Big Cat Rescue Volunteer Committee and Staff
In alphabetical order...
SHARYN BEACH
VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE
Sharyn Beach has been volunteering in the Partner capacity since February of 2006.
From the initial involvement of ringing in gift shop sales and backing up tours, her activities have grown to include giving tours, developing educational workshops for young adults, assisting with summer camp, writing letters on behalf of animals to legislators and the media, writing blog entries and essays that have been included in the Big Cat Times, visiting congressional offices in Washington to speak on behalf of big cats and all wild animals, and serving on the Volunteer Committee.
Her favorite part of volunteering is having the opportunity to engage with others about why animals are important, and she looks forward to having many more of these opportunities in the future.
CHELSEA FEENY
DATA AND INTERN MANAGER
Chelsea Feeny first arrived at Big Cat Rescue in early 2009 as an intern. Before the completing of her internship she was hired as Project Manager.
She currently is responsible for database management, donations processing and acknowledgement, and Intern intake/screening.
She aims to share her passion and excitement for this magnificent sanctuary with all of the guests, donors, and volunteers that help to make Big Cat Rescue what it is today.
JENNIFER FLATT
VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE
Jennifer has been a volunteer at Big Cat Rescue since May of 2008.
As a Yellow Shirt Keeper some of her favorite duties include giving tours to children and cleaning the smaller cats.
After showing great promise as a dedicated volunteer she was appointed as a member of the Volunteer Committee where she gives orientation to new volunteers as well as mentoring both Red and Yellow shirts on becoming well-rounded volunteers at BCR and shining stars in the community.
She has spent the last several years working with animals of all shapes and sizes, has found her perfect fit here at Big Cat Rescue educating the public on habitat conservation and protecting big cats everywhere.
JULIE HANAN
VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE
Julie began volunteering at Big Cat Rescue in 2004. She serves as a Senior Keeper whose duties primarily include the care, cleaning and feeding of our big cats, including our quarantined cats. She has consistently dedicated almost 1000 hours/year as a volunteer and now serves as a member of our Volunteer Committee.
Julie received our first ever S.A.V.E. award, Scratch’s Award for Volunteer Excellence, to honor her extraordinary service. She helped create a lasting memorial website for our cats that have passed away, she photographs most of the happenings at the sanctuary, she “faux fur” painted many of the buildings on our property, she was instrumental in having Big Cat Rescue chosen by area school systems as their philanthropic cause, she lobbies legislators, media, and the public in general advocating big cat conservation and stewardship. In 2009, she received the Founder’s Award, Big Cat Rescue’s highest honor, for her service to the organization.
GALE INGHAM
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Gale worked her way up to Senior Keeper twice. The first time around she ended up as Den Mother to our interns, but family issues required her to move away for a while. When she returned, she started over again and quickly worked her way back up to Senior Keeper.
Gale is a By-The-Book kind of person and Big Cat Rescue has a LOT of rules on its books that keep our cats well cared for and our people safe. When our Operations Manager, Scott Lope decided to resign in order to pursue his film career as spokesman for Big Cat Rescue, Gale was a natural to take his place.
She will be working with Dr. Beth Kamhi to fill his shoes and all of them are working together to make the transition as smooth as possible. With Beth's understanding of personality types and Gale's energetic enthusiasm for getting the job done right, we are confident that this will be a great new team.
BETH KAMHI, D.C.
OPERATIONS MANAGER LIAISON & EDUCATION DIRECTOR
Beth Kamhi serves as Education Director and has been the Grant Writer for our sanctuary. In January 2010, she also took on the responsibility of assisting Gale Ingham as the Operations Manager taking over from Scott. The title she gives this new position is "Transitional Liaison" due to her snowbird schedule. Over the next four to five months she will be working to understand the "big picture" of our daily operations, create a Standard Operating Procedure manual to collect this knowledge, and help Gale and others day to day as they take over all the numerous functions of running a world class sanctuary.
Beth is also a Chiropractic Physician practicing part time in the Tampa after many years of her own family practice in the Boston area. Her experience in business and technology, background in biological sciences, along with her Keeper training as a volunteer at Big Cat Rescue were the perfect blend for our education department. The Education Director is responsible for the development and coordination of educational functions, scheduling and daily supervision of all school and community programs as well as our ever-growing Summer Camp program.
