Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is a sanctuary? How can I tell a real one from a fake?
A: An Animal Sanctuary is a facility that rescues and provides shelter and care for animals that have been abused, injured, abandoned or are otherwise in need, where the welfare of each individual animal shall be the primary consideration in all sanctuary actions. The definition of a sanctuary is as follows:
501 (c) 3 organization described in Section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi), Internal Revenue Code 1986, and its subsequent amendments.
No commercial activity involving animals occurs (including, but not limited to, no sale of animals, animal parts, by-products, offspring or photographic opportunities, such as having your photo made with an animal).
No propagation of animals occurs in the facility. (No breeding).
No unescorted public visitation is allowed; no direct contact between the public and dangerous wild and exotic animals is allowed (even if you are calling the public volunteers); animals shall not be taken from their enclosures or off sanctuary grounds for exhibition or education.
Exceptional standards of lifelong animal care consistent with the Standards of Sanctuary Care and Operation are provided and ensured.
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2. How can I get a job with Big Cat Rescue?
A: You can start work right away, if you are over 18 but not for pay. We need Volunteers and you can volunteer from across the country with our AdvoCat Program.
3. How can I get a job working with animals?
A: Our huge Volunteer force is proof that people will work long hard hours for free, just to be around the animals that they love. We would suggest that you learn all you can about the animals while still finding a career that will support your passion and then volunteer your time. For more ideas, check out Work With Animals.
4. Do you breed and sell animals?
A: Sanctuaries should not breed and sell animals and thus be adding to the problem. For more info on our position see Breeding and see how we came to that conclusion by reading our History & Evolution.
5. Why keep animals in cages or have them on display?
A: I hate to see cats in cages as well. My ultimate goal is that places like Big Cat Rescue do not have to exist. Most places that call themselves sanctuaries or refuges are neither and are a fate worse than death. We do the best we can to overcome that by offering a lot of enrichment for the cats. It is sad that they no longer are wanted by the people who bought them as cute little cubs. The purpose of exposing the public to them is to show people who are contemplating big cat ownership that it never works out for the cat's benefit. This was our original purpose for allowing guests. When you see that you can never turn your back on even a bobcat, without being sprayed or how small the 1200 square foot cages look when they have a 150 pound cat in them, or how quick and powerful these cats are, then it's got to make you rethink the whole idea of buying that little bundle of fur. You can tell people it's a bad idea all day and be ignored, but when they see it for themselves and they see how many people came before them and failed, it is an eye opening experience. Couple that with the fact that we turn down approximately 100 cats per year for lack of space and funds and you can start to see the whole picture.
6. Why are there so many unwanted exotic animals?
A: I dislike big government telling me what I can and cannot do, but our
current freedom to own big carnivores isn't working and I would propose to use
Big Cat Rescue as a sad example of why there should be
laws to protect
the cats. Every year the animal exhibits want to have a cute little cub on
display for the paying public, but next year where does that cub go? Alan
Green's book, Animal Underworld (available in our on line gift shop or any big
book store) tells you the sad truth. You will always be told that it went to
another zoo, but many of them are breeding like crazy and none of them wants the
adults from each previous year, so they end up in canned hunts and at auctions
to anyone with $100.00 in their pocket and then they are bred like beagles for
the "pet" trade. It's got to stop at the source. Legitimate breeding
for the survival of the species is confined to the Species Survival Plan (SSP)
and you won't find your roadside zoo or "refuge" participating in
these plans despite their claims to the contrary.
View this slideshow to see what life is really like for captive exotic cats. Play Slideshow.
7. What can be done to stop the unregulated breeding?
A: I am a proponent of requiring that all new births be micro chipped, registered and then tracked for life. This information should be open to the public so that they can see what is happening. If you breed an animal, then you should be responsible for it for the rest of it's life. There are programs for species survival and if you aren't actively participating in a planned program for genetic diversity, then you don't breed. If the cats who end up mauling or killing, could be tracked back to a zoo, and that zoo stood to be liable for the damage, then that zoo would be much more careful about where its cats end up.
