...an aggressive attempt for food...

We are taught when we are young to always share with our neighbor, whether it is the kid sitting next to us or the person next door in need of a cup of sugar. We understand these concepts and eventually it just becomes part of our nature...to lend that helping hand. However, these ideas are not instilled in wild animals and by saying not, I mean sharing is something unheard of.

The cats are greedy. Have you ever watched your dog share their bowl of food? or even give their favorite bone to the pup next to them just to be nice? No, and big cats are not much different except for the size of the bite behind the growl and the animal behind the guarded object.

Food is one of the main things they will guard. Many of them do not like to share food or even be approached when food is in site. That is why I took advantage of the very angry lion, King, at feeding time. He is actually so food aggressive that his two cage mates, Jasmine and Lauren, have to be locked in the small part so he will not tear after them in a frantic panic assuming they will steal his food!

It is a daily routine. We drive down with our food-mobile, stop at the end of his enclosure, lock the girls in while he sits in the corner and grumbles like a Harley-Davidson traveling at a low speed. Once we give him his food he is fine, but until then....WATCH OUT!

King and his famous Harley grumble!

...only to live like royalty...

Every cat at the rescue center is special. They are treated with care, even far beyond that of many domestic house pets. Whatever they need it is there immediately, whether medication or surgery and even basics such as food or straw.

Many of our cats take medication daily, primarily for everyday health like vitamins, but many of them have aged to the point where medication is now just as important as an everyday meal. Prince was one of those cats.

Rescued from a circus in Peru, Indiana, Prince was one of nine tigers brought to the Rescue Center with memories of homes as small as a large dog kennel and abilities stretching further than roaring. Several of these cats came able to stand atop a telephone pole, all four paws. Others able to stand on their back two legs and walk in a circle. Cool to think about, but very sad when you realize the conditions of where these talents had come from. Could you imagine never being able to run?, to stretch out?, barely even walk? When you live in a circus cage and are only exercised for money and a cheering crowd, not only are the people at risk of an animal becoming aggressive from being caged, but also the cat in danger for their own life if they do turn on the crowd or their trainers. The circus is a dangerous life and defiantly not one fit for tigers: under nourished and poorly cared for.

Prince and Princess lived together on the West side of the center. Spending most of their days wallowing in a water tub, climbing a three tier tower, and lying in a box. No worries, screaming crowds, or small cages.

Cats have weird ways of passing on, many times disappearing to die alone or even hopping to a favorite place they haven't been able to reach for years. Unfortunately, last March Princess climbed the tower she hadn't conquered in years. Seeing that she was 18 years old, it was odd she pulled a stunt like this. As she reached the top, she had a stroke and passed away. Since her death Prince has never been the same.

They say that love separation is many times the hardest on animals and the stress of being alone will depress them to the point where they eventually pass as well. Prince was a prime example. He no longer went into the box which he once loved. He paced by day and from what we could tell never, NEVER, stopped walking. In all 20 years of life, Prince constantly walked.

In the past months Prince's health has steadily declined, his back legs unable to support his weight. We placed him on strong doses of Prednisone, an immunosuppresant that affects the immune system, many times used for kidney disease, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases...essentially a steroid. Just as with a pet at home, in the later years of their life you take into special consideration their pain, even the quality of life. The Pred, kept Prince walking (something he never stopped) and on his feet. The stagger he once had had ceased, his back legs supporting him again. When you take medications so often, they start to lose their kick and as with humans, Prince also had to take larger doses to keep him comfortable. His walk became a limp, the limp a stagger, and the stagger soon became a swagger to the point where walking a straight line was hard to do with out him dropping to the ground at least once.

Unlike Tish, Prince had no trouble eating and since he was taking a steroid, eating was something he loved to do most. He also continued regular excretion function.

Friday, Prince's health was falling fast, so was his back end. The spirit and life in his eyes had gone and his expressions were gray. He wasn't interested in his medication anymore and even struggled to visit us at the fence, something he once enjoyed doing. That afternoon we found Prince in Princess's side of the box, something he hadn't done in over a year. Motionless. Fred had already come to put him down, however, we feel Prince had the same idea. We poked his back side with a stick, hoping to rouse him from the box. Motionless. We saw him breathing, but no jump or reaction. We did tranquilize him just for precautions, no flinch, no movement, he just stayed still. He was ready.