JEFF KREMER
DIRECTOR OF DONOR APPRECIATION
Jeff Kremer is the Director of Donor Appreciation with Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, the world's largest accredited rescue facility for exotic cats. Jeff was born and raised in the Tampa Bay area. After spending 21 years working for Honeywell Space Systems in Clearwater, Jeff chose to embark upon a career that focused on his life-long interest in the field of animal welfare.
Big Cat Rescue is accredited by The Global Federation of Sanctuaries (a national accrediting body that is to sanctuaries what the American Zoological Association is to zoos.)
Big Cat Rescue is a member of the International Tiger Coalition, The Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition, the Florida Association of the Restoration of Ethics, Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Upper Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, Tampabay Visitors and Convention Bureau, No More Homeless Pets, and many other animal welfare groups.
Big Cat Rescue assists other accredited rescue facilities by helping them build cages, train their volunteers and they lend their people and resources to help them recover from natural and man-made disasters. Big Cat Rescue is licensed by and in good standing with FWC, USFWS, USDA and is registered with the state of Florida as a charity.
Jeff Kremer is available for college and civic lectures and has given presentations to numerous civic and educational organizations regarding the plight of exotic cats and other species and what the public can do to save them.
Jeff is available to speak regarding such topic as:
The exotic animal crisis in America and around the world.
The differences between sanctuary’s and zoo’s.
Ethical issues involving exotic animals in captivity.
Legislative issues involving the exotic animal trade in America.
The nature of wild cats in captivity and why they don't belong in cages
The correlation between youth violence against animals and adult violence towards humans.
DENNY MITCHELL
VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE
Denny joined Big Cat Rescue as a volunteer in 2001. After doing the usual volunteer functions such as cleaning, feeding ,etc., he realized the could make a bigger contribution by engaging the public by doing outreach and leading tours.
To date he has taken well over 10000 people on tours of our sanctuary. He also has made presentations to various civic and business organizations in the Tampa area.
Denny also helped in the development of the partner side of our volunteer program. His wife, Susan, has also volunteered for the same period so they have made it a family affair. Both harbor great love for the cats and our mission.
He is a former business owner- tech sales to industry and is currently serving as a consultant in the industry. Denny is also a musician and writes and performs his own works including some we have used on our web site.
LA WANNA MITCHELL
WEBMISTRESS
I had spent a couple years traveling various zoos and learning how to make web sites and website goodies, just looking for a way to make a difference for animals; tumbling around trying to find my 'place in the sun', my purpose in life. then in July 2004 I found Big Cat Rescue's web site and offered to make games for them. Carole sent me some photos and the fun began. That progessed into being blessed with getting actually visit Big Cat Rescue for eight heavenly days taking photos in September 2004. If a turning pont in life can be pinpointed, that trip was exactly that for me. My life changed forever right then and there.
After visiting Big Cat Rescue it was quite clear to me that this place was it unlike any other animal facility. I had finally finally found the animal place I wanted to devote my life to thus no longer needed to travel around looking for my place in life. More trips to take photos of the cats at Big Cat Rescue followed in 2005 & 2006. During those visits I became completely hooked for life.
For me, building web site goodies for Big Cat Rescue is like breathing itself. If I couldn't be a part of Big Cat Rescue and part of working toward the goals of their mission, I think my breath would actually stop. I LOVE Big Cat Rescue with my whole heart and my whole being and firmly believe in their mission and goals.
Now, I take great delight in spending my days using those photos to create goodies for their newest website BigCatFun.com. I really enjoy doing tabling events and doing little classroom presentations on saving endangered species by saving their wild habitats. Big Cat Rescue participates in many habitat preservation projects and getting to share those with kids whose minds and hearts are open and full of wonder for wild animals is a truly joyous thing.
Currently, there are three passions that rage like wild fires in my heart and working with Big cat Rescue allows me to help make a difference in these three areas. #1 Raising awareness for the need for new laws to keep big cats out of backyards and roadside 'wannabe' zoos #2 Raising awareness for saving wild habitats and last but not certainly not least #3 Educating the public on the real truth about white tigers.
Working with Big Cat Rescue is the highlight, the joy, and the purpose of my life. Not to go without mention, working with Big Cat Rescue is the greatest privilege I could ever have imagined receiving in my life.
To sum it up, I live and breath Big Cat Rescue and our mission and count it a privilege to do so. I can't give money, so I give what I can, which it my time and devotion.
CHRIS POOLE
MEDIA PRODUCER
Chris Poole originally volunteered as a hard working intern from the United Kingdom here at Big Cat Rescue.
With an extensive background and degree in graphic design and video editing, he later joined our team in order to produce weekly podcasts and web-market our sanctuary on sites such as YouTube, MySpace, FaceBook, etc.
He is always striving to find new ways to cross promote Big Cat Rescue worldwide.
While living on property, he provides invaluable assistance to our Volunteer Coordinators in the never ending day-to-day chores of running a sanctuary of this size. Chris also performs all of the responsibilities of a Senior Keeper.
DEBRA SCOTT
LEGISLATIVE INVESTIGATOR
Debra Scott combines many years of state government and legislative experience with her love of big cats to lead the legislative and outreach efforts for Big Cat Rescue. Debra performs extensive research into proposed legislation affecting big cats on both the federal and state levels, tracks the movement of the proposed measures, and writes alerts that allow BCR supporters to effectively communicate with their elected officials.
Debra is seen here with her father, former Jefferson County Sheriff James Scott, representing Big Cat Rescue in Tallahassee.
VERNON
STAIRS
MASTER BUILDER
Vernon Stairs is our Master Builder and works to design, build and maintain all of the cat-a-tats and facilities.
He was a business owner until he retired in 1996 and came to Big Cat Rescue to help build a pond.
His feats include construction of a three acre tiger marsh, dueling waterfalls and ponds for the fishing cats, an air conditioned rock mountain for the snow leopards, underground dens, overhead sprinklers and so much more for the comfort of the 200 animals living on Easy Street.
He is remembered daily by the animals, staff and guests for his work and will be remembered for many years to come in the lasting improvements he has made to the quality of life for each of the animals.
He is pictured here on the Kobelco, a machine he has kept running with duct tape and coat hangers for more than a dozen years past its prime with Carole Baskin, founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue.
JAMIE VERONICA
PRESIDENT, VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE, BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Jamie Veronica is President of Big Cat Rescue, a member of the Board of Directors, and Chair of the Volunteer Committee. She has served in these capacities for well over ten years. She spent many years developing a sponsorship program whose financial success continues to contribute largely toward meeting our annual budget. Much of her time is also dedicated to orchestrating our annual fundraising event, the Fur Ball, which has recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. An award-winning photographer, Jamie is the staff photographer and publishes our quarterly Big Cat Times newspaper, distributed to over 60,000 readers. She creates all of our print and web advertisements, billboards, brochures, books, donor plaques and signage. She manages all of the discount offers and reciprocal agreements with other attractions. She has designed and implemented the sanctuary’s worldwide Internship Program. Jamie is also a licensed wildlife rehabilitator and manages the sanctuary’s bobcat rehab program. She has successfully raised, rehabilitated and released several wild Florida bobcats and leads expeditions into the release sites to track and camera trap wild bobcat populations. She oversees and handles all rescues, veterinary procedures, transfer of animals on the property, and regulatory compliance issues.
HONEY WAYTON
GIFT SHOP MANAGER
Honey Wayton is responsible for merchandising and maintenance of inventory for our gift shop. On a typical day, you will find her greeting our guests, answering our phones, running our cash register, maintaining the appearance of our gift shop and tour waiting area, and coordinating the responsibilities of our Partner Volunteers in the gift shop. She also fills orders for our online gift shop and is our onsite intern housing representative. Honey serves on our Fur Ball Committee and our Enrichment Committee and fulfills all the daily responsibilities of a Senior Keeper as well.
Click HERE to meet all of our Big Cat Rescue Volunteers the most dedicated people in the animal protection community.