Is Big Cat Rescue Trying to Cover Up Their 20 Year Plan?

​Original 20 Year Plan:
(CLICK FOR SOURCE)
Big Cat Rescue's Attempt At Covering Up Their Plan:
​(CLICK FOR SOURCE)

On this page we will be rebutting an erroneous article Big Cat Rescue created to try hiding the true nature of their 20 year plan they had published back around the year 2005. Shall we get started?
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"Big Cat Rescue Wants to be the Only Big Cat Sanctuary

That is the lie that animal abusers tell everyone to try and change the subject from protecting exotic cats to a message of mere competition."

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It's all too easy to be lured away from the actual criticism against Big Cat Rescue considering that they routinely fabricate pseudo arguments against themselves and claim those are the same arguments all of their critics make.

We're not sure who has been making the claim Big Cat Rescue posted, but their 20 year plan does make it crystal clear that they want to shut down all other facilities (explained more later in article) housing big cats except for themselves and other like minded facilities. 

Below are a few key pieces of information that back up our claim (emphasis added):
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Big Cat Rescue will be used as a training ground to help sanctuaries fill the demand caused by the zoos abandoning their big cats. We will help with fundraising activities through our own support base for like minded sanctuaries so that these displaced cats will receive the best care possible. . . .

Sanctuaries will see a significant rise in the need for their services because the zoos will trying to rid themselves of the cause of so much public scorn by dumping their unwanted cats into the only place allowed; i.e. accredited sanctuaries. . . .

"They trot out their modified version of our 20 year plan to back up their ridiculous claims, but they leave out the most important part of the plan, which is that there no longer be big cats suffering in captivity, and thus no longer a need for sanctuaries, including Big Cat Rescue’s sanctuary."

​We have still yet to see the "modified version" of their 20 year plan they claim has been distributed. There would be absolutely no need for anything other than just the original since it's already compelling enough on its own.

It's hilarious watching Big Cat Rescue struggling to justify their radical plan driven by an extreme animal rights ideology. They claim their detractors are ignoring the important bits of their plan, but they themselves are doing exactly the same.

​Big Cat Rescue is kinda telling the truth when they assert that big cats wouldn't still languish in captivity if their plan had come into fruition. As a matter of fact, there wouldn't have been any big cats suffering. It almost sounds too good to be true, right? That's because it is.

If Big Cat Rescue's plan were to have come true they would've ensured the extinction of big cats. Allow us to explain how we arrived at that conclusion.

Their plan plainly states that the population of cats in the wild will no longer be salvageable by the time they launch their assault against zoos to prevent them from breeding their cats and ultimately shut them down (emphasis added):

2012: 
All exotic cats will be afforded protection under CITES. This means that they cannot be sold across state lines for any reason. The reason for this, unfortunately, will be that there are no longer viable populations left of most species and the look-alike species will be protected in a last ditch effort to save what is left.

Action: Big Cat Rescue will use its enormous supporter base and internationally known name to expose zoos for the prisons they are. There won't be a person in America who hasn't been exposed to the fact that their support of a zoo only causes suffering and abuse for the exotic cats. . . .

2014:
 . . . Action: Big Cat Rescue will pressure zoos, through public awareness and legislation, to stop breeding, buying and displaying exotic cats.

​2015:
Zoos no longer display exotic cats. This will be a result of the public learning the truth about zoo life for the exotic cats and not being willing to support an industry that uses these creatures to make money. Because the plight of the exotic cats in the wild will be such a lost cause by this time, the zoos will not be able to hide behind their “Noah's Ark ” argument any longer.

The last step of Big Cat Rescue's outlandish plan is what solidifies our conclusion (emphasis added):

​2025: 
Most of the cats displaced by the closing of zoos will now have died out. The few left will be in tightly run and closely watched sanctuaries. The public will no longer allow exotic cats to suffer in anonymity.

Since the population of big cats in the wild are deemed a "lost cause", zoos are being closed down and prohibited from saving endangered big cats though their breeding programs, and the captive populations of big cats are dying out, it's reasonable to conclude that big cats would have gone extinct.

Even if there were a few remaining countries that still allowed big cats to be kept in captivity, they wouldn't have been safe for very long because Big Cat Rescue predicted that they would've had a large amount of supporters and be internationally known through their television show.

It's also not likely that the remaining sanctuaries would breed big cats considering that Big Cat Rescue always harps on about how sanctuaries do not breed their animals and how their end goal is to put themselves out of business.
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"As the public becomes better educated about why it is so wrong to breed wild cats for life in cages, they will cease to support industries that breed them as pay to play props, for circuses and other abusive purposes.  There will temporarily be an increased need for real sanctuaries, which are those who meet the following standards."

We wonder who wrote their article because we're starting to suspect that whoever wrote it didn't actually read the original 20 year plan. I guess we now know who is in possession of the "modified version" of the plan.

Anyway, they definitely didn't plan on sanctuaries being a temporary thing. The second to last step of their plan make that obvious (emphasis added):
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​As the cats in cages age and die the need will gradually dissipate. We can scale down as the needs dictates. Those who wish to continue may decide to branch out into other species using the experience and knowledge base acquired over these past 20 years.

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As long as there are animals in human care, sanctuaries will still be around making sure those animals are in need of being "rescued" because only they can help an animal realize its full potential of generating donations.
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"1.  Real sanctuaries do not breed exotic cats for life in cages.
​​ 2.  Real sanctuaries do not buy wild cats.
 3.  Real sanctuaries do not sell their wildlife.
 4.  Real sanctuaries do not let the public, nor their staff or volunteers handle the big cats, other than for veterinary purposes.
​​ 5.  Real sanctuaries do not endanger the public and the big cats by taking them off site for exhibition."

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As it turns out, in Big Cat Rescue’s “Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation”, they specifically say (source), “[Big Cat Rescue] will seek to purchase, or accept animals in need of care.”

So does that mean they aren't a true sanctuary since their corporation will apparently try finding animals to purchase?
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As for the handling of big cats standard, is Big Cat Rescue basically saying that the public can handle the big cats when they're sedated for medical purposes? You might be thinking that we're taking that out of context, but we're not.

Big Cat Rescue recently launched a program where tourists can pay $3,000+ to volunteer at their facility for a week.

Before they edited the "Volunteer Vacations" page, Big Cat Rescue mentioned that they will allow tourists to pet their cats when they're sedated (source). The page originally said (source), "You absolutely cannot touch the cats, unless it just so happens that one is sedated for medical procedures that particular week."

Even though they deleted that section of the page, comments Big Cat Rescue made on social media show that they have no plans on stopping the interactions as long as tourists take their simple online course. We all know online courses definitely makes one qualified to be a part of medical procedures. 
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"Those who exploit wild animals for their own gain hate us because they don’t want the public to know that:
 
1.  There is no reason to breed big cats in cages, as none of them in private hands can ever be set free.
2.  There is no captive breeding program that benefits conservation, other than AZA administered SSP programs.
3.  Paying to play with a cub or see one on display actually harms conservation efforts.
4.  Tigers could disappear from the wild because of the smoke screen caused by their legal breeding of generic tigers.
5.  A ban on private possession is the first step toward saving tigers in the wild."

​We guess Big Cat Rescue believes everyone that criticizes them or disagrees with their views must be animal exploiters. Have you ever spoken negatively about Big Cat Rescue? Congratulations! You're now an exploiter of wild animals and a animal abuser.

All jokes aside, despite what Big Cat Rescue would have you believe, we certainly don't own any wild animal.  That's just one cult-like method Big Cat Rescue takes full advantage of in order to get their followers to believe that all of the people that take issue with their facility are the "bad guys" or "evil doers."
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It's funny that they say exotic cats kept as pets can never be set free. If Big Cat Rescue believes that wholeheartedly, why did they even attempt to rehabilitate a bobcat that was kept as a pet for 4 years? Something is not adding up.
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Isn't it just amazing how Big Cat Rescue claims that the AZA's breeding program benefits conservation even though the page they're writing on pertains to their 20 year plan that called for zoos being shut down? They must really take their followers for fools since anyone can just look up the archived copy of their plan.

Do they also seriously think the first step towards saving wild tigers is by banning them in the United States? Here we were thinking that the best way to save tigers is by getting directly involved where they're located. Does a ban in the U.S. suddenly stop tigers from being poached and having their habitat destroyed?
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"Exploiters claim that if the Big Cats & Public Safety Act were to pass that they would be put out of business and wouldn’t be able to help “rescue” lions, tigers, leopards, ligers and other exotic cats, but that isn’t true.  Big Cat Rescue is one of the most successful sanctuaries in the world and we do it by being open, honest and treating the cats with kindness and respect.  We want sanctuaries to thrive, and they can do that if they employ the same attitudes and behaviors that we have in being a real sanctuary.

Any real sanctuary, who is doing their work for the animals and not their own sense of satisfaction, will share our goal of a world where all wild cats live free."

If they're so open an honest as they claim, why did they feel the need to not disclose the truth about their 20 year plan? They were provided the opportunity to be completely transparent by posting their 20 year plan for their followers to read themselves, but apparently they would rather just resort to covering it up.

Fortunately, many facilities and people opposed Big Cat Rescue's original goal every step of the way. We would hate to imagine the fate of big cats if they hadn't.