The Big Cat Blog

whuphf asked: Thank you so much! I would def rather donate to a place where it uses most of the funds and not a small percentage :)

Not a problem! It seems the general consensus is that if an organization is spending 75% or more on their programs, they’re doing a pretty good job : )

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Frequently asked questions.

whuphf asked: I donate a certain amount of month to a different charity and I love that list of charities that you posted! Do you know what percentage of your donations is actually used? Like charitywater used 100% of your money,but some charities only use like 50% and the rest goes to pay their employees and for administrative costs and what not.

Great question! Here is what I could find out:

• National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative: this one is a little tricky because National Geographic generates revenue from many different sources and have costs the other charities here don’t. You can find a breakdown of their income and expenditure for 2010 and 2009 here, in the Financials section.
• Save Tigers Now: 83% go towards conservation programs, 12% fundraising, and 5% admin costs (based on WWF as a whole).
• The Northern Jaguar Project: no figures were readily available but I have emailed them requesting more information and will let you know!
• The Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance: 100% of donations received through their website go to towards conservation activities in Russia.

ETA: The Northern Jaguar Project responded to let me know that 93% of donations fund conservation projects, with the remaining 7% going towards administration and fund raising expenses.

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Frequently asked questions.

morningwaits asked: i LOVE this blog! best animals on earth.

Thank you! : )

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Frequently asked questions.

insomniacdragon asked: The state of ohio and the ohio police are at fault.

I can’t say I entirely agree with you. Local law enforcement are not trained for such a situation nor are they usually equipped with tranquilizer darts. According to reports, deputies arrived at the property roughly an hour and a half before nightfall after hearing accounts of escaped animals in the area. They did call in help from Columbus Zoo and the Division of Wildlife, and some animals were tranquilized, though at least one tiger hit with a dart attempted to attack a veterinarian and was subsequently euthanized. Tranquilizing dangerous, panicked animals in the dark is no easy feat. Law enforcement did what they had to in order to protect the public and themselves.

Am I heartbroken that all of those animals were gunned down? Of course! But what frustrates me more is that there was someone who was able to keep their own private menagerie of wildlife in the first place, and Muskingum County Animal Farm is only one of many - Born Free USA is full of information on privately owned exotic animals, including this report on Ohio.

We can speculate all we like on how the situation could have been handled better, but it won’t change what happened to those animals. What we can change is the fate of current and potential privately owned exotic animals in the United States. The following are some suggestions from Born Free:

• Learn about exotic animal incidents in your state by using their unique, comprehensive online database. Armed with such information, you could approach your local and state lawmakers and encourage them to pursue laws that ban private possession of exotics.
• Ask your two U.S. senators to pass the “Captive Primate Safety Act,” which prohibits interstate commerce in monkeys, apes and other primates in the exotic “pet” trade.
• Consider making a donation to the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary, where they care for more than 500 macaques, vervets and baboons, many of whom were rescued from the restricted and deprived lives they were leading as household pets.

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Frequently asked questions.

kororaa asked: I AM SOOOOOOOO ANGRY ABOUT THOSE TIGERS THEY SHOT IN OHIO OMGGGGGGGGGG :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

It’s an upsetting situation. Maybe Ohio will start taking private possession of exotic animals seriously. Their current regulations are virtually non existent.

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Frequently asked questions.

snugglybug asked: Hello!
Any information about the Maltese Tiger?

Keep up the awesome work. =]

Hi! Maltese tigers are affected by a gene mutation that results in a blue/grey pelt. There have been only a few alleged sightings, occuring mostly in the Fujian province in China. You can read some accounts of these sightings here.

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Frequently asked questions.

animals-animals-animals asked: beautiful blog. simply beautiful <3

Thank you so much : )

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Frequently asked questions.

lithium-h0rizon asked: omfg, i love big cats,they have been a passion of mine for years :) but what kind of job/career can i do that involves big cats

It depends on what you mean by “involves”. If you are looking to work with big cats in captivity, you might do so in the role of zookeeper or perhaps veterinarian. To become a zookeeper you are going to want to start studying zoology and pursuing volunteer work with animals, with an eventual aim of gaining an internship at a zoo. To be a veterinarian you will require a degree in veterinarian medicine.

Or perhaps you’d like to be a biologist studying big cats in the wild with something like the Snow Leopard Trust or the Jaguar Conservation Fund (among many others)?

This is very general advice, as I am no career adviser. I suggest you speak with one of those! Good luck!

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Frequently asked questions.

victoriaroseg asked: Am I the only one who thinks it's sad when fashion magazines, stores, and people in general get leopard print, jag print, cheetah print? I always have to correct them, it's just sad sometimes. I saw a picture of a girls' tattoo on tumblr that was leopard print and the comment said she got it because people call her a leopard or something when it actually was jag. it's just sad.

I don’t really think it’s a big deal actually. I mean, if someone has some sort of leopard fixation and wanted a tattoo to reflect that, then maybe they should have researched it a little better, but it’s not my business to really care all that much.

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Frequently asked questions.

ilovefuzzystuf asked: I was wondering if you knew any articles that I could read to learn more about the lioness. Her roles, strength, etc.

Sure, here are a few you might find interesting:

• Lioness Leadership
• Prides, Coalitions and Infanticide Among Lions 
• Adaptions of Female Lions to Infanticide by Incoming Males
• Female Lions Prefer Dark-Maned Males 
• Cooperative hunting in lions: the role of the individual
• Female Lions Are Democratic in Breeding

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Frequently asked questions.