Wild Florida
Cash menageries: Exotic and wild animals as entertainment in Florida
He says private facilities are "hit and miss." The public, he explains, should examine whether they're about to visit the equivalent of an exotic animal puppy mill or a facility that does credible science and is transparent about its finances and operations. "There are many menageries out there and whether they're private, for-profit, non-profit, the end result is they're often a sink for donations, a sink for revenue, to maintain a collection of animals," he says.
Big Cat Rescue
Carole Baskin, CEO, and her husband, Howard, run the Tampa non-profit Big Cat Rescue, one of the few sanctuaries for exotic animals in Florida that has the seal of approval from the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries. Such sanctuaries keep animals for life and don't breed them. Her rule of thumb: "If they have cubs, it's probably a bad place. If they have cubs and they're allowing you to touch them, you know it's a bad place." She has 85 tigers, cougars, lions, bobcats and other wild felines. She has little good to say about most operators. Baskin maintains a website that keeps track of citations at other facilites. She would close every zoo, private or professional, if she could. Big Cat's 2014 IRS return shows $3.5 million in revenue against $2.3 million in expenses.
Carole Baskin's rule of thumb: "If they have cubs and they're allowing you to touch them, you know it's a bad place."
Felinity
In Brevard, non-profit Central Florida Animal Reserve has the most tigers in Florida with 29, plus a total of six lions, cougars and leopards. Volunteer CEO K. Simba Wiltz, a pharmacist, says CFAR has raised $800,000 toward the $1 million it wants to relocate to Osceola County. Its 2013 IRS filing showed $405,397 in revenue against $202,546 in expenses.
Big Cats
Some 33 counties in Florida are home to facilities that house big cats — tigers, lions, leopards, jaguars, cougars and cheetahs: Gilchrist, Lee, Palm Beach, Collier, Hillsborough, Bay, Duval, Okaloosa, Polk, Seminole, St. Johns, Marion, Sarasota, Miami-Dade, Charlotte, Alachua, Lake, Okeechobee, Pasco, Hernando, DeSoto, Manatee, Levy, Sumter, Brevard, Nassau, Walton, Orange, Glades, Clay, Citrus, Hardee and Leon.
