I like to think of myself as being in touch. I don't know how I missed it, but missed it I did. I'm talking about Catty Shack Wildlife Sanctuary in Jacksonville, not far from Amelia Island, Florida. It's been around for over 25 years and I only recently found out about it!
According to our tour guide, the tour was included in the price of entry, there are currently 45 animals living there. Sadly, the animals come from situations where they have been mistreated, illegally owned or in too small cages. Whatever the reason, once a cat enters this happy
place, it is welcomed and cared for there the rest of its life.
Open to the public on the weekends, we took granddaughter Ava on a Sunday afternoon in July during her stay at our house aka Grammy Camp. Man alive, was it ever hot for us, but not for those cats. We arrived to find mostly tigers, also lions, cougars, leopards and even arctic foxes, almost all asleep in their huge wire fence enclosures. That was until about 2 pm when all the cats came alive, seemingly for no particular reason. Then in a carefully choreographed dance of unlocking and opening gates, the cats knew the drill, and momentarily wandered into their holding spaces. It was then we saw the head keeper driving around in his jeep, placing treats for them on cement slabs inside their cages. The huge kitties instinctively understood it was time for their snacks and when directed back into their homes, they were excited to munch on large paper red, white, and blue balls filled with chicken parts. As it was explained, they don't eat the paper. They remove the chicken, gobble it down and play with the smashed and torn balls. There is no fighting because there are enough balls to go around.
Oh, did I mention we watched as several of the tigers enjoyed a cooling splash-about and swim in pools inside their enclosures.
In a perfect world, these wonderful creatures would be living free. It is clear the folks running the Catty Shack love their animals and treat them as the treasures they are.
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