It was great meeting with you at Synapse.  I'd love to introduce you to the 59 lions, tigers and other wild cats who call Big Cat Rescue home, any time you are in the area.

 

I wonder if there is some collaboration possible with your students?  I'm looking for AR 3D modelers and though I can't pay a lot, we have 2.5 million Facebook fans and over 700,000 YouTube subscribers so we can offer new talent a huge platform.

 

Our mission is to end the practice of keeping big cats in cages.  Zoos claim people won't save what they don't love and that they won't love what they can't see.  That thinking brought us to the precipice of extinction for most exotic cat species, so I think we need to find a new way for people to learn how amazing big cats are, why they are important to the survival of the forests, and thus save our own species.

 

I've stockpiled many terra-bytes of 360 video of the cats on AWS and am adding to that all the time.  I don't know anything about AR development; other than the fact that I know I need someone who does.

 

Caryn asked if her students could work remotely, to which I responded:

 

I think most of the work can be done remotely as any actual filming could only be done by my staff or regular volunteers, given the dangerous nature of the subjects.  I just gave you a link to the footage I've been stockpiling and I have a lot more to add.  I've made it all open to the public on AWS so you should be able to download whatever your students want to work on from there, if you decide to get involved.

 

The Westfield Citrus Park Mall is thinking about giving us Sunglass Hut's space when they move to a bigger one. We will be able to have graphics on the exterior windows of the space and a television running our videos, just like we have now at the mall. This time we can also use the interior of the space.  We are thinking of calling it the Free VR Zoo where everything you do there is free, because all wild cats should be. We are working on an augmented reality experience (see http://vidpicar.com/) and will have our VR goggles there so people can watch our 360 videos.

 

I think it could legitimately be marketed as the first VR Zoo in the U.S. (China opened the very first VR zoo in January) even with the very limited AR experience of having our oversized cat posters come to life as people hold their phones in front of them.  I bought the URL VR-Zoo.com in anticipation of this being something we could franchise across failing malls all over the U.S.  Westfield is desperate for foot traffic, even though they are one of the newest and largest malls in Tampa.

 

I don't know what I don't know, and that's where I'm hoping you come in.  I know nothing about what is currently available, except that most of what I have found is pretty primitive when it comes to wildlife.  I think there is much more we can do in VR and AR to engage people with wild cats in a way that zoos will adopt as a model going forward.  There are 233 AZA zoos who are facing public scrutiny about the legitimacy of keeping apex predators captive, and they won't want a sanctuary to get out there ahead of them, so I really think this can create a big buzz and a lot of potential jobs for people who are on the leading edge of VR and AR creation.

 

Thanks for considering this.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  These are my views and opinions. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.  Closing graphic with permission from https://youtu.be/F_AtgWMfwrk