It is always hard to put an animal down, but I believe it is harder to watch them suffer. At the end of their life you have to consider their comfort and the quality of life they are living, even if it does mean you have to assist them to the light.

...a day to play in the snow...

Lets just say that all cats are not the same when it comes to the enjoyment, the thrill, the excitement about a good January snow. The tigers LOVE the snow. It seems they just cannot get enough of it, running spasticallyaround and chasing each other, only to plow into the fluffy snow covered ground.

a fuzzy boy in the snow.

jackie the tiger!tiny Uluru in the snow! I was so excited a few weeks back when we got an overnight 4 inches...WOW was I shocked this past week with the sight I saw Wednesday morning. The weather had said all week that we were supposed to be getting a snow storm and that it was to be rather large. Tuesday it snowed around 4 inches, continuing with another inch of ice mid-afternoon and even into the evening when I went to bed. When I awoke the next morning I was shocked by the 12.9 inches that coated the ground, pathway, road, still blurring the air and sky outside the window. It was total silence outside, you would have thought Indiana had NEVER seen snow.

after a long days work in a foot of snow!

Back to the cats! Like I previously stated, the tigers love the snow. I would have to say that they are the only ones in the whole center. The lions trailed minimal paths that were followed throughout the day and even a week later are still the only prints in the cage. If they meet head-to-head one will back up until a spot is hit for them to pass on the path. Even the cougars that live in the snow don't come out! I plowed a path for Autumn, a cougar, so she would come out of her box! Leopards are the same when it comes to the snow, I think we may have entered every enclosure just to plow a path through the beast beneath!

above is another video of the Nine at feeding time, just to give a little action look at the snow!

...a grumbly, rumbly, roaring stomach...

Food. Probably one of the dirtiest parts of working at the EFRC. Yes, you can scoop poo, pick up maggot filled bones, even the occasional spray, but feeding is where most of the dirty work comes in.

Blood, guts, bones, and internal fluids can get messy, no less a bit smelly. I have learned not to take my clothes home with me. They stink, they are always wet with blood, rain, or snow, and frankly they are just too disgusting to deal with unless you plan an immediate laundry date.

So, butchering. Do you ever wonder how its done? What we use? How we section the animals into meals reasonable for every cat in the center? If so and if your stomach can handle it, go on and read ahead!

For the most part we feed out cow, horse,deer, or goat, but some cats eat only chicken which is processed, much the way we see it when we buy raw chicken from the store. The others, we butcher in our new building. Cows and horses, normally, come already deceased. Every once and a while they come alive and Bill, who drives to get most of our deceased livestock, will put them down humanely.

However, when we get them we move them into the barn and pull a metal rope around the back hoof of the animal. Typically the head comes off first since it allows the animal to drain most of its blood once gone. After the head, we cut off the back leg that is strung in the wire rope. The tension of the animals weight hanging allows a very clean and fast cut detaching the leg from the animal. We then take excess meat off the leg, cutting it down to a size that we can carry and use the chunks. Next is a front leg. We cut it the same as the back, except we leave the shoulder blade attached as well. We take the second front leg next and lastly pull the animal up by the last back leg. We do not take the leg off, instead we cut the chest cavity open and allow the guts (intestines, liver, heart, lungs, etc) to drop into the bucket of the Bobcat. We then take the guts to the compost where they decompose with the help of high temperatures and plenty of bacteria. Since the leg is still attached, we use this time to cut the ribs from the spine, the spine from the brisket, the brisket from the pelvic portion of the animal, and the pelvic from the last remaining leg. Once again, the tension of the animal upside down, allows fast and easy cuts. Butchering can take anywhere from 20-60 minutes for one animal.


The meat, whether on bone or in chunk, is taken into the cooler (approx 30x30 ft) where it waits to be fed out to the cats. We feed out approximately 3,000 pounds of meat a day an equivalent of 2-4 large animals. The meat in the cooler could be fed out immediately or up to a week later.