8. How is Big Cat Rescue making a difference in a global sense?
A: We are involved in protecting these cats in the wild. We are working with the NGOs and ministers of wildlife in Guyana, South America, Poland, Russia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to help them protect the cats in the wild and to assist their zoos to be more accommodating for the animals on display. We have supplied veterinary text books, equipment and reference materials to their zoo Veterinarians. We are making a difference for every cat in our care and for cats all around the globe. Our biggest campaign to save cats in the wild is S.A.F.E. In The Wild.
9. How much of my donation really goes to the animals?
A: 100% of your donations to Big Cat Rescue actually goes to the animals because all of our administrative costs are paid from earned income and not from donation dollars. Every dime that you contribute goes directly to the animals. You can see the details of our charity at: Non Profit and every time you visit, you can see the good that your donation has done.
10: Where can I get my picture with a lion or tiger cub?
A:
These sort of photo opportunities are what causes life times of suffering for
the animals and I would strongly urge you to learn more about how these things
work before adding to the problem. You
probably love the big cats and would not knowingly do something to hurt them. Here in the State of Florida, it is legal for a person to
touch a great cat (lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar) until they are 40 pounds.
Many people breed these cats just for that market.
They produce lots of cute little cubs for people to have their pictures
made with. To keep them under 40
pounds, as long as possible, they starve them, deprive them of the calcium they
need to grow strong (thus heavy) bones and then when the cub passes it's 40
pound limit, they are dumped at
auctions where they are bought by people who offer canned
hunts (illegally in the case of the tiger, leopard and jag, but done all the
same). The other options for these
cats are that unscrupulous people who want to make money in the photo opp business
will buy them and breed them like rabbits, doing the same thing over and over.
They typically call themselves sanctuaries and say that they are breeding
for conservation efforts, but the truth is that virtually none of them
really are. (Ask to see the proof of signed governmental contracts for
release and reintroduction.) If you don't provide the demand
for this market, then it will go away. View this slideshow to see what life is really like for captive exotic cats. Play Slideshow. Photo above taken at the MGM
Grand in Las Vegas. That really doesn't make them look too cool after all,
does it?
11: How do I start my own sanctuary?
A: It is a lot tougher than it seems. Many people are under the erroneous assumption that they can build a sanctuary and the public will support it. Read How We Got Started to see what we did and perhaps learn from our trials and errors.
12: What about using exotic cats for educational outreach?
A: If Education is the reason people want to have lions and tigers in their backyard, or in a flea market, what is the real message people get? The message being preached is that these animals don’t make good pets, but the message the public gets is that they too could have a tiger in their back yard and get to be the cool guy who takes it out in public and gets lots of attention.
13: What about breeding big cats for conservation?
A: If Conservation is the reason for breeding exotics, then why is it that none of these people are participating in Internationally sanctioned Species Survival Plans (SSP)? They will say that the American Zoological Association (AZA) doesn’t want to share the glory, but the truth is that the backyard breeders cannot trace their pets’ ancestry back to the wild and that is what makes them of no value to the SSPs. The AZA gene pool is limited because CITES helps protect animals in the wild from being poached for zoo collections. If backyard breeders had animals that were of any value to keeping these species alive for the sake of keeping AZA zoos going, they would be embraced by the accredited zoos, but they are not. Even the “good” zoos are often hesitant to speak out about backyard breeders and roadside zoos, however, because they understand that once a person decides one captive situation is cruel, then the next step is to wonder if all captivity for wild animals is inherently cruel.
14: Who owns big cats?
A: Find out who owns big cats and why HERE
15: Why are some other "animal people" bashing Big Cat Rescue and Carole Baskin?
A: We have become a force in our state's capitol and in D.C. in effecting change to protect exotic cats from being bred for lives of confinement. People who make their living in the 20 billion dollar wildlife trade and those who support it by buying exotic cats hate that we are succeeding in getting more protective laws passed. Even some people who run pseudo sanctuaries are slandering us because both their income and their identity comes from being "rescuers" and if there were no animals in jeopardy then they would have to get a real job. Read more about the psychology of these people HERE and read about the successes big cats are having legislatively HERE.
Got a question? Email Info@BigCatRescue.org and we will get back to you right away.