August 2: St. Petersburg and Tampa

Dear Friends and Relatives,

This morning was leisurely, as all of us had not only a healthy breakfast, but Nancy and I also walked and did a good yoga workout.  It all galvanized us for our afternoon activity in Tampa, the Big Cat Rescue.  The mission of this organization is to provide the best home they can for the cats in their care, end abuse of big cats in captivity, and prevent extinction of big cats in the wild.

The Rescue’s goal is for their donors to find their gifts to the Rescue to be among the most satisfying they make by accomplishing the Rescue’s mission in the most financially responsible manner possible. 

The only way to visit the cats is on a pre-paid and pre-reserved guided tour.  Tours fill up quickly, and the size of our group was about 15 people.  In a way, it was distressing to see these cats and contemplate the sometimes horrendous stories that brought them to this place. The number one cause of abuse is the practice of posing with big cats and their cubs because it creates a flood of discarded cats that serve no conservation value and end up dead or in conditions that are often even worse.  

The Cat Rescue is home to lions, tigers, tigers, bobcats, cougars, servals, caracals, jaguars and other species, most of whom have been abandoned, abused, orphaned, saved from being turned into fur coats, or retired from performing acts.  The cats are here for a variety of reasons.  Some were abandoned by owners who wrongly thought they would make good pets.  Others were abused by owners in order to force them to perform.  Still others are retired from performing acts or are saved from being slaughtered to make fur coats. 

The most important thing we can do is to make our legislators aware of the importance of saving these beautiful animals by enacting legislature in their favor.  

Besides seeing some of the animals closeup, we also saw about 15 new kittens who had been rescued and were tumbling among each other—the cuteness factor was immense!  Although it had rained like mad when we first arrived, the weather cleared sufficiently and, in spite of the immense humidity and slogging through residual puddles, it was a marvelous experience.

At home, we had a lovely supper, and then Nancy and I watched “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” by Tennessee Williams.  Nancy is now planning the activities tomorrow, which include a heritage village and a sunken garden as well as dinner by the seashore tomorrow evening.  Looking forward to it.  

See today’s photos on Facebook.  As ever, SV