Three Orphaned Cougar Cubs
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After our regular staff meeting on Friday, October 14th, Scott pulled Jamie and Carole aside to ask them to consider a rescue. We have to turn away hundreds of exotic cats each year, and every one of them is deserving of rescue, so what was it that Scott thought might make these cats the lucky ones?
He relayed a message from a woman in Idaho named Mady who was a licensed rehabilitate. A mother mountain lion had been shot by a hunter leaving her two week old kittens orphans. Mady had called and emailed because she had been given temporary custody of three cougar cubs by Idaho's Fish and Game Department and three weeks to find them a home in a zoo or to euthanize them. The idea of these magnificent creatures ending up in a zoo where they would be bred for generation after generation of imprisoned animals was more than she could bear.
She visited our web site and was asking herself if death might be more humane than life in a cage but before she made such a decision she asked that one of us call her. After more than twenty years in her business of rescuing, rehabbing and releasing native wildlife she was no stranger to tough choices, but this one was particularly hard. Because Idaho does not allow big cats to be rehabbed and released they could never go free. If the choice was made for them to live in an accredited sanctuary then how would their sacrifice (life in a cage) be used to stop their kind from enduring persecution by man?
Several emails and phone calls later it was decided that the cubs would come to Big Cat Rescue because we can make their story known. Our supporters are active in trying to change the laws that allow animal suffering. These three little orphans are symbolic of why we write letters, donate our time and do all that we do.
Plans are currently underway to send Big Cat Rescue's President, Jamie Veronica and Operations Manager Scott Lope to pick the babies up. Florida's Wildlife Commission has supplied us with the proper paperwork for their transfer, and being advised of the situation has said they will permit the transfer into the state. We would like to fly the cubs in to minimize their time on the road, but won't put them in cargo and are looking into the possibility of carrying them on a commercial carrier or for the donation of the use of a private jet. Funds will be needed to neuter and spay them so that they can live together. The big expense will be a Cat-a-tat sufficient to house all three of them for life. They lost their mother and their birth right to be free. They should never have to lose each other.
See the video here:
or more details see Rescue News Cubs page.
2004 Rescue of Lion and White Tiger click HERE.
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