial trappers from catching and killing bobcats on private property without the consent of the property owner.

Our California State Director Jennifer Fearing says, “California has led the nation in creating humane laws, and today’s pair of actions by Governor Brown is an incredible victory for wildlife and humans alike." Read more on my blog»

Thank you for all you do for California's animals.

Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle, President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States

P.S. If you have one more minute, express your thanks to the governor on his Facebook page»