"No Pictures Allowed" That is what Liz and I found when we arrived for our tour of a big cat rescue near McIntosh. Anyone who has read information about the antics of the extreme so called "Animal Rights" groups realizes that there are organizations (or crazy people) that even quality rescue groups need to protect themselves from. I know at dog shows we always have to keep out eyes and ears out for the AR folks and their strange ideas of what is good for our dogs.
"EARS" is a rescue group that offers tours twice a week. They have 24 tigers, 2 lions, 1 ligers, a couple panthers, a bobcat, some monkeys, three bears, some domestic cats and two dogs that wander the property and don't even bother coming around to see the visitors.
The animals were beautiful. The cats particularly. The stories behind each animal were the most interesting and sobering part of the tour.
Many of the cats are rescued after their usefulness as "Picture Babies" has passed. Picture babies are those cute cubs that are used with tourists to offer an opportunity for a photo opportunity with a beautiful cute baby cub. According to the tour guide this practice is legal most everywhere until the animal weighs more than 40 pounds. Many of the cubs at that time are euthanized or starved. I know that I have read that in Africa many of the young cubs used for these tourist photo opts are then sold to game farms where hunters can pay to come and hunt them down. A few of the youngsters here in the states have found their way to rescues such as EARS.
A couple of their rescue family arrived from private homes. You know those folks that think keeping it is a wonderful thing to own their own grown tiger until they pass away and the wife doesn't think she can or wants to handle it anymore.
Several of the monkeys were taken from individuals that spent hundreds of dollars for their monkey but then did not bother to apply or get a permit to keep a monkey. They then lost both their monkey and their money. Two of the bears came from another rescue group. The cubs had been rehabilitated and released back into the wild. When they returned to check on the three sisters 24 hours later as required, one sister had already died. So they took it as a rehabilitation failure and the remaining two sisters found a home at EARS. The third and male bear at the rescue had been found with its mother repeatably raiding trash cans. Mother bear was shot but the out cry from the public saved baby bear and he was sent to EARS.
The bobcat was also kept with a private family until the older woman was hospitalized and kept rambling on while in the hospital about her beautiful bobcat. Calls were made and sure enough she had an adult bobcat at the house. The tour guide mentioned that though tigers and lions can sometimes be raised from babies and learn some manners around humans, bobcats remain very wild and very unpredicable no matter how young they were brought into the world of humans. The bobcat was pacing in her enclosure and the guide said that she only does than when her friend and companion, a black domestic cat, takes a walk about around the grounds. The domestic cat goes in and out between the bars at will but always comes back to stay with her bobcat friend at the end of the walks.....
I am not a wild cat.....but I am a cat. Enough said. Cat people will understand.
And at the end of the day there is still time to relax out on the water before sunset.....
Just few photos from sitting out in front of the campground before paddling back.
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