A look ahead to 2020
2020 is a big construction year for our future Animal Care & Education Center. 
The Animal Care and Education Center is the future of The Wildcat Sanctuary and will provide an important platform for our mission – to help more animals and educate more people.
With your support, this new multi-use building will serve our cats through all stages of their lives. It will also be a place to teach those who can help make a difference the realities of the captive wildlife crisis.
You can be a part of it at: bit.ly/TWSACC
New Animal Care & Education Center
We’ll be breaking ground this spring on this multi-purpose building.
- Veterinary hospital with equipment, lab, pharmacy and surgery
- Rescue Bay for recovery area, transport and rescue equipment
- Surgical observation suite for 12, with closed circuit TV
- Open-space lobby with mission-driven educational displays for use by volunteers and interns, as well as conference space
- Break/Refuel room for staff, interns and volunteers
- Distance Learning Lab for media and outreach team to educate schools and groups off-site via
skype and satellite - Education space for training animal care interns, staff, AmeriCorps and visiting veterinary students and externs
- Quiet room for grieving, 1-on-1 meetings, mentoring and private space
- Collaboration and workspace for caretakers and animal care interns
- Overnight quarters for emergency animal care staff and veterinarians
- Staff offices and meeting rooms
- Reflection porch for staff, donors and volunteers; includes a catio for office cats
- 2nd story viewing window with deck that acts as an overhang for UTV and equipment parking
- Parking for volunteers, staff, interns, donors and vendors
Habitats for the Cats
- Maintenance and habitat enhancement will be provided for several habitats; including areas in
Roar Ridge, and pool repairs in Feline Meadows and Wild Woodlands. - Open habitats are being prepared for pending rescues.
- Plans for renovating two outdoor hybrid haven yards, if time permits.
Equipment
- A daily SUV is needed for staff/interns to drive for supply and food runs.
- A new plow truck will be needed to ensure we have road access and can clear the property at all times during the winter.
- New mowers are needed to maintain the habitats and grounds.
- Ongoing maintenance is always necessary; including tiger pool and drainage repairs in habitats. Any old fencing will be replaced.
Building for our Future
- A 2nd intern/staff house or land is being researched in order to expand daily resources for our growing organization.
- Bringing the sanctuary to our supporters through:
- More photos, live posts and videos through more social media channels
- Growing the media and communications internship
- Developing our strategic plan for the next 3, 5 and 10 years.
- Including Development and Finance staff/resources
- Expanding leadership
- Continuing Education for all staff
- How we impact the Captive Wildlife Crisis nationally and internationally
We look forward to another successful year for the cats – we can’t do it without you!
Looking back over the year, it’s amazing what our donors and supporters accomplished for so many.
In 2019, we celebrated our 20th Anniversary of saving lives!
Residents
- 2 bobcats, 5 servals and 5 hybrids were welcomed to the Sanctuary.
- The sanctuary completed an international rescue of 12 servals from Canada, finding homes for them at 3 accredited sanctuaries.
- TWS also participated in three ongoing legal cases in hopes the big cats will one day call TWS or an accredited sanctuary home.
- TWS participated in our first ever black bear rescue transporting two 20-year-old bears to their new home at a native wildlife facility.
Habitats
- The last habitat in Wildcat Pines was completed for bobcat Morgan; including skywalks, caves, trees and an indoor, temperature-controlled bedroom.
- Pride Prairie habitat enhancements were completed; including two new caves, two cabanas and
lounging platforms for the lions. The largest habitat was split into two areas to help with future mergers of lions. - Lion Gino’s habitat was modified for his neurological needs; including providing two smaller yards as he prefers, opening up his indoor bedrooms for larger space, painting his walls a calming blue, and providing an outdoor, insulated building for him, too.
- Lions Kimba and Sofi received a large outdoor shift yard and larger openings to their three indoor bedrooms for their comfort.
- The ‘5 Wild’ cougar family and the Tiger Trio each received brand new caves to climb on and lounge underneath for shade.
- The ‘4 Wild’ cougar family received double the habitat space, skywalk systems, new platforms and toys to encourage them to be a little braver.
- Floor skirting was reinstalled in seven habitats, per our maintenance protocol, to prevent erosion
or digging. - Multiple Hybrid Haven habitats received new platforms and jungle gyms, giving the cats new places to explore and play.
- Several habitats were modified for future big cats; including enlarging the guillotine doors to their indoor, temperature-controlled building and shifts yards, adding larger shift yards, and upgrading platforms to accommodate future rescues.
Animal Care & Education Center
- The first phase was completed. This entailed tear down, excavation, placing drain tile, and rebuilding three outdoor habitats complete with sanitary shift yards and soft substrate. This renovation provides better drainage and flexibility for new residents, as well as geriatric cats who need specialized care.
- Site and architecture plans were finalized for the new Animal Care & Education Center building.
Cat News
- Tiger Tonka moved into the Quarantine area of the sanctuary for the winter. Tiger Mohan and Lioness Shanti Deva will also move there, if the snow/ice becomes a challenge for them.
- Morgan moved into Wildcat Pines.
- Servals Scarlet, Little Diva and Jaharah were merged together.
- Lion siblings Leo and Mansa were successfully reunited and are happily living together.
Hospital and Vet Care
- Intake exams took place on all new residents, in addition to wellness exams on current residents.
- Lion Gino received diagnostic CT scan for his neurological condition.
- Sadly, TWS had to say good-bye to 13 residents who’ve joined our pride on the other side.
Equipment
- A new rescue vehicle was purchased to aid in cross country rescues.
- A large walk-in freezer was purchased to accommodate our growing population, replacing an old
refurbished freezer. - High-speed internet was brought to the property. This allows us to bring the sanctuary to our supporters more seamlessly and enables us to upgrade our security system.
- Transport crates were all upgraded and reinforced for big cat rescues and two new crates were constructed and built.
- UTVs for daily care and feeding of the cats were purchased.
Working for the Cats
- The intern house received some new windows and furnace for efficiency. Growing the intern program benefits the animals at the sanctuary and helps us inspire future animal advocates.
- The sanctuary added a new Communications Specialist to the staff to help provide support and bring the sanctuary to our supports through photos, videos and social media.
- Animal Care staff fed 100,000 pounds of food last year.
- Animal Care Interns contributed almost 20,000 hours of work to support animal care and construction.
- We were awarded two AmeriCorps teams who volunteered x days or xx total hours! They helped with habitat upgrades and the new Quarantine area.
Inspire advocates at every touch point
- The Wildcat Sanctuary attended the Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance Conference. Executive Director
sat on the events, rescue and advocacy committees. TWS also presented at the conference. - A new website and brand video were created to share our mission and cats’ stories with the world, providing an educational platform about the captive wildlife crisis.
- The Wildcat Sanctuary reached 2.9 million people through Facebook. We created two new Facebook Group pages that are growing rapidly, too. Fans have become advocates and support legislation, write letters and help educate about the captive wildlife crisis.
- TWS Development volunteers contributed hours equal to four full-time employees.
- On-site volunteer support was provided by 40 Volunteer Crew Days who helped with gardening, construction, events and enrichment creation.
Wow!!! This is incredible, isn’t it? We couldn’t do this without all of YOU! THANK YOU!
