During one of my moms visits to Wisconsin we went to the Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue. It was an incredible organization that is doing so much for these big cats that were never accustomed to living in the wild. I took these pictures so you can see that you're pretty close to the animals. They'll show you how they feed them, and you can see just how much love they have for the owners. I fell in love with these big cats!
Information pulled from their website...
I started out by thinking that if you take pictures with these animals, it would make a lot of money, which it did for the first two months... I made about $200-$300 per hour. Then I realized all the stress it causes the animal was too much. I stopped the picture taking and started doing some investigating on what actually goes on during this photo business, as well as what happens to the animals afterwards. My findings were disgusting. I then contacted rescues around the U.S. and my findings were even worse about the abuse of these animals. I then decided my goal in life will be to give what I can and help these majestic creatures as much as I could.
One big cat rescue turned away hundreds of cats in one year. So then I started Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue with the money I had from pictures and donations. I built cages on land donated for the rescue. I started with six cats and in less than a year, I ended up with 26 big cats... 16 Tigers, 7 Lions, and 3 Leopards. The worst part was I turned away over 50 others. If they did not find a home they were probably euthanized. My goal now is to give thee cats a home where they can live out their life, and not be made to jump through fiery hoops or sit on a table to have pictures taken of them with people at resorts or fairs. Here they can simply run, play, and relax as they please, and receive plenty of love and attention.
We are open to the public and run on "Strictly Donations". We invite schools and groups there not just to look at them, but also to learn. We want the public to know that these cats are NOT pets, and could never make good pets. They are not meant to do tricks, and are not for people to exploit them to the point where it harms the animal.
These animals were not put in nature to jump through hoops or perform tricks, or to pose for pictures. These cats come from private owners who can't take care them anymore, zoos who think they are no longer beautiful enough to display to the public, and people who use them as cubs to take photos (who later dispose of them when the cubs are no longer small enough to handle, and simply get new cubs). Or just simply animals that need a home.
My last objective is to get the state of Wisconsin to make some legislation to protect these animals. Wisconsin is now one of five states left, that does not have laws regarding the ownership of large cats. Yes, that means that anyone in the state of Wisconsin can legally own one. What does that mean? All the people who have them in others states with legislation and can no longer have them there, they come here where there is no legislation. The bottom line is, my life is now dedicated to the big cats, and I will do whatever I can to save them.
Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue & Educational Center gives these cats a chance at a peaceful and happy life, and a chance for the public to learn about them, and the abuse that they endure elsewhere in captivity. This rescue is good for the community, it's families, and the cats. We are a federally licensed facility. Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you at Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue & Educational Center.
