Who was this beautiful tabby?

I drove to work today because I have an appointment with the the creative team at the mall about the space they are giving us.  I saw a cat in the road on Northbridge, so I pulled over to pick him up.  As I was digging around to find a bag and gloves (I carry for this specific purpose) I see a woman pull over on the other side of the road, where the cat laid.  She’s screaming at people to slow down because we live in a Latin neighborhood and even though the speed limit is 30 I swear they are usually doing 60 through there.  I don’t ever remember a time when someone else stopped to help.

 

She asked what I was going to do with the cat and I told her that I’m from Big Cat Rescue and that I’d see to it he was cremated with our other beloved cats who pass on.  She noticed that he looked like he’d just been hit, but he was in a huge pool of still wet blood and was definitely dead.  As I cradled him I noted how gorgeous his fur and what excellent condition he was in.  This was someone’s beloved pet and probably had just escaped.  He was an intact male, so I’m guessing nature called to him and he made a run for it.  He had no idea what to expect out here.  Tonight someone may well be calling his name, but he won’t respond and they will probably never know what happened.

 

Part of me thinks I should post his fate on a pole nearby, but part of me thinks that may be worse than not knowing.  

 

Later in the day:  I sent this to Haley, Joyce and Patrick at the mall.

 

Great meeting you guys today and if helpful to your process, I'm happy to tour you around the sanctuary.  You can bring friends or family so you can observe how other's are impacted by the stories of the cats we've rescued.  My contact info is below and I'm here 7 days a week, so I usually only need a day's notice.

 

Our primary goal is to end cub petting, as that drives the vast majority of breeding, abusing and discarding of big cats.  None of the cats bred for this purpose serve any conservation value because they are all cross bred and inbred.  The latter is because of the public's fascination with white tigers which only comes from severe inbreeding.

 

The primary message we want to get across in this space is that cub petting, or paying to see cubs on display, is what is actually causing their extinction in the wild.  The cubs aren't taken from the wild.  They are all bred in captivity, but it is the glut of last year's cubs (about 200 per year conservatively) that stimulates demand for their parts, which results in more poaching for tigers in the wild.

 

This is our animated explainer video that cub petting is causing the extinction of the tiger:

https://youtu.be/QFn8mwD757s

 

It's gotten about 15,000 views in the past 2 weeks on YouTube and 368,000 views on Facebook.  Reading the comments gives you some insight as to the effect it is having.  https://www.facebook.com/bigcatrescue/videos/2246856182261587/UzpfSTEwMDAxMjI3MTcxNDc1MTo2MjE0MzEzMjQ5NDI1ODY/?q=shocking%20truth%20about%20cub%20petting&epa=SEARCH_BOX

 

It's a tough message to get across without traumatizing animal lovers, but I think we've found the right balance in this piece to make the case.  Showcasing this video in a way that people can both see and hear it would make the best use of the space for our mission.

 

Our ultimate goal is that people stop paying to see and play with cubs so that places like Big Cat Rescue don't need to exist to clean up the mess.  Our federal bill will be re introduced soon as the Big Cat Public Safety Act, and I think it can pass this session.  It bans cub petting and private ownership of lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and cougars. That will fix 99.9% of the problem.  Getting people to call their member of Congress is where we are focusing most of our attention at BigCatAct.com and I mentioned that we can make one of the coupons that appears on people's phones, after watching the VidPicAR app video, be "Text CATS to 52886" and it sends people down that path to making the call, but dialing the number for them and giving them a script to say.  Try it and you'll see what I mean.

 

If you go to ARzoo.me it redirects to our page at https://bigcatrescue.org/ar-zoo/ where you can use the VidPicAR app to look at the images on the page and see the videos that pop up.  It also explains how revolutionary this concept is and makes you guys the leaders in bringing it to the Americas.  We have created these two posters, for our onsite gift shop, that are 24 inches high and 43 inches wide.  That seems to be a pretty good size for a person standing in front of the image to be able to observe the video, even if more than one person is trying to do so at the same time.  That 16:9 aspect ratio for the poster also coincides with the optimal size and shape of the video.

 

We'd like to have 12 interactive posters.  They all use the same VidPicAR app.  It just plays a different video, based on the image the phone is pointed toward. Afton, our videographer is gathering footage for about 1 minute each, for each species, and we were thinking to do 12 (of 35) species of wild cats.  Because of the potential for overlap of sound, I was thinking to limit the audio on the species videos with just that cat's sounds and ambient noises (birds, splashing, paper tearing if the cat is playing with enrichment, etc.)  I like the idea of information signs, but one reason zoos are such pathetic places for learning is that less than 27% of visitors actually read the signs.  It may work better in this space as parents are just bored out of their minds while their kids play.  If you use the VidPicAR app to look at the Blue Apron image attached, you can see how we can make a window to an outside world in the graphic on the wall, or not, depending on how we want the video to load. (free floating or pinned in place).

 

As I walked into some of your other spaces, like MOSI, when it was open, I didn't know what I was supposed to do.  I didn't know if there was a fee to pay or some expectation, so I'd like it to be very clear to people that everything inside this space is free to do.  Maybe even tying it to the message like, "Everything here is free for you to experience, because all wild cats should live free."  Having it open all the time and created in a way that is hard to damage, would reach the most people possible.  I'm hiring someone to work weekends and maybe Friday nights.  When the space is manned, I'd like to offer people the chance to see our cats in 360 by trying on our six Oculus Go headsets.  (Only for people 13 and up according to Oculus' warning though) This will be free too.  We have dozens of great videos they can choose from a list and we are having a CGI tiger built right now for an even more immersive look at a tiger up close.  It should be ready by the time the space is.

 

This is screen grab of the main cub character from the animated video.  I can have the artist do more versions of him for the space if needed.

 

We would be willing to invest in a large screen TV and some of the decor to make the most of this space.  Below are a few vendors I've been looking at for bamboo trim, thatching, etc.  Most of the wild cat species are from tropical, forested climates.  Only the snow leopard, Canada lynx and Siberian lynx come from colder regions.  You can't go wrong with ferns, vines, bamboo and greenery.

 

Thank you again for this opportunity.  My hope is that zoos see this as the wave of the future and begin converting their spaces from prison cells to interactive places of real learning.  Sorry if there are typos in this.  I had to bang it out before doing a tour.

 

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