Posted on 02/02/2014 11:10:10 AM PST by Innovative
The 68-year-old man won’t dispute a suggestion that he likes cats more than he does people. He settled 23 years ago on 108 remote acres in Clay County, west of Bowling Green near Center Point. He built tall, fenced enclosures and took in three big cats.
Taft’s venture has since evolved into a not-for-profit organization with a $700,000 annual budget that barely covers costs. He offers refuge, food, respect and affection to 225 exotic cats that were exploited, confiscated, abandoned or abused.
The USDA criticizes Taft and his facility, but the federal agency also is engaged in business with him. Taft said dozens of the exotic cats living at his Clay County facility were placed there at the request of the USDA after the agency seized the animals and needed to find them homes.
The irony is not lost on Taft. He points out the window from a building that houses the center’s office.
“The six tigers in that cage right there, the four in the cage next to it, all from San Antonio, a place called the Wild Animal Orphanage. The USDA had us get them. They call me up and say, ‘Will you go to Springfield now to get a cat?’ Once, they wanted us to go to Miami County to get eight lions and tigers and crate two more for someone else to come get.” Taft gathered a crew, and they retrieved the cats.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
As the article says, there are problems, but then they aren't helping to place the cats into zoos.. just the opposite.
Kittyping (large “kitties”)
The Fed is notorious for asking banks to take over troubled banks, then raiding and shutting down the acquiring bank for the sins of the bank they asked them to acquire.
I guess Mr. Taft hasn't been paying attention to his government. Of course they are going to hurt the cats. They are going to put him out of business and kill those animals.
I don’t know a lot about the big cats, but I’ve always heard that lions and tigers require a lot of open space they cn call their own, especially the males. As the males gather more female lions for his group, perhaps that same need for marking territory will also increase. These animals are also very expensive to keep fed and healthy. They are probably encouraged to move around a little, exercise those joints. Elephants, the same way, they do love to eat, frequently and a lot.
One off topic item that got my attention was the story speaks of an Animal Control Officer, her name is Elizabeth Taylor. I’m sure she’s tired of park visitors making silly remarks about that. “I am NOT her! Okay?”.
Zoos are not corrals for animals, they are carefully constructed and managed "habitats" for each respective species.
As for big cats, you can't just rescue a tiger, or lion or leopard and put it in with an existing population because it would likely be killed.......
While they look warm and fuzzy like a cat, only bigger, they are wild and they will behave the way they have been wired to do if introduced into a zoo habitat........
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