Welcome to Big Cat Rescue!
2010 FUR BALL TO CELEBRATE THE YEAR OF THE TIGER
The year 2010 is the Year of the Tiger and Big Cat Rescue is celebrating in a big way with the 11th annual Fur Ball on Friday October 8th, 2010. Join Big Cat Rescuers for an evening of wild fun and a feast fit for a king (of the jungle that is).
Proceeds from the Fur Ball will fund both the ongoing care of more than 100 big cats that reside at the 45-acre sanctuary in Tampa, FL as well as the tiger conservation efforts of the International Tiger Coalition.
Big Cat Rescue is pleased to announce that Ms. Donna Vivino, who plays Elphaba, lead character in the in the First National Tour of Wicked (The Emerald City Company) has been selected as recipient of the sanctuary’s 2010 “Guardian Angel” award.
Donna will be the guest of honor at the sanctuary’s Annual Fur Ball Gala on Friday, October 8th at the A La Carte Pavilion in Tampa to accept her award.
Ms. Vivino was selected to receive the sanctuary’s prestigious award in recognition of her advocation for animal and human welfare causes around the world. Read more about Donna Vivino and see a video of the cast of Wicked's visit to Big Cat Rescue.
Big Cat Rescue thanks our 3 King of Beast Sponsors:
American Momentum, Jaguar of Tampa and Malcolm Out Loud
For details and tickets go to: Fur Ball
Domestic Cat Rescues Baby Bobcats!
With a gun in one hand and a sack of bobcat kittens in the other, an Alabama hunter proudly plopped the newborns down on the counter and asked the veterinary assistant to raise them up for him so he could give them to his kids as pets.
The vet tech was stunned, but quickly recomposed herself to tell the hunter she would do it for him so as to rescue the babies from such an awful fate. She immediately began scouring the Internet for an expert in rehab and release. When she called Carole Baskin of Big Cat Rescue it was agreed that the kittens would come to Florida, be raised for re-release back to the wild and the paperwork began.
It took three days to secure the Florida import permit and time was of the essence. The only kitten formula available to the clinic was one that often causes serious dehydration in bobcat kittens. The second more critical factor was that their eyes would be opening any day and if they were to ever live free it was imperative that they not bond to humans. They never make good pets, but the bonding that takes place during the nursing stage could make them fearless of people and that would get them into trouble as adults.
While Big Cat Rescue President and resident Rehabber, Jamie Veronica, hit the road to begin a 24 hour road trip to rescue the baby bobcats, Big Cat Rescue put out a call to all of the Tampa animal based charities and on all of their social networks that they needed a nursing mother cat who had kittens of her own. Jack Talman of FosteringIsCool.com found a mother cat but her kittens were too old and she was going into heat so there was concern that she may not have milk nor interest for new babies.
Big Cat Rescuer, Merrill Kramer, called on Rick Chaboudy, CEO of Suncoast Animal League in Palm Harbor, FL and he said he thought he had a good candidate. Her name was Bobbi because of her half tail and she had given birth to 6 kittens of her own and then adopted two more. He found foster parents for all but two of the kittens and brought Bobbi and her brood over to see what she thought of diversifying her family.
Introductions like these can be very scary because the mother cat can be overly protective of her own kittens and fatally strike out at the new comers. President, Jamie Veronica, has had a considerable amount of experience in this area though and had taken every precaution to make sure it went as well as it possibly could. Bobbi turned out to be a dream come true for three little orphaned bobcats though. She immediately pulled them in close to nurse and began to bathe them. The little bobcat babies were so startled that they hissed at her!
She ignored their resistance and just kept on loving on them. Once they figured out that this strange smelling "bobcat" mom had the real deal to offer at her breasts, they were in love too.
You can follow their progress on our facebook fan page here: http://bit.ly/6zlAgy and on http://twitter.com/bigcatrescue
Watch them live on Bobcat Kitten Cam 
Down till Friday.
See photos of them on our FlickR site.
See the press they have been getting, including CNN, AOL, The Today Show, TV Guide, ABC, FOX, NBC and more on our FlickR site.
Video of the Week
Check out more than 300 big cat videos HERE
CFC Participant? Generous donations through the CFC program have become one of our major sources of funding. Our CFC number is 10766. On behalf of the cats, sincere thanks to the many Federal employees who have helped us provide the best possible home for the cats by donating through this program.
Big Cat Times Magazine! Check out the most recent issue of The Big Cat Times in this online magazine format HERE
July Issue of AdvoCat: The latest edition of the AdvoCat, our monthly E-zine is HERE
Win an Animal Lover's Dream Vacation: If you love animals, you have got to see this fabulous trip HERE
Follow us on Twitter and see what is happening moment by moment at Big Cat Rescue and in the world of lions, tigers, bobcats and other exotic wildcats. @stopbigcatabuse
Big Cat Credit Card
You can give more without spending more by turning your everyday spending into meaningful donations with a customized Big Cat Rescue Capital One credit card. Share your passion and donate to Big Cat Rescue with your everyday purchases. We've partnered with Capital One® Card Lab Connect to bring you our newest fundraising program, which helps us earn money doing what you do every day! Just carry one of our custom credit cards (it comes with a competitive rate and no annual fee), and 1% of purchases made with the card will be donated to Big Cat Rescue.
Not only will you be donating to the cats with each purchase you make, you'll be helping to spread the word when people see your wildly unique card, designed specifically for Big Cat Rescue. Three custom cards are currently available featuring Cameron the lion, Cheetaro the leopard, and Shere Khan & China Doll the tigers! What a great way to share the cats' stories every time you pull out your credit card. Tell others too by downloading Credit Card Flyer
Sharing your passion and your support is easy and automatic. Apply today!
https://www.cardlabconnect.com/Big Cat Rescue
 |
 |
 |
Our Mission
Big Cat Rescue, a non profit educational sanctuary, is devoted to rescuing and providing a permanent home for exotic (i.e. wild, not domestic) cats who have been abused, abandoned, bred to be pets, retired from performing acts, or saved from being slaughtered for fur coats, and to educating the public about these animals and the issues facing them in captivity and in the wild.
The sanctuary is home to the most diverse population of exotic cats in the world, with 16 species and subspecies of wild cat represented among more than 100 residents. These include tigers, lions, liger, leopards, cougars, bobcats, lynx, ocelots, servals, caracals and others, many of whom are threatened, endangered, or now extinct in the wild.
If you like what Big Cat Rescue is doing to save the cats, please help us out here:
