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There are lots of grrreat ways to have your class or children's group experience Big Cat Rescue.

Check out our new Girl Scout and Boy Scout Tours

Summer Camp was a Roaring Success!

 

 

Big Cat Rescue's Summer Camp 2009

Children between the ages of 8 and 15 are invited to explore the great outdoors with 100+ big cats of every size, color and personality. While participating in educational activities the campers will enjoy meeting lions, tigers, leopards and many other felines. Learning about animal habitats, diets, adaptations and conservation will be an adventure to remember! Campers will enjoy outdoor exploration on the 45 acre campus at Big Cat Rescue. Interactive learning opportunities will include diet preparation, scavenger hunts and keeper demonstrations of feedings and behavioral training with the cats.

Campers need to wear tennis shoes and clothes that can get dirty. They need to bring suntan lotion, bug repellent, a rain poncho, drinking water, a snack and lunch.

Class size is limited to ensure a quality experience for each camper, so register soon while space is available. Each class will be guided by a certified teacher and an assistant.

The summer camp experience is only $190.00 per camper for each 4-day session.

Summer Camp Schedule - 9:30 am - 4:00 pm Daily
Session 1: June 16-19       Session 4: July 14-17
Session 2: June 23-26       Session 5: July 21-24
Session 3:  July 7-10           Session 6: July 28-31

Contact Beth Kamhi, D.C. & Coleen Kremer, Ed.S.
at (813) 323-3265 or kids@bigcatrescue.org to register.

 

Big Cat Rescue's Education Program

 

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." -Gandhi-

We provide on site field trips and outreach programs to more than 30 schools per year. We offer programs to 12 schools for free each year and need sponsors to enable to allow us to do more to educate children about the importance of preservation.

Key Benefits

Up close and hands on learning

Available on site or at your location

Fees go directly to the animals

On-site Educational Tours

Our Gift to the Community

 

On-site educational programs focus on a walking tour of the sanctuary where the children learn about the exotic animals that live at Big Cat Rescue and conservation of the animals in the wild. Children can see up to 16 species of cat and other animals standing only 3 to 6 feet away in many cases. Many children automatically react in disbelief to the enormous size of the tigers when they experience them up-close. The typical tour for young children focuses on simple facts about the animals as the children see them. For example, children age 5 to 10 will hear about how a tiger’s stripes are like fingerprints and no two tigers have the same stripes. Older children learn how tigers are ambush hunters and stalk their prey in the jungles of India. All children learn about the fact that tigers are endangered in their native habitats and what steps they can take at home to help the plight of all endangered animals such as recycling and conserving water and energy.

Children also get to hear the reasons that some of the cats are at Big Cat Rescue. For example the fact that all of our cougars were exotic pets before they grew too big and became too dangerous to be a pet. Through these stories children learn that wild animals don’t make good pets. Tours last anywhere from 1 hour to 1.5 hours depending on the age of the audience, tours for younger children don’t last as long as those for older children. During on-site tours children also learn about zookeeping and how the animals are taken care of. During the tour some of the animals are given approved treats by the guide and the animal enrichment program is explained. 

 

Policy & Notes

Minimum age 5 years old No discounts on Saturdays No Sunday tours or visitors All tours priced based on a guaranteed minimum attendance. Final price by guarantee number or the actual attendance, whichever is greater.

Education Directors:

Beth Kamhi & Coleen Kremer (813) 323-3265 Education@BigCatRescue.org 

 

Outreach Educational Programs

Outreach educational programs focus on a presentation in a classroom where children learn about the exotic animals that live at Big Cat Rescue and conservation of the animals in the wild. Children see photos of many species of cat and other animal either through a slide show or by viewing a photo board. Children learn the same things about the animals but in a classroom setting instead of at the sanctuary. Since the children don’t get to see the tigers, a different approach has to be taken to grab their attention. At the beginning of the session the children are told that at the end of the program there will be a trivia game with prizes awarded for correct answers. This helps to keep the children’s attention. Big Cat bookmarks are handed out as prizes for correct answers to trivia questions such as, ‘What is a group of lions called?’ To grab the children’s attention a few props are also used in the outreach including a large plastic ball that was a lion’s toy. The ball has tooth marks in it and during the talk about lions the ball is passed around for students to hold and touch. Professionally treated skulls and pelts from a cougar and clouded leopard are also available. A plaster cast of a tiger footprint is also used so that the children can compare their hand size to the tiger’s foot size. Programs last from 20 minutes to 1 hour depending on the needs of the school or program participating in the outreach. We also have a lion Mascot costume that is available to visit community events. Call for prices on all of our educational tours and outreach events. 

 

Animal Ambassador

Virtually every person who calls us for an outreach program asks that we bring a cat and this shows us the huge need for educating the educators. One of the biggest problems that we face as a sanctuary is the never ending flood of animals in need of a place to live out their lives. The single largest cause, of all of these unwanted animals, are people who use them for "education" and "edutainment" until they won't work any longer, which is usually by the time they are 1 to 5 years old. The people sell themselves as rescuers and as being involved in conservation, when all of the money you pay them really goes into their own pockets. Many of them work under the guise of non profits, but a further look into their tax returns will show that only the people running the show benefited from your donations. The people who make their living, by bringing big cats to your schools and events, then will dump the cats when they refuse to work and buy or breed a new cub that will work for a few years more. These cats live to be in excess of 20 years and there is no where for them to go. Please do not add to this problem by paying people to bring big cats out on a leash. It is demeaning to the cat and is not the message of respect that we should be teaching our children. There is no substitute for seeing these animals in their naturalistic Cat-A-Tats here at Big Cat Rescue. ( Note the two tigers in the middle)

To add your school district to those who have already created a policy that bans bringing dangerous predators into classrooms sign up HERE.

For more information call

Educational Directors, Beth Kamhi & Coleen Kremer

cell (813) 323-3265

office (813) 920-4130

fax 866.571.4523 

e-mail Kids@BigCatRescue.org

 

What can kids do for the animals?

Be kind to animals.

Make sure your friends are too.

Report animal abuse.

Learn about animals so you can be their voice.

Write your congressman. We make it easy at www.CatLaws.com

Don't wear or play with things made out of real animals.

If you see fur for sale at a store tell the manager that it's cruel to kill animals for their fur.

Don't go to animal shows or circuses that use animals. Download Flier

Never pay someone to touch a baby tiger or take your picture with one.

Don't let people bring wild animals to your school. They aren't props!

Recycle ink cartridges and cell phones at www.BigCatRescue.org/ink

Do a fundraiser for the big cats by selling magazines at www.MagFundraising.com/BigCatRescue

Click Here To Read About Artists

Or you can wash cars, mow yards, walk the neighbor's dogs or have a yard or bake sale. Party Ideas.

Instead of gifts for birthdays or holidays, ask your friends to help you help a cat.  See some kids who did HERE

Do a zoo check to find out if your zoo is dumping animals when the next babies come.

Ask to see where the animals are kept when the zoo isn't open. Most of these animals spend half their lives shut in small cells.

Try making fewer of your meals out of dead animals. Soy is protein from plants and better for you anyway. Go Veg!

Pick up litter. Lots of wild animals are killed from eating or being trapped in litter.

Spay or neuter your pets. Hundreds of thousands of pets are killed each year because there are more babies than homes.

Micro chip your pets so they can always find their way home.

Web site facts for school reports & other copy right issues

  This emblem lets you know that we allow you to use any portion from this website as long as you do not alter the image or information and as long as you give credit to BigCatRescue.org as the source in an easily accessible and identifiable manner.  More about that here: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Unlike many sites that claim to be copyrighted, ours actually is protected by copy right and trademark registration.  This site is 7500 pages and most of it is here for your use in your school reports, research papers and to help you learn and share the plight of exotic cats in the wild and in captivity.  As long as you are using the information for non commercial purposes and are being respectful of the animals, you can use information and photos from our site for school related purposes without contacting us for further permission.

We used to have time stamps on the pages, but some pages are not substantially updated for years and it made the site look out of date when in fact the information was current and just had not changed.  If people see an old date they may leave looking for something newer even though it probably wouldn't be as complete as our site. 

This site was first published in 1996.  Most of the pages are updated in some form or another each year, so January of the existing year would be sufficient for most school reports and the source should be: Big Cat Rescue.

While our Founder, Carole Baskin does most of the web work, there are many people who contribute bits and pieces to many of the pages and many organizations we have worked with over the years to present the most comprehensive body of work possible.  Since we could not possibly remember and name all of them and cannot take credit for all of it either, we really can't post an "author" like you would of a static work, like a book.

Most of the photos are provided by our President, Jamie Veronica and usually if someone else took the photo you will see their name on the image in the URL. 

Good luck with your report!

Great American Teach In 2007

The Education Department at Big Cat Rescue enjoyed a very busy month in November.  In addition to all the other events, tours and outreaches, we participated in the Great American Teach In.  This is an annual event sponsored by the public school system.  It's a special opportunity to visit schools and share knowledge with a new generation of youngsters.

With the generous help of our dedicated volunteers the Education Department visited several schools during the 2007 Great AmericanTeach-In.  As a part of this effort several elementary schools and middle schools were introduced to our Big Cat Rescue mission.  Students in addition to adults were taught about our sanctuary, the needs of our cats and the need to conserve their habitats in the wild.      

Some students had already taken a tour of Big Cat Rescue.  Hopefully those newly introduced to the sanctuary will ask their parents and teachers to pay us a visit.  The Great American Teach In provided an opportunity to educate others on various ways they can assist Big Cat Rescue and help the cats.  

Awards for Educational Excellence

Big Cat Rescue is the proud recipient of the edHelper Honor Roll. For more educational resources, click on the banner. 

Big Cat Rescue just keeps winning awards for academic excellence. Hear what Study Web had to say about us "Your website, has been selected as a featured site in Lightspan's StudyWeb® as one of the best educational resources on the Web by our researchers. StudyWeb® is one of the Internet's premier sites for educational resources for students and teachers. Since 1996, our expert reviewers have scoured the Internet to select only the finest sites to be included in StudyWeb's listing of educational links.

We are pleased to announce the end to our quest for Big Cat Rescue's newest Education Director. It is with great excitement and gratefulness that we bring you this news that we have not just one, but two talented professionals that have risen to the challenge. It's truly the cat's meow to have found Beth L. Kamhi, D.C. and Coleen Kremer as two individuals with notable backgrounds that have come together to complement each other in the most refreshing way for us. Their combined talents form a very strong partnership to benefit Big Cat Rescue. Please read on to get the scoop on their backgrounds and why they are the perfect fit. We'd also like to take this time to thank Kathryn Quaas, our former Education Director for several years of her efforts, talents and time. We are very happy with what she has done for and with us and that she will continue to be in our lives as a volunteer.

My husband and I are lifelong animal lovers who have always shared a home with many furry, feathered and finned family members.  While working for the past 23 years as a school psychologist I have helped animals in need in the community through volunteer efforts.  About 5 years ago I was hired at Lowry Park Zoo where I worked as a Zoo Instructor and Keeper in the Outreach Dept.  I learned so much in the 3 1/2 years that I worked at the zoo and discovered my true passion was combining my love for animals and my knowledge of education.  When I was made aware of the position at Big Cat I felt that the values of a sanctuary might be in keeping with my interest in encouraging the preservation of wildlife in it's natural environment. 

With that in mind I began gathering more information and was delighted to find that Big Cat's mission was exactly the life experience I was searching for.   The next challenge miraculously took care of itself.  I was looking for a part-time position so that I could continue my employment as a psychologist on a part time basis.  But clearly the job description as Director of Education at Big Cat was a full-time job and then some! 

Along came my miracle by the name of "Beth".  She too was looking for a part time position and as good fortune would have it our scheduling needs worked together perfectly.  As if that weren't enough in the way of blessings we discovered that our skills and life experiences complimented one another.  Beth has shared that although her first career choice as a teen was to become Jane Goodall, she thoroughly enjoyed 26 years of helping people, while always keeping her love of animals alive with her horses, cats, birds and dogs. Retirement from chiropractic practice brought Beth, her husband, and critters to the Tampa area, where she discovered Big Cat Rescue. This was truly a dream come true. As a dedicated red shirt volunteer this past year at BCR, she had already become thoroughly committed to the Big Cat mission, and jumped at the chance to make an even bigger impact by seeking the Education Director position. As she and her family are full time RVers, the opportunity to serve as ED of Big Cat Rescue and still have time for travel and family dovetailed perfectly with my school career and family commitments.

Every time we meet to discuss our job, we find more and more ways that we compliment each other in skills, talents and temperament. Of course there are no "accidents". With Beth's business experience and knowledge of technology and my experience in education we seem to be well suited for this job and believe that we can provide more as a team than either one of us could have accomplished alone.    I am currently spending limited time on site as Beth is assuming the position full time until I begin working full-time in June.  After summer camps are completed and as we move toward the end of July, Beth and I will begin working together as Co-education Directors.  

We have met some of you already and appreciate the gracious welcome!      

Coleen Kremer

Big Cat Rescue is an educational sanctuary and a home for more than 100 big cats  12802 Easy St. Tampa, FL 33625 813.920.4130 Info@BigCatRescue.org