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Chase Community Giving opened up their second round of voting today, January 15, to allow people to vote for their five favorite charities from a list of 100 chosen during the first round of voting. The top 100 charities each received $25,000 for making it in to the final 100. Now they are competing to win one million dollars. The charity with the most votes within the next week (voting ends on the 22nd) will get one million dollars. There will also be five runners-up who will receive $100,000 each.

Male Lion and his white tiger female friend at Big Cat Rescue, 2008.

Male Lion and his white tiger female friend at Big Cat Rescue, 2008.

I’d like to ask everyone to choose Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida as one of their five charities to vote for. To learn a bit about this organization, visit their web site: Big Cat Rescue

With the one million dollars, Big Cat Rescue would support the cats they already have in their sanctuary (can you imagine the food and vet bills for over 100 giant cats?), end the abuse of these beautiful animals in captivity, and help save the tiger from the path to extinction in the wild. 

If you voted in the first round of the Chase Community Giving contest, you should already be a fan of their site. If you are, you can vote by going to http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/1259795

If you have not already voted in the first round, find out how to sign up to vote by going to http://www.votecats.com/

Joe and I actually went on a tour of Big Cat Rescue in 2008 when we were in Tampa for a pharmacy conference. The sanctuary for big cats contains over 100 lions, tigers, cougars, and more. Sadly, many of these gorgeous creatures came from horrific conditions. Some were purchased by people when they were little and cute, but once they started to grow, and grow, and those sharp nails and teeth became a worry, they did not want them any more.

Does anyone have a scratching post in their home big enough for this guy?

Does anyone have a scratching post in their home big enough for this guy?

Some of the rescued cats came from fur farms or auctions where the animals would be killed for their skins. Yes, big cat mills exist similar to puppy mills. The major ones right now are tiger mills. Because many cultures still believe there are “mystic” properties involved with various tiger body parts, and because the animals are facing extinction, creative humans, as they always do, have found a way around the laws by breeding the tigers in captivity.

Tigers love water and each of the tiger habitats have a pool for the cats to swim in.

Tigers love water and each of the tiger habitats have a pool for the cats to swim in.

Big Cat Rescue saves cats from these situations. On our tour, we saw the different habitat areas that were set up for each cat. They all had things provided to help alleviate boredom and keep the cats engaged. Many of the big cats love to play with large balls and the tigers, because they love water, all had pools built into their areas. 

I cannot imagine the amount of time and money and love that must go into caring for this many large cats.

We were warned on our tour not to get too close to any of the fences–a domestic cat can rip you up–imagine what a tiger’s claws could do. We watched a tiger using a tree as a scratching post. And just like with male domestic cats, male tigers spray to mark their territory. We were warned to watch out for that, too!

Please use one of your five votes on the Chase Community Giving Facebook site to vote for Big Cat Rescue. I’ll tell you about the only other animal rescue group that made it into the top 100 tomorrow. But if you’d like to get a jump on me, vote for Hope for Paws, too. You can check them out here: http://www.hopeforpaws.org/

That will take care of two of your votes. You’ll have to figure out who to vote for with your remaining three. I still have to do that, too, so if anyone can tell me about a super charity in the top 100 that I should also choose, please let me know.

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