Posted on 01/25/2006 5:13:32 AM PST by corbie
On Thursday, January 26, 2006, the Athens Township Board will meet to address the dilemma posed by the Wildcat Sanctuary of Isanti County, Minnesota. Executive Director Tammy Quist launched the facility some five years ago to further the mission of providing a permanent, nonprofit home for abused, neglected, or discarded exotic wildcats. The sanctuary, which covers a 10-acre expanse, currently supports a population of 20 cats, ranging in size from the serval to the Bengal tiger that is at the crux of the zoning dispute.
Ms. Quist returned to her home state of Minnesota, determined to found an organization that would provide a true sanctuary for wildcats, one where they could spend their lives without being bred or sold or euthanized. Ms. Quist found a major challenge in Meme, a 275-pound, then-20-year-old Bengal tiger. The tiger’s owner intended to shoot her because she was old, infirm, and incapable of producing more tiger cubs. The Isanti zoning administrator claimed that the township had only permitted Quist to rescue Meme, not rehabilitate her, because the town limited Quist to house only those cats that were smaller than cougars. Ms. Quist believes that members of the board had given “verbal approval” to Meme’s continuing care—“grandfathering in” her residence at the sanctuary—because her age and medical condition made it unlikely that she could survive the stresses of a move. Then, in December 2004, the zoning committee further restricted Quist’s onsite cat population to twenty animals, thus vitiating Ms. Quist’s hopes of establishing a 50-100 acre facility to further the mission of the Wildcat Sanctuary: “to provide for the humane rescue and sheltering of unwanted, mistreated and privately owned wildcats.”
Thursday’s evening meeting is crucial to whether the Wildcat Sanctuary will be permitted to remain in Isanti County, or will be allowed to stay only until an alternative location can be found and developed for them, or will be ordered to “cease and desist” immediately.
Only fourteen wildcat shelters exist in this country, far too few to rescue and rehabilitate those exotic cats that have been unsuccessfully kept as pets. At such rescue/ rehabilitation operations like Tippi Hedren’s Shambala, wildcats receive food, shelter, medical attention, a measure of freedom, and, most importantly, the dignity they deserve after what has been, for many of them, years of maltreatment and/or neglect. When Meme the tiger came to the Wildcat Sanctuary, it was her only alternative to being shot by her previous owner, who had bred her for profit throughout 20 years of captivity. In that entire time she had never felt grass under her feet.
These animals are being maintained in pristine condition, in a facility that has been highly praised throughout the country. The magnificent cats are sheltered—they are not displayed, and therefore are no threat to anyone. Volunteers—many from the Twin Cities—regularly travel to Isanti County to assure the well-being of these animals through hard work and fund-raising. Trained staff frequently assist law enforcement agents, animal control personnel, humane society workers, and DNR officers statewide in