Big Cat Rescue

Big Cat Rescue Big Cat Rescue | Wildcats in the wild: Our mission, their future. ๐Ÿพ But our work doesn't stop at the border. Join us in rewriting the future for wildcats.

Big Cat Rescue is on a mission to create a world where wild cats live freeโ€”not behind bars, not on leashes, and never as pets. Weโ€™ve already helped make history by championing the Big Cat Public Safety Act, ending private ownership and public handling of big cats in the U.S. We're now funding conservation projects around the globe to protect wildcats from the deadly threats of poaching, traffickin

g, bushmeat, and habitat loss. Every dollar you give goes directly to saving wild cats in the wild. Thanks to our investment income covering admin costs, 100% of your donation fuels real conservation work. Weโ€™re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 59-3330495), fully transparent about our financesโ€”check out our records anytime on https://www.guidestar.org/profile/59-3330495 (FL Reg. -11409). Together, we can protect whatโ€™s wild before itโ€™s gone.

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ง: โœ๐ŸผI (Howard) don't usually post, but I just got an advanced copy of a new book, ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ๐ž๐ ๐‘๐ž๐œ๐ค๐จ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  by...
08/30/2026

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐‡๐จ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ง: โœ๐Ÿผ
I (Howard) don't usually post, but I just got an advanced copy of a new book, ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ๐ž๐ ๐‘๐ž๐œ๐ค๐จ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  by Carol Bradley that I could not put down and want to mention.

It starts with the early history of tigers in captivity in the US and progresses through the last two decades of successful effort to end the mistreatment, including our battle with Joe "Exotic" and others and the details of our years of work to pass the Big Cat Public Safety Act.

The author does an amazing job of accurately reporting and condensing a massive amount of information to touch on the important points in a very readable fashion.

Pre-orders on Amazon have a discount. If you really want to know what happened, I highly recommend it.

Preorder at the link below: โฌ‡๏ธ
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=striped+reckoning&i=stripbooks&crid=2DGDROITIOQJ6&sprefix=striped+reckoning%2Cstripbooks%2C143&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

08/30/2026

๐Ÿพ ๐€ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ž๐ญ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐€๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฌโ€™ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐จ๐š๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐œ๐š๐ญโ€ฆ

For ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐š ๐ƒ๐š๐ฒ, enjoy this beautiful glimpse of a female puma stopping for a drink at an artificial water hole in Calakmul, Mexicoโ€”then calmly surveying the forest around her.

Moments like this remind us that protecting wild places and vital water sources helps give pumas and countless other species the space they need to survive. ๐Ÿ’š

๐ŸŽฅ Special thanks to the Ocelot Working Group for capturing and sharing this peaceful moment.

โ€œIt takes great strength to be gentle and kind.โ€
08/30/2026

โ€œIt takes great strength to be gentle and kind.โ€

08/29/2026

๐Ž๐ง๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐š ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐›๐ข๐  ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐โ€ฆ ๐Ÿพ
This elusive, endangered ๐€๐ง๐๐ž๐š๐ง ๐œ๐š๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ง peeks out of the den before following Mom up the mountainside. ๐Ÿ’›

Thank you to the Pampas Cat Working Group - PCWG for capturing this precious glimpse of life high in the Andes!

โ€œDo small things with great love and kindness!โ€
08/29/2026

โ€œDo small things with great love and kindness!โ€

๐Ÿพ ๐ˆ๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐†๐ฎ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐š ๐ƒ๐š๐ฒ! ๐ŸพTiny cat. Big reason to care. ๐ŸงกThe guignaโ€”also called the kodkodโ€”is the ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ...
08/28/2026

๐Ÿพ ๐ˆ๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐†๐ฎ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐š ๐ƒ๐š๐ฒ! ๐Ÿพ
Tiny cat. Big reason to care. ๐Ÿงก

The guignaโ€”also called the kodkodโ€”is the ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐œ๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐€๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฌ. Found only in ๐‚๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐š ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐š ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐€๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐š, this secretive feline depends on healthy forests and safe connections between fragmented habitats.

Habitat loss, vehicle strikes and attacks by free-roaming dogs all threaten its survival. Today, letโ€™s celebrate this little-known cat and the conservationists working to ensure it remains wild, safe and unseen in the forests it calls home.

๐’๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐œ๐š๐ญ. ๐’๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž. ๐„๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ฆ. ๐ŸŒฟ๐Ÿพ

Fauna Andina

๐Ÿพ ๐…๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐…๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐…๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐…๐ซ๐ข๐๐š๐ฒ: ๐’๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐Œ๐จ๐ฆ. ๐’๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐‹๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ. ๐“๐ฐ๐จ ๐•๐„๐‘๐˜ ๐ƒ๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐‹๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฌ! ๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ–คCould a normally spotted leopard give birt...
08/28/2026

๐Ÿพ ๐…๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐…๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐…๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐…๐ซ๐ข๐๐š๐ฒ: ๐’๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐Œ๐จ๐ฆ. ๐’๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐‹๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ. ๐“๐ฐ๐จ ๐•๐„๐‘๐˜ ๐ƒ๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐‹๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฌ! ๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ–ค
Could a normally spotted leopard give birth to one spotted cubโ€ฆand one black cub?

๐€๐›๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ! And the reason is hiding in their genes. ๐Ÿ‘€

๐Ÿ”ธ ๐€ ๐‡๐ข๐๐๐ž๐ง ๐“๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ญ
In ๐ฅ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐๐ฌ, melanism is a ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ญ. A perfectly spotted leopard can carry the melanistic gene without looking black herself.

If ๐›๐จ๐ญ๐ก ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ญ, each cub inherits its own combination of genes. That means the same litter can include both normally spotted and melanistic cubs. ๐Ÿงฌ๐Ÿพ

๐Ÿ”ธ ๐’๐จ ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ˆ๐ฌ ๐Œ๐ž๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ?
Melanism simply means the cat produces an unusually large amount of the dark pigment ๐ž๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ง, making its coat appear black or extremely dark.

And those famous leopard spots havenโ€™t disappeared! ๐Ÿ–ค

Look closely at a black leopard in bright light and you can often still see its ๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ก๐ข๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐›๐ž๐ง๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐š๐ซ๐ค ๐œ๐จ๐š๐ญ.

๐Ÿ”ธ ๐€ โ€œ๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ค ๐๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซโ€ ๐ˆ๐ฌ ๐’๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐š ๐‹๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐
โ€œBlack pantherโ€ isnโ€™t a separate species.

In ๐€๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š ๐š๐ง๐ ๐€๐ฌ๐ข๐š, the animal we call a black panther is generally a ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐œ ๐ฅ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐. In the ๐€๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฌ, itโ€™s generally a ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐œ ๐ฃ๐š๐ ๐ฎ๐š๐ซ.

Same species. Same markings. Different coat color. ๐Ÿ†

๐Ÿ”ธ ๐‹๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐€๐ซ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ž๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐Ž๐ง๐ž๐ฌ
Melanism has been documented in ๐š๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐œ๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ, including:

๐Ÿ–ค Jaguars
๐Ÿ–ค Geoffroyโ€™s cats
๐Ÿ–ค Guignas (kodkods)
๐Ÿ–ค Pampas cats
๐Ÿ–ค Asian golden cats
๐Ÿ–ค Servals
๐Ÿ–ค Bobcats โ€” although black bobcats are exceptionally rare

Some species and populations produce melanistic cats much more frequently than others.

๐Ÿ”ธ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐†๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ฌ ๐€๐ซ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐„๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐‚๐š๐ญ
Hereโ€™s an especially interesting twist: ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ž๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ž๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ.

In ๐ฅ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐๐ฌ it is ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž, while in ๐ฃ๐š๐ ๐ฎ๐š๐ซ๐ฌ the best-known melanistic trait is ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ง๐ญ. Scientists have even found different genetic changes responsible for black coats in different wild cat species. ๐Ÿงฌ

๐Ÿพ ๐‘บ๐’ ๐’•๐’˜๐’ ๐’„๐’–๐’ƒ๐’” ๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’”๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’‚๐’Ž๐’† ๐’Ž๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“, ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’‚๐’Ž๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’Š๐’“๐’•๐’‰๐’…๐’‚๐’š ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’‚๐’Ž๐’† ๐’”๐’‘๐’†๐’„๐’Š๐’†๐’”โ€”๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’๐’๐’๐’Œ ๐’…๐’“๐’‚๐’Ž๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’๐’๐’š ๐’…๐’Š๐’‡๐’‡๐’†๐’“๐’†๐’๐’•.

๐‘ต๐’‚๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’†โ€™๐’” ๐’ˆ๐’†๐’๐’†๐’•๐’Š๐’„ ๐’…๐’Š๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’”๐’Š๐’•๐’š ๐’Š๐’” ๐’‘๐’“๐’†๐’•๐’•๐’š ๐’‚๐’Ž๐’‚๐’›๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ! ๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ–ค

โ€œIโ€™ve got to teach my facial expressions to use their inside voice!โ€
08/28/2026

โ€œIโ€™ve got to teach my facial expressions to use their inside voice!โ€

08/27/2026

๐‡๐ข๐๐๐ž๐ง ๐ˆ๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐’๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ! ๐Ÿพ
๐Ÿ‘€ ๐€๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐š๐ฒ ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌโ€”๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐›๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ญ๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ !

Hidden among the leafy plants beside a path in Uruguay, this elusive ๐๐š๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ฌ ๐œ๐š๐ญ had the perfect spot to quietly observe the world passing by. ๐ŸŒฟ๐Ÿพ

Rock and Pampa

๐Ÿšจ ๐’๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐œ๐ซ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ โ€”๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐๐Ž๐“ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ญ. ๐Ÿ‘€๐ŸพAt first glance, the ๐ฆ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ and the ๐’๐ฎ๐ง๐๐š ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐š...
08/27/2026

๐Ÿšจ ๐’๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐œ๐ซ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ โ€”๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐๐Ž๐“ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ญ. ๐Ÿ‘€๐Ÿพ

At first glance, the ๐ฆ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ and the ๐’๐ฎ๐ง๐๐š ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐’๐ฎ๐ง๐๐š ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ look almost identicalโ€”but they are actually ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ ๐๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ.

The mainland clouded leopard lives across ๐ฆ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ ๐’๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐€๐ฌ๐ข๐š, while the Sunda clouded leopard is found ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐จ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐’๐ฎ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ซ๐š. Sunda clouded leopards also tend to have ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ, ๐๐š๐ซ๐ค๐ž๐ซ ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฆ๐š๐ซ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ, while mainland clouded leopards usually have ๐ฅ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ซ, ๐ฉ๐š๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ โ€œ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ฌ.โ€

Two stunning forest cats. Two different ranges. Two distinct species.

๐ƒ๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐? ๐Ÿ‘‡

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