Holy SHIT that was EPIC!
Okay so check this out. Yesterday, my mom and I finally went to Big Cat Rescue down in Tampa, on the Feeding Tour. It was fanfreakingtastic. Like no like we were LESS than five feet from some of these magnificent creatures. They weren't kidding when they said we'd be able to hear them crunch through the bones in the chicken quarters. Holy crap. The first animals that we saw were to tigers. China Doll whom is a Bengal Tiger was gorgeous and her den-pal Shere Khan is a cross between a Bengal Tiger and a Siberian Tiger. HE WAS HUGE! It was just amazing what these cats have gone through. Most of them were either pets or performing animals. What I didn't know, is that the tigers that were there, that had been retired from the circus, the circus actually paid for the Cat-A-Tat's to be built as well as they pay for a few other things. One of the retired circus tigers, Bengali, holy crap guys...we were, or at least I was, less than three feet from him while he was in his lockout eating. Just to look into this massive 500 plus pound animals eyes..to see him so full of zest and life, knowing that he can live out the rest of his life in luxury, is so heartwarming.
All of these cats have been spayed an neutered after a few "accidental" matings had occurred. Now, BCR used to breed, they stopped that however in 1997. Back to that first massive Tiger. Shere Khan, he's the epitome of the kind of people that piss me off. He was bred to be white and was unwanted because he turned out to be that golden hue. He spent the first four months of his life stuffed in a cat carrier the he outgrew, he was up to his belly in feces and rotting food. Upon BCR getting there, he couldn't stand up and his teeth were rotting through his face.
Another gut wrenching story is Zabu, a beautiful white tiger. Tigers are not meant to be white. In fact, the only way they can generally get the white coloring is by inbreeding. Thing about it...tigers live in jungle/forest settings, white isn't going to blend in. Either way Zabu, came with her "mate" a male lion named Cameron from a roadside zoo that had purposely raised them together hoping that one day they would breed, creating a white Liger. Once they got there, they were so skinny their ribs were showing, they had to wait until Cameron was healthy enough for neutering.
Some of these stories are just so touching, and will even make you feel disgusted that you share a world with people who could bring harm to such incredible animals. Most, if not, all of their bobcats came from fur factories. That was something my mom and I had learned while on this outing. It is NOT illegal in the United States to raise a cat for it's fur. Fur factories that raise foxes, bobcats, minx, etc, it's not illegal for them to do that. If that thought alone isn't sickening, here's the icing on the cake; when it comes to bobcats, all that's used for fur coats, is their spotted belly. They raise this cat for a year, then they kill it for their spotted belly. The remains are then used to feed the other cats. It takes at least twenty bobcats to make a waist length fur coat.
It makes me sick to my stomach that there are people out there that could only raise a wild creature for its fur. Some of the animals are bought at auctions and whatnot, then clubbed to death outside in the parking lot. Sanctuaries like Big Cat Rescue are their last hope.
All it takes is one look into a pair of eyes from a animal that has been saved or rescued, and you'll fall in love. I know I have. From just those few short moments I watched Bengali and the others crunch away at chicken quarters it made me realize that between the Urban sprawl and heartless human beings, if something isn't done to help protect them, we could be facing a world without creatures like these. It's reach the point that the only way you can see these magnificent creatures will be in zoo's or in sanctuaries. Granted that's really the only way to see them now without losing a limb or two, but to know that there are none left in the wild, is a thought I care not to think.
All of these cats have been spayed an neutered after a few "accidental" matings had occurred. Now, BCR used to breed, they stopped that however in 1997. Back to that first massive Tiger. Shere Khan, he's the epitome of the kind of people that piss me off. He was bred to be white and was unwanted because he turned out to be that golden hue. He spent the first four months of his life stuffed in a cat carrier the he outgrew, he was up to his belly in feces and rotting food. Upon BCR getting there, he couldn't stand up and his teeth were rotting through his face.
Another gut wrenching story is Zabu, a beautiful white tiger. Tigers are not meant to be white. In fact, the only way they can generally get the white coloring is by inbreeding. Thing about it...tigers live in jungle/forest settings, white isn't going to blend in. Either way Zabu, came with her "mate" a male lion named Cameron from a roadside zoo that had purposely raised them together hoping that one day they would breed, creating a white Liger. Once they got there, they were so skinny their ribs were showing, they had to wait until Cameron was healthy enough for neutering.
Some of these stories are just so touching, and will even make you feel disgusted that you share a world with people who could bring harm to such incredible animals. Most, if not, all of their bobcats came from fur factories. That was something my mom and I had learned while on this outing. It is NOT illegal in the United States to raise a cat for it's fur. Fur factories that raise foxes, bobcats, minx, etc, it's not illegal for them to do that. If that thought alone isn't sickening, here's the icing on the cake; when it comes to bobcats, all that's used for fur coats, is their spotted belly. They raise this cat for a year, then they kill it for their spotted belly. The remains are then used to feed the other cats. It takes at least twenty bobcats to make a waist length fur coat.
It makes me sick to my stomach that there are people out there that could only raise a wild creature for its fur. Some of the animals are bought at auctions and whatnot, then clubbed to death outside in the parking lot. Sanctuaries like Big Cat Rescue are their last hope.
All it takes is one look into a pair of eyes from a animal that has been saved or rescued, and you'll fall in love. I know I have. From just those few short moments I watched Bengali and the others crunch away at chicken quarters it made me realize that between the Urban sprawl and heartless human beings, if something isn't done to help protect them, we could be facing a world without creatures like these. It's reach the point that the only way you can see these magnificent creatures will be in zoo's or in sanctuaries. Granted that's really the only way to see them now without losing a limb or two, but to know that there are none left in the wild, is a thought I care not to think.