Front legs will typically be fed to one large cat (lion/tiger), back legs to two cat along with a chunk, and heads/pelvic/brisket to large groups with chunks for each additional cat. Ribs will be fed at random. Smaller cats eat chicken, small legs (calf/goat), or small chunks.
Some cats are fed only chicken. Unlike cow or horse which is red, chicken is white meat and has found to slow the rate of renal failure in cats. We have many old cats and a few with diagnosed renal failure, they eat only chicken. Others have allergies to red meat and can only eat white.

All in all, the process of feeding, even the butchering is well worth the smell, the dirt, the blood, and the grime. The cats need to eat. At the end of the day, looking back at what you have done, accomplished, and achieved, no snow, rain, cold, or heat could beat the gratification of happy cats.
Pictures: Top- Joe butchering
Bottom- meat in the cooler

...and now your local on the 8's...

beep beep beep, my alarm rings waking me from the deep depths of my dreams. Can I add what a treacherous sound that is to hear in the morning? I've actually changed to an alarm song, but anyways that doesn't matter.

I hit snooze, just as I do every other morning, and continue this snooze routine for another 20 minutes. I get up, make my oatmeal, and turn on channel 38.

OOOOO, seriously I am excited for the voice, I know its coming....YES!

'And now your local on the 8's'

For all you who do not know, the weather channel plays local weather on every 8 of the hour...say, 2:08pm, 2:18pm, 28, 38, so on. This has become a part of my morning I regret missing. See when you work outside 8-10 hours a day, weather is what you know, very important, highlights of conversation, your life....just something you DO NOT miss!

Most of what they say sounds like Charlie Browns mom on the Peanuts. 'Wwaat waat wat wat' I just gaze at the screen and mostly watch numbers that flash up and the radar slowly moving across Southern Indiana. Well this morning, lets say I almost choked.

'Waat waattt -11 degrees, high of 2, wind chill -20 waat waattt' I thought they were joking, perhaps a crude joke someone played to wake me out of my 7 hour slumber coma. Well it was no joke, the first step I took towards my car told me just that when my nostrils froze to my inner nose.

At work we do like cold weather. As I have said before, the cold bring cattle stampeding to the door, not alive of course, but hey!! we need the food! Today we only worked half the day, making sure to cover our whole body except a sliver of your eye to see what you are doing. We went inside every half hour to avoid frost bite and made sure we kept moving swiftly, briskly. Adding to this chill, we had 4 inches of snow! It was the most snow we have had all winter. Being the Mid-Westerner I am, I loved the snow. Just like the tigers I was excited for the white fluff, something I've missed all winter. The cats, minus the tigers, stay in their boxes and seldom came out to purr, ohm, or say hello. We didn't clean or pull bones like usual in any of the cages, the temperatures being too dangerous, even if you are used to cold weather.

Later in the week we would have work to catch up on, once the cold spree moved through. Lets just say, the 30 degrees it was on Friday...we cleaned. Do your math...if you have 6 tigers in an enclosure, each going to the bathroom 1-2 times a day, and we couldn't clean for 5 days....well that is around 30-40 large (very large) piles of poo and that is just one cage. With 191 cats....today is going to be a long day.

...squish...

Can you imagine an intestinal back-up so compacted that undergoing surgery would potentially pull out over 10 pounds of straw, fur, and food waste? Well, believe me it happens. Perhaps not to humans, but to a cat...why not?!

Tish had lived at the Rescue Center since 2000, when she came from an extreme situation in Pennsylvania of abuse, malnutrition, and unbearable conditions living among feces and rotting meat. She and her cage mate, Goldie, fit in well at the center with similar stories to many of the cats housed here.

Unfortunately Goldie passed a few years back, before my time at the Rescue Center, but Tish was still there when I arrived. Basking in the sun on the top level of her climbing tower, eyes closed and a small bit of her tongue sticking out the front of her mouth, she looked down at passer-byers as if she were a statue of noble grace and beauty. Of course she was all of that. She would often lie along the fence side waiting for keepers to come by, rub her side while she most appreciatively 'ohmed' with thanks. ('Ohming' is a friendly lion noise...sounds like...ooohhhmmm...)

This past summer, Tish was no longer excreting waste. Keepers would scour the grounds in hunt of even the smallest fecal sample hidden within the long summer grasses. However, it was never found and her appetite soon ceased as well. She was taken in for ultrasound and found that she had a massive back-up in her intestines.

During surgery, over 10 pounds of feces, straw, and fur were pulled from within her. It was also, most obvious, that she was suffering from pancreatic cancer....in humans a very fatal type of cancer leaving only but weeks to live. The pancreas controls enzyme function in the small intestine, helping to breakdown proteins, fats, and carbs. With little to no function, Tish was unable to breakdown her meals, thus severely clogging her up.

However, Tish came out of surgery in remarkable shape. Returning to normal conditions: eating, drinking, and excreting waste. She ran around her enclosure, played on her tower, and waited for the keeper scratches through the fence. We still hunted for her feces, but normally one (very large) pile was found daily...no worries. She soon found the nickname 'Squish' from being so compacted with squish material.

In late December we had a harder time finding her feces...when we did they once again had straw and lots of fur in it. We started finding random piles of vomit as well and worried Tish may have fallen back into her summer ways....compacted because of pancreatic function. She would take her food, but the next day we would pull it out of her house untouched. We knew with her age (approx. 15) she would not be able to undergo another surgery nor would it be fair to keep her alive knowing her pancreas was slowly shutting down.

She ended up not interested in food and quit drinking water. She stayed in her box most of the day, seldomly coming out. She would 'ohm' when we called her name, just to let us know she was there, but the rubs not as important as they once were. Vomiting was a daily routine.

Unfortunately, this past Wednesday we had to put Tish down. Although sad, her life lived at the rescue was nothing short of fabulous, relaxing, and loving. A necropsy (autopsy for animals) will be performed to see the cause of death, although we expect nothing less than failure of her pancreas and another back-up just like the one this summer. She will be cremated, her ashes returning to the center just as every cat before her. Like it says on the website, the Rescue Center provides permanent homes for big cats.

...a young squish on her tower...

...a big cat new year...

And so the new year has 'roared' in with the cats! I suppose they all stayed up until midnight anticipating the ball drop in New York City and, of course...of course, went wild when 2009 had finally arrived!

Thus far, the new year looks to be a good one. The cooler is extremely full, seeing that we received over 30 large animals in the past week...the big cats will be eating well again!


We have had a food shortage, which I have been told is weird for this time of year, considering the wide spread pneumonia pandemic should literally be sending livestock to the center in herds. The weather has been very warm, then dropping and rain, followed by sun. Just bazaar. However, the animals have stampeded to our door the past week, filling the cooler and the bellies of the 191 big cats at the center.


*all 'roaring in the new year' pictures provided by EFRC website

...a big cat holiday...

...rhyme to twas the night before christmas...

Twas the holiday season and all through the rescue,
The cats were all roaring and chuffing a few.
Their bellies were full with large meaty meals,
In hopes that all days would give such full feels.

The leopards were snug curled up in their straw,
The tigers all resting not raising a paw.
The cougars in boxes, the bobcats in cedar,
The Christmas decor, it couldn't have been neater.

When out in the center there rose such a clatter,
All the lions started fussing expressing the matter.
Away to the fence line, the tigers they dashed,
Servals went running as if lightning just flashed.

The moon shining bright on the midnight dew grass,
Gave luster of feeding as if the gator would pass.

When what to the cats wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight giant reindeer.
With a little old driver so lively and real,
In a moment they thought 'an eight Christmas deer meal!'

How excited they were, the cats acting tame,
They roared, chuffed, and growel each willing name.
Come to Ula, no to Pecha, to Lester, or Max,
Those deer look tasty, just look at those rax (racks)!

But they didn't land here fore Santa gave whistle,
And away from the center like down of a thistle.
But they heard him exclaim as he made them a deal,
Merry Christmas to all, and tomorrow a huge meal!

...peek-a-boo with tony...

I went to visit those crazy young cats we just moved, Oti and Tony. They are right near the front gate so just a jaunt away from where we put on new gloves.

They both greeted me with loud chuffs and nuzzling against the fence, acting as though they hadn't had human contact in years! Chuffs, by the way, are a greeting tigers do when they are saying 'hey! whats up!' It is a friendly greeting, very hard to explain....kind of sounds like 'fuh-fuh-fuh-fuh' really fast, no voice, just air sound. Anyways, these guys are so nice and since they used to be the focal point of visitors walking in the gate, their new enclosure does not allow them to see as many people as they used to.

So I greeted them back and scratched their faces through the fence. Oti walked away and into their box. Tony, however, proceeded to walk behind his climbing tower and peeked over. He bent his ears down, even with his head, and peered over the tower. I could only see the top of his fluffy noggin and just a smidgen of his amber colored eyes.

I knew what this meant. A lot of cats at the center LOVE to play peek-a-boo, so I thought to myself maybe Tony does too and we just never knew because there is obviously no where to hide in a circus cage, especially when you are a 400 pound cat! What we do, for all the cats who will play, is go up to the fence (just like with little kids) and say 'Where is Tony?! Where could he be....TONY!!' Then normally the cat will jump from where they are hiding and barrel into the fence, chuffing the whole way to you. It really is quite cute!!

So I did just that. I took a step from the door and turned around pretending to be looking for him....his eyes just following me.

I saw his head raise up.

I turned around....he ducked down just peering.

I looked the other way....he raised his head up again.

I pretended to leave.

Tony jumps over the climbing tower and rams into the fence.

Greeting me with nothing more than a LOUD chuff!

It was so cute. You almost expected him to be wagging his tail, tongue hanging out, and smiling with delight, as if he were a dog.

chuff. chuff. chuff.

tony....in the old cage before peek-a-boo!

...oti & tony, homeward bound...

Oti (2) and Tony (3) are two tigers waiting eagerly for a new enclosure! The rescue center received a phone call Labor Day regarding a black leopard (Majae) who needed a new home. On arrival, Joe (owner of the center) decided we would not only rescue Majae, but a lion (Kira), a cougar (Cody), and two tigers (Oti & Tony). ...oti relaxing in the old cage...

The conditions these animals were in was the worst the rescuers had seen in years, if ever. The cages were small, the floor covered in rotted and decaying carcasses, so decayed it was hard to tell what they were given to eat in the first place. Their water bowls were dry with dust on the bottom, evidence they had not received water in days.

Although badly starved and severely dehydrated, the owner of the cats seemed to not be alarmed as she parked her BMW in the driveway, neglecting to fill the several dry dishes outside.

Rescues like these are very heart-felt, it really makes you proud of helping these cats. They have all since been fattened up with proper diets and several medicated, even gone through surgery. Cody went to a sanctuary in Minnesota, but Kira, Majae, Oti, and Tony still reside at the center, however, Oti and Tony are still awaiting their new enclosure!

Can you believe it takes anywhere from $15-20,000 for initial cage costs!? Not including the time it takes to build one and all the donated supplies from friends of the rescue center! On Wednesday, their wish came true, and although we had to play musical cats, they finally received their new home!

It was a long day of trying to shift four cats into new enclosures. Seminole and Santasia had to come out of a temp cage and into a brand new one...Seminole shifted easily, jumping immediately into the circus cage and driven 1/4 mile to his new home, Santasia was a different story. It took her 3 hours to get into the circus cage! When we finally did move her she was so distressed, but very, VERY happy to be back with Seminole and to meet new neighbors (a couple of lions and a group of 8 frisky tigers!).

It took 6 of us to roll Oti & Tony (already living in a temporary circus cage) to their new site and we opened the door.....THEY SHOT OUT! They jumped right out and ran around their small, but better than a cage, new temp home. They played with their boomer ball, jumped on their tower, and ran after each other. It was AWESOME to see them running and playing....well worth the wait!

...the nine...

Since my blog is about my big cat experiences, I will follow the outline of my previous posts and stick with....big cats!

'The Nine', as we call them, are a group of nine tigers all in one huge enclosure, fully furnished with 2 1/2 boxes, an electrical spool, and a pond! They are from several different rescues, but because of their young and close ages when they arrived, they ended up together as well

This is one of my favorite groups to feed just because they create so much commotion before being fed! They moan and they groan and they chuff....sounding more like a herd of cows than a group of tigers! They climb around on their boxes and even play a game of leap-frog, jumping over each other to see who can get out first to get the 'big thing'.

The big thing is the large part of the meal. With large groups,like The Nine, they will get a big thing and several small chunks strewn about their enclosure, making sure that every cat at least gets one chunk. However, a chunk is probably 3 times the size of a normal dinner pot roast for us!

The nine are all very different. You might think all tigers look the same or even how we tell them apart. Well, their stripes are like finger prints...no two humans have the same fingerprint, thus no tiger has the same stripe pattern. Many of them are big (really big) and many are smaller. Some are timid and some are aggressive, some are very lovable and others would just like to 'eat you for dinner'.

Anyways, The Nine include: Beaker, Rose, Taj, Denkum, Jesse, Emily, Pda and two others....it is really hard to know their names and which cage they belong to!

So today I took a movie of The Nine exiting the shoot to get food!...this is what I like to call a good game of leap-frog!

...oh the lions!...

So I have come to the conclusion that the lions are definitely, DEFINITELY, not my favorite breed of cats. Sure they are pretty and noble looking, but many are just rotten! I have not met one yet that I can say I like.

Sure I feel terrible looking at their scars from previous owners or their short legs, stubbed down by deformities from malnutrition, but sometimes I just wish that they would take a little more consideration into what the workers feel...ha, never going to happen.

I would say there are, hmmm, give or take 40ish lions at the rescue center. And I ask no questions why they are there, because you can surely tell why one would never want to keep them as a pet! WHY?!

Clancey is very annoying, always trying to stalk you and being more than difficult to shift sides (especially for females...he really dislikes girls!). Rake, is so food aggressive he never thinks twice about whapping one of his 5 harem lionesses. King is nice, until he decides he doesn't want to be. Tao is just obnoxious. Of course these are the males, but frankly...the females are no better example!

Rappie sounds like some sort of machine, loud semi-truck, harley revving lion. That is just her normal breathing. When you look at her she rumbles, her breath taking a misty, fog state and blows into your face. The Southern Belles, a group of 7 lionesses, are so slow and spoiled. They always stick their paws out of the smallest cracks and try to paddle your leg with their claw paws....a paddle, by the way, is like getting hit with force by a boat paddle, not just an easy stroke through the water.

I'd have to say Kisa, would be the closest one that I like. She lives with Max, a male tiger...one of the largest at the center (about 600 pounds). She loves to have rubs through the fence, but will get very upset when Max comes to get some attention too. She roars her stinky breath in his face. It is so funny to see 600 pound Max shrug back and jump away from this neurologically impaired Kisa!

I am sure a lot of their temperment is because they are lions and tend to be more aggressive and territorial in the wild. Many of these traits also show when they are in captivity.

It really is amazing, the noises these beautiful cats make. When they roar, when the growl, even when they grumble, it rattles your chest. It seriously vibrates all your insides. I would say it is something everyone should experience once...hearing all the commotion that is!

I do like the lions: the roars, their mane, the prides they form. I suppose I should just be more specific in saying I just do not enjoy their attitudes.

parker & tao

.

rake & wedge (2 lions)
king

...the grim reaper at the foot of my bed...

Well, he wasn't here to take me away.
And in fact, I didn't even see him, just smelled him.

You may ask what exactly I am talking about...well what I mean is...
....it is laundry day!!!....

See my clothes reek. As I have previously stated, I work with big cats. I clean up their poop, feed them raw meat, and also help/assist/haul butchered meat....along with the occasional tiger spray or gutting incident. This job is messy and, as you can guess, extremely fragrant when I arrive home.

Laundry is a job. Cleaning your clothes everyday is pointless, especially when they are going to get just as dirty and smell the same everyday. Nine layers of clothes: underarmor, then tight longsleeve, tank top, tshirt, long sleeve loose tshirt, tighter non-hooded sweatshirt, fleece, hooded sweatshirt, and vest are a lot to wash day after day. Yes...the smell seeps to the very bottom layer too!

So what I do is take the nasty, dirty layer off at work and leave it in the single wide trailer (where everyone else does too) to let them dry and wear my other eight layers home, separate them, and let them air out a little. I wear the under layers for about a week and the top layers for 3-4 days depending on how stiff the caked on mud/blood/gut juice/dry water is on my pants...you have to have some mobility!

I didn't used to leave my clothes at work. I actually used to put them on the chair in my room. They smell awful and when I said the grim reaper was at the foot of my bed, I actually meant that my clothes smelled dead. I now only put my layers in my room, right next to my air freshener. Problem solved.

Anyway, today I did laundry since I got the day off. You wouldn't believe it but my clothes actually come out almost spotless! Seriously, Tide does wonders!

believe it or not this was 2 day wear on the pants and only one on the sweatshirt.

...communicate through roars...

So around here there is always something to talk about. Lions are always roaring...one roars and the rest roar all around the rescue center. It is pretty cool...I really like being part of all the fuss...

This week was busy. Tuesday was a long day (probably pushing 10 hours!) and was full of feeding, cleaning, putting up christmas decor around the main path, and many animals for butchering. Every other day has been just as long...8:30 am - 6ish pm.

About this butchering...I wasn't so keen on this in the beginning...swearing up and down (to myself, of course) that I would not help with the process. Number one reason, when the chest cavity is cut open it smells just rotten (seriously, your head is right there and I would rather not be shot in the face is steamy, moist air). When I say rotten, I mean like stagnant, old sweet corn, mixed with chewed cud, digested intestinal air that really puts a gumball size knot in your throat. However, Ive gotten used to this smell (even without having to use vicks to mask the smell). Second, I guess it just took some time for me to realize that we were not killing these animals. They die from natural causes (pneumonia, cancer, age, weather) and if they were not used as meat for the cats they would probably just be buried and decompose in some field pit with other cows. It helps that you never see them alive. But today...today we got 13 animals in to butcher! Although it sounds morbid, it is really great we have so much food for the cats! The weather has been warm, then cold, then rain, then cold which makes farmers cows and horses just keel over. Butchering is actually quite interesting. Ive gotten to see a lot of anatomy. Really BIG anatomy. The size of a draft horse liver...HUGE! Lungs of a bull...HUGE! You just have to get used to it, take a deep breath and hope for an exhale, not an upchuck.

Besides that, I stepped in some cow poop (which really stunk), gave all 191 cats meds, wiped out on a cow leg in the cooler, and picked up a whole load of guts off the floor and held them in the bobcat so we could dump them in the compost....never really held up guts before, but it was defiantly something new and experience worthy. Gotta say this is no job for the weak at heart, squirmy stomached, or slacker.

Our favorite cougar Cody left on Tuesday...he was rescued with a group of 5 other cats and was claimed by a sanctuary in Minnesota. It was sad to see him leave since he has been living in the building since labor day. Every time you went near him he purred so loudly it sounded like a truck. He also LOVED to be pet and rubbed! It is awesome being able to pet a big cat.....something Ive dreamed of my whole life! Simply amazing.

A leopard, Angle (angel), also passed away this week. She passed on her own, without euthanization. She was very skinny and had had a very hard life previous to the rescue center. Atleast she was comfy in a warm straw bed, with a huge chunk of meat in front of her.

close up of cody!

cody relaxing.

...and it begins...

Well, we left on time....
Perfectly packed by Don.
Eight hours later, dinner, cars unpacked, room set up...
....and I'm alone.....

First days are boring. Settling in and finding a spot for all my warm clothes, is redundant. Grocery shopping the same in every town, city, and state around. I mapped out my stomping ground and set up my internet/cable tv (hey! no cable at home and slow net...sure its one of the first things i did!!!) A slow and relaxing day in a schedule that would become very demanding, cold, and llllooonnnnng.

I don't work Mondays, every other day give and take. But Tuesday was great. My first day was cold and rainy but ultimately all of what I had expected: dirty, wet, cold, and SPECTACULAR! It consisted of hauling a lot of meat to the near 200 'big' cats at the rescue center: tigers, lions, cougars, servals, ocelets, bobcats, lynx, etc. Let me tell you, cleaning enclosures is a sinus clearer.

There is a baby at the center, a baby serval. He is very cute and very fluffy...looks more like a baby cheetah rather than a serval. I can't wait until we can play with him. For now he is bottle fed and kept away from keeper staff so he doesnt get any infections before he is vaccinated.

here is the new boy with jean.