I am grateful for my son in law, Dr. Justin Boorstein

He works all day at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, where they are low cost, high volume. His pay is minimal for a vet, because if he can survive on reduced pay, for 10 years, working for a non profit then his student loans, which are in the hundreds of thousands, are reduced. He comes to the sanctuary after work and on his days off to care for our cats. Two days ago he saw The Great Pretender. The bobcat was 24 years old and had stopped eating. We figured it was just the end for him, but Justin found 9 bad teeth.

It was a long shot but he had to try removing that source of bacteria and discomfort to see if there was any more life left to go. He came back out to check on him last night, as he wasn’t recovering from anesthesia, and it was clear that Justin was upset; thinking that maybe he could have worked faster…There really was nothing he could have done, but it plagues him any way.

This morning Gale woke, Jamie, Justin and me to let us know that Pretender had died in his sleep.

Precious and The Great Pretender were the next cats to arrive, after our founder, Windsong the Bobcat. For a time they lived in a cage in our home, and Pretender would jump and spit at me every time I walked by to get to my desk. When we did the huge fur farm rescue in 1993, and had bobcats and lynx kittens running wild through the house, we had to cage my desk, so I could work without them peeing all over everything. Precious and Pretender first moved to a porch and then to a concrete slab with a 12 x 24 foot dog kennel on it and then finally to Easy Street where my Dad built them their own spacious 1200 sf enclosures. I always loved and admired The Great Pretender for never even trying to pretend that he was OK with the idea of being caged. I vow to him, and every other wild cat who was bred for life in a cage that I won't stop until that barbaric practice ends.

I am grateful for Gale and the fact that she shows up, almost every morning, at 7:00 am to get ready for the onslaught of volunteers who will begin filing in at 7:30.

I am grateful for “Bernadette Juarez, the Deputy Administrator, Animal Care (AC) Program at USDA/APHIS. She seeks to improve regulatory practices and develop training and educational resources. Prior to being named Deputy Administrator in February 2016, Ms. Juarez served with APHIS’ Investigative and Enforcement Services (IES), first as Deputy Director for nearly 5 years and then as Director beginning in 2013. As Director, Ms. Juarez was responsible for leading investigations of alleged AWA and HPA violations, as well as all other APHIS-administered statutes and regulations, and pursuing enforcement actions where warranted. Ms. Juarez’s experience enforcing the AWA and HPA began prior to her joining APHIS as a trial attorney in USDA’s Office of the General Counsel from 2002 to 2009. In over 6 years, she represented APHIS in numerous AWA and HPA administrative enforcement proceedings.”

This is why and what I posted yesterday on our front page:

USDA Reopening Comment Period on Legal Petition Submitted by Big Cat Rescue and Coalition to Prohibit the Public Contact with Big Cats and Cubs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced it is reopening the comment period on a legal petition submitted by Big Cat Rescue, the Humane Society of the United States and a coalition of organizations (HSUS, World Wildlife Fund, Detroit Zoological Society, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Born Free USA, Fund for Animals and Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries) to completely prohibit exhibition facilities from allowing members of the public to come into direct contact with dangerous wild animals.

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAAPHIS/bulletins/1512904

https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2016-14976.pdf

Big Cat Rescue and the coalition applaud USDA for taking this action to solicit information that would support a regulation prohibiting these inhumane and unsafe interactive experiences with big cats, bears and nonhuman primates. “We are very pleased that USDA is requesting further input from the public and see it as a positive sign that USDA is considering taking the action requested in our petition”, said Carole Baskin, founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue.

The action follows a determination by USDA in April 2016 that public contact with infant exotic cats violates the Animal Welfare Act, making clear that it is illegal for cubs to be immediately pulled from their mothers after birth to be hand-reared and bottle-fed by members of the public before their immune systems have even developed.

[http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2016/04/usda-tiger-cub-abuse-roadside-zoos-040416.html?credit=web_id93480558]](http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2016/04/usda-tiger-cub-abuse-roadside-zoos-040416.html?credit=web_id93480558%5D)

Comprehensive action to eliminate this dangerous practice is essential – for example, Dade City’s Wild Things in Dade City, Florida is currently under USDA investigation for numerous violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including stress on infant and young tiger cubs handled and forced to swim with the public.

In addition, PETA yesterday filed an intent to sue Dade City’s Wild Things under the Endangered Species Act. PETA contends that prematurely separating infant tigers from their mothers, forcing them to interact with members of the public, and confining them to nearly barren concrete pens all constitute unlawful “takes,” defined by the Endangered Species Act as harming, harassing, and/or wounding an animal. http://www.peta.org/blog/nightmarish-tiger-sweatshop-gets-notice-petas-intent-sue/

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story. The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story. My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.

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Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion. Closing graphic with permission from https://youtu.be/F_AtgWMfwrk