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Liz and I visited a big cat rescue near McIntosh. They did not allow pictures of the wild animals for security reasons.

http://expeditionsandadventures.blogspo ... escue.html

That would be really neat to see!

How very neat ... although I have tears over the stories, none of which surprised me. That said, I wish there were pictures, but certainly understand their reasoning. However, were they doing anything wrong, you know someone, somehow would be taking pics and posting them. I'm glad you and Liz went on the tour.

Very interesting, thanks.

There is a place near Jacksonville I once visited called the Catty Shack that rescues big cats and does allow pictures. They are not open every day of the week, but it was an interesting visit I took two years ago. One of the big tigers recognized a keeper and hid behind a big toy and then jumped out at him playfully.

With the circus closing, I imagine they will be having difficulty placing all the animals.

I'm sure everyone has seen the video of Christian the Lion, but just in case not, it's pretty amazing. Long story short, two guys bought a lion cub and raised it. When it finally got too big, they took him to a rehab reserve in Africa where he was introduced back into the wild. Quite sometime later, they went back to see if they could see him, knowing from the reserve officer that he had, in fact, re-integrated. He had, but he was still near the reserve. They went out and called him. This is what happened when Christian saw them. (There's a whole documentary on youtube but this is just the reunion part.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqhJuwUukX8

That reunion was certainly powerful. They don't forget love. Thanks for that.

Beth, the enclosures were well thought out and provided spacious play areas, especially for the tigers and lions. Everything was washed down and clean and the animals all appeared healthy and well fed. They were however locked in enclosures and that unfortunately is enough for some of the AR extremists.

BirdbyBird wrote:Beth, the enclosures were well thought out and provided spacious play areas, especially for the tigers and lions. Everything was washed down and clean and the animals all appeared healthy and well fed. They were however locked in enclosures and that unfortunately is enough for some of the AR extremists.

True. I hope you understood that I followed your writing and their reasoning. I just know the extremists get in and manage pictures somehow anyway. Right or wrong.

I bet that it was very interesting
sad in many ways but interesting how neat it is that there are
some who are trying to provide for them so that they are as healthy and safe as they can be
sheila

Beth, I understand. Liz and I both thought it was interesting that, though they had signs posted all over the place and the tour guide did tell us we could take pictures for personal use only...nothing could be put out on social media. She then proceeded to go out of her way to help most everyone get close shots of many of the cats with their phones..... So both Liz and I couldn't figure out how they expected to control where all these "photos just for personal use" were actually going.

I did take some nice pictures of the cats but in all truthfulness they are just pictures of some beautiful tigers and a couple bears and monkeys. Most of us have seen these animals at zoos, etc. or have seen professional photographs and videos of these animals from the wild. I decided that the pictures were not what the story of the rescue was all about..... I mean they have a web site with pictures and their address and directions on it.