They will neer know freedom. Can they at least know compassion? Large Rescue Mission in Texas Brings New Residents to a Safe Home Ekaterina, left, and Sierra, right. The recent closure of the Wild Animal Orphanage (WAO) in Texas means the largest influx of new residents for TWS since the Catskill intake during the fall of 2006. Tammy Thies, director of TWS, flew to Texas to help with placement of oer 400 animals including tigers, lions, bears, and primates. Upon arrial, it was obious to Tammy the situation was dire. The WAO board of directors stated it was a do or die situation for the animals and if proper homes were not found, euthanasia may be their only option. Tammy spent seeral days at the facility assessing the animals and drafting a plan for placement of hundreds of animals at many organizations. Just concluding the third road trip to Texas, TWS will now be a foreer home to three bobcats, fie tigers and one lion. Salem, a new bobcat Harley, Lakota and Salem, three bobcats, arried at TWS first. Lakota is blind and 17 years old. Salem watches out for his buddy Lakota. Harley is as her name suggests - the wild one. Tigers Ekaterina and Sierra arried a couple weeks later. They originated from an exploitie breeder in Ohio. It took the combined efforts of the USDA, undercoer agents and concerned citizens seen years to shut down Diana McCourt and the Siberian Tiger Foundation. This breeder charged the public to pet adult lions and tigers that were declawed, defanged and chained down PO Box 314 Sandstone MN 55072 Fall - 2010 to a platform. During this time, the USDA inestigation included eight allegations of attacks on isitors in an eight month period. We helped with this case years ago and had offered to take the remaining tigers, Ekaterina and Sierra, but instead they were transported to WAO in Texas with funds from IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare). It has come full circle for Ekaterina and Sierra, and we can now gie them their final rescue and home. Zeus, at right, is a twele-yearold male tiger and seeral hundred pounds of utterly pure happiness. He lies alone and seems to enjoy his keeper s company more than other tigers. He neer misses a chance to chuff hello. Layla, a female tiger, was priately owned before being rescued. Tiger Kita lies with a lion Tsao. Both were found in a garage in Michigan and suffer with itamin deficiencies causing them to be ataxic (lack of muscle control) in their hindquarters. Our small sanctuary was able to make a huge difference! You answered our pleas for help and stepped forward with your generosity. A huge thank-you to all of you who helped these amazing animals get to their new home at TWS! Kita, tiger and Tsao, lion Eery one of the new residents is safe and sound now, settling in well and adjusting to a new life. But all of them will need new permanent enclosures built, dens, perches, etc. Please help us begin building their free-roaming habitats so they can be wild at heart too! And our new residents need sponsor parents as well! Senior Keeper, Trista, unloads Sierra. 320-245-6871 WildcatSanctuary.org
New Bungalow Added to Hybrid Haen Aboe, Tiger, a long-time resident hybrid, enjoys his new digs at Bungalow #7 which was recently completed. Thanks to donors and olunteers for helping complete this project before winter sets in! Sabrina, aboe, feels safe when she can hunker down in the grasses of her enclosure; cougars Noah, Langley and Carlos loe exploring their new digs in Cougar Coer. From the Keeper... It was moing day for a few tigers at the sanctuary this past month. Sabrina was liing next to tigers Ekaterina and Sierra. Ekaterina decided she didn t much care for Sabrina and was ocalizing it quite loudly. As many of you know, Sabrina is not a ery social cat and so this negatie actiity from Ekaterina was setting Sabrina back. It wasn t fair to Sabrina so we decided to moe her. Titan and Lilly, two other tigers, had two enclosures to themseles, so we decided to cordon off one of the sides for Sabrina. Instead of trying to crate or sedate Sabrina for this moe, we built a chute from her old enclosure to her new one. With a little motiation from the food bucket, the moe was a success. She first had to go through Titan and Lilly s big enclosure. She is usually a high stressed cat, but the smells of Titan and Lilly and the new surroundings allowed keepers to see Sabrina in a way they neer hae. She was actually calm and happy. She sniffed around and checked out the perches until finding the entryway into her new enclosure. Since the moe, Sabrina seems content and can be seen relaxing on her perch. We hope this moe will gie Sabrina more confidence and also gie her a little peace away from Ekaterina. After Sabrina moed, it was time try Zeus next to Sierra and Ekaterina. Zeus is ery social to people but seemed to feel differently about tiger Ekaterina. We hope they will work our their differences or we will need to build another enclosure in addition to the seeral already needed for all the new rescues. It always surprises us how the animals react to one another. The cats that seem so happy end up showing their true wild side when they see another of their species. Or there are the shy, timid cats that bond greatly with others of either their own species or sometimes hae interspecies loe. We are in the throes of planning and building new free-roaming enclosures for all of our new tiger residents, but in the mean time we hope that Zeus and Ekaterina can work out their differences and make it through the winter as neighbors and friends. Alicia Ice - TWS Animal Keeper Cougar Coe was completed this summer and is at full capacity with 16 cougars residing there. PO Box 314 Sandstone MN 55072 320-245-6871 WildcatSanctuary.org
IN MEMORY OF: In memory of Dana Miller from Brenda Boese In memory of our beloed cat from Betty and Gilbert Landsdiel In memory of Gerald Gengler from Particia Gengler In memory of our beloed cat Misty Blue from Delores and Lloyd Hanson In memory of my son, Dana Miller from Mildred Miller In memory of Nipper from Alice Jena In memory of my wife Edna from Thomas Crowe In memory of our beloed cat from Jim & Pam Fisher In memory of Jerry Starkey loe Karen and Ray Spencer In memory of Spencer our cat loe Ray and Karen Spencer In memory of Pam Heeg from Isle Dietsche In memory of Amy Van Ooyue from Ilse Dietsche In memory of Lei and Meme from Barbara Kull In memory of Gidget from Denise Garner In memory of Linda Rasmussen from Marilynne Roberts In memory of Gato from Brooke Manley IN HONOR OF: In honor of Julie Hanan s birthday from Billy Belt In honor of Candy Shields from Dawn Perault In honor of Julie Hinton from Rita Erickson In honor of Larry Hanan, a ery understanding husband from Julie Hanan In honor of John and Stephanie Coughlin s marriage from Carl and Eileen Adamec In honor of Larry Woods from Jenny & Jaier Berendsohn In honor of Larry Woods from Betty Woods In honor of Michelle Cook and Mark Newstrom s marriage from Jo Martinson and Robin Bliss In honor of Mary Butcher from Millie Martin In honor of Dale Butcher from Millie Martin In honor of Julie Hanan s birthday from her husband that loes her for eerything she does!! In Honor of Julie Hanan s birthday from Joel and Marie Schoubert, Julie Hanan & Barbara Frank Donations may be made online or by mailing your check to TWS. Donations as of 11/03/2010 George & TWS Say Good-bye to Kajeeka An unexpected tragedy hit us when we lost our sweet lynx Kajeeka. Blood work and x-rays showed kidney failure, anemia and a possible mass on her kidney. Knowing that she must be in pain, we could not allow her to suffer so we made the decision to help her pass oer. Our hearts go out to George, her life-long companion and guardian. He loed her ery much - as did we. We will miss this sweet girl. In Memory of Jasmine Jasmine, our sweet bengal, has passed. Jasmine came to us from a domestic animal shelter after her first two owners gae her up. She had some litter box issues and could not be adopted out. She was to be euthanized until we stepped in and opened our hearts to her. Jasmine was ery sweet, and ery ocal. She gae many of our boisterous bengals a run for their money. PO Box 314 Sandstone MN 55072 320-245-6871 WildcatSanctuary.org
HOLI DAY PROGRAM The gift-giing season will soon be here so why not ow to make it easy on yourself this year? This year, gie the gift of compassion, sure to delight young and old alike. For $25, we ll send your chosen recipient a special color-photo gift card noting that a generous donation was made in their honor. Card includes a bio of the cats with a fun description of their personalities. Perfect for friends, family, neighbors or those hard-to-buy-for people. This year we re featuring our newest residents - Ekaterina and Sierra. Your gift can be mailed to you or directly to the recipient - your choice. To insure deliery by December 24th, we need to receie your request by December 18th. Just complete and mail the order form below. Feel free to duplicate form for multiple ship-to addresses. A sponsor gift of Ekaterina, left, or Sierra, right, is sure to thrill een the hardest to buy for! Order your unique gift today and we ll delier directly to the recipient of your choice, or mail it to you. (photos shown here are representatie of the actual photo on the card) THIS GIFT IS FROM: First & Last Name: Street Address: City, State, Zip: Phone: Check here if you would like the gift mailed directly to you. PLEASE SELECT ONE: Ekaterina Sierra THIS GIFT IS FOR: First & Last Name: Street Address: City, State, Zip: Check here if you would like the gift mailed directly to the recipient. Payment Options: Please charge my Visa or Mastercard credit card or enclosed is a check for $ total. Amount: Credit Card #: Expiration Date: Signature _ Name as it appears on card Email Address: Mail this entire form to: The Wildcat Sanctuary PO 314 Sandstone MN 55072 or order on-line at WildcatSanctuary.org Holiday orders are due by December 18th. Please duplicate this form for additional orders. PO Box 314 Sandstone MN 55072 320-245-6871 WildcatSanctuary.org
Jungle Boogie 2010 - A Huge Success! We had a record-breaking year and raised oer $58,000 for the cats!!! This year s 7th annual Jungle Boogie Mystical Mas-grrr-ade took place Sunday, October 10th with oer 160 of our sponsors, donors and supporters attending. Raffle ticket sales exceeded our expectations. Our Lie Auction/Fund-a-Need was amazing and all the silent auction items were a hit. Eery cat was sponsored and our guests welcomed our new arrials ia the Jungle Boogie ideo. Attendees loed the added alue of the photo booth, magician, belly dancers and the Loe 105 booth. And the amazing decorations put them all in the mood for the Mas-grrr-ade. Guests bid on silent auction items such as fire hose hammocks, paw paintings created by the residents, original artwork, custom jewelry and certificates for theatre and eents. Raffle Winners: First prize of $500 went to Lisa H.; second prize of $250 went to John B.; and third prize of $100 cash went to Sue S. Thank You Jungle Boogie Eent Sponsors: Guest & Eent Photography by: PCML Photography Pragmatic Photography Media Sponsor: Music by: DJ Joel Stitzel Thank You to our Patron Tables: Belly Dancers: Sisters of the Sahar Sahara School of Middle Eastern Dance New this year was the 2011 TWS Calendar and our fourth in the series of Vintage Wildcat Wine featuring Jasper the lynx. Lois Mae of Loe 105 was our emcee and our ery own Dr. John Baillie DVM, was our auctioneer. Guests bid on a range of lie auction items from Vikings autographed merchandise to a $1,000 gift card for Delta Vacations. The Mahley Family Foundation started the lie auction with a $5,000 donation to rescue three more big cats. A heartfelt thank-you goes out to eeryone who contributed to the success of Jungle Boogie 2010! The night would not hae been possible without the support of our attendees, many gracious donors and sponsors... and the enormous energy of our olunteers and Jungle Boogie committee! Cedar Pet Clinic of Lake Elmo The Mahley Family Foundation & Delta Vacations Support those who support TWS!! Ways to Stay in Touch with TWS Don t forget to sign up for our monthly enewsletter to receie news and photos. Drop us an email to add your name: cat@wildcatsanctuary.org Find us on Facebook and get the latest updates! Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/wcsanctuary See ideos at: youtube.com/user/wildcatsanctuary Visit our Ebay store Jungle Boogie was a feast for the eyes with belly dancers and fabulous costumes! Want to proide TWS residents with all the catnip and toys they need? Its easy if you shop at Chuck & Don s! When you check out, tell them you re a Friend of Chuck. When they ask you for your name, say Wildcat Sanctuary (no the ). TWS will receie a credit for your purchase in the form of a quarterly diidend that we can then apply towards the purchase of catnip, toys or anything they sell at Chuck & Don s. Thanks to those who e already done this eery little bit helps! PO Box 314 Sandstone MN 55072 320-245-6871 WildcatSanctuary.org
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED NONPROFIT ORG U.S.POSTAGE PAID Minneapolis, MN PERMIT #30308 PO BOX 314 SANDSTONE MN 55072 WildcatSanctuary.org Inside This Issue: - New Rescues from Texas - Record-Breaking Jungle Boogie! - Cougar Coe is Completed! Watch the cats enjoy their Halloween enrichment on our YouTube Channel! Titan Brings TWS Message to the Road TWS Memorial Pailion TWS recently struck up a partnership with Wrap City Graphics of Hopkins, MN to wrap seeral ehicles with Titan s image along with our logo and website info. Seeral staff and long-time olunteers hae agreed to adertise for the Sanctuary by haing their ehicles coered with TWS images. We are confident that this will expand our presence and pique interest from passers-by. Driers of the ehicles hae brochures and info on hand at all times so they can talk with those who inquire about the graphics. The word so far is ery positie and driers hae had the chance to tell many folks about the sanctuary. If you pass one on the road honk and wae in support! In the spring of 2011, landscaping will complete the TWS Memorial Garden we started this summmer. This area allows us all to celebrate the lies of the animals that are no longer with us and reflect upon our accomplishments. Each time a resident passes a memorial plaque can be bought to honor their memory and to celebrate their freedom. The Wildcat Sanctuary has also established the Hope for the Future Bequest Program as a way for our supporters to leae a precious legacy and continue supporting TWS long after they are gone. Through a planned gift you can guarantee that your oice for wildcats carries on, until they are protected from abuse foreer. More information is aailable on our website - WildcatSanctuary.org.