In 2022, TCWR…
Rescued cats
In May, we rehomed a female African serval named Lexi. Her previous owners declawed her and only fed her cat food. She has proven to be a very brave serval and spends most of her time in her habitat.
In June, we rescued an unnamed female African lion from an abandoned facility in Oklahoma. She was in poor condition but quickly proved calm and friendly. She was given the name Lady, very fitting for her natural beauty.
In September, we rehomed a female bobcat named Santana. She was someone’s pet over in west Kansas. Sadly, she was declawed on her front 2 paws and was overweight. She is still a bit shy and enjoys her time in her night house building.
Lost loved ones
Willy – African Lion, 20 yo, male (March)
Heather – Orange tiger, 22 yo, female (April)
Daniel – African Lion, 18 yo, male (May)
Avalanche – Orange tiger, 16 yo, male (June)
Remington – White tiger, 6 yo, male (July)
Mani – Liger, 14 yo, female (September)
Whitney – Orange tiger, 21 yo, female (October)
Hurricane – Orange tiger, 17 yo, male (December)
Bobby – Bobcat, 23 yo male (December)
Built in-ground pools
In part of our ongoing efforts to give our cats the best lives they can have, we’ve been in the process of building in-ground pools. We have 21 pools funded for out of the 58 existing habitats. This year, we built four of our nine existing pools, and Aurora and Lakota were lucky to receive one of these new pools this spring. These two cats loved their pool over the summer, soaking in it, drowning their toys, or splashing around together.
Celebrated important milestones
This year, TCWR turned 30! As part of that celebration, and to honor the dedication and hard work of TCWR employees, the Eureka Springs mayor named May 1st, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge Day. We held a big celebration, bringing together many important people in TCWR’s history.
We also celebrated the 10th anniversary of our Mountainburg rescue, and the building of Rescue Ridge, our animal retirement home. Now, we don’t house any Mountainburg cats anymore, but their memories live on.
Speaking of Rescue Ridge, Ty the tiger, who resides there, turned 24, making him TCWR’s current oldest animal.
Another big celebration, cubs DOJ, Jinx, and Rosie turned 1 years old! Priscilla gave birth to them in May 2021 after the help of the Department of Justice being a part of her rescue. All three cubs were born with clubfoot and quickly underwent intense physical therapy in hopes that they could spend the rest of their lives running, playing, and stalking like normal tigers. TCWR is happy to be able to give them a safe forever home as they continue to grow and mature into adult tigers.
Big Cat Public Safety Act
This act has been a whirlwind of emotion! We were able to get the act passed from the House and into the Senate on July 29th. On December 6th, the act got passed from the Senate to the President of the United States! On December 20th, 2022 we got the most exciting news of the year, the President signed the act into a law!!! This now means that it is federally illegal to own a big cat like a lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard, cougar, cheetah, and any hybrid of these animals as pets. It also makes cub petting and pay to play programs with those said animals also illegal! This is a big win for True Sanctuaries and the Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance! We appreciate everyone who helped pass this act!
*Published by Clementine Mulvihill on 12/31/2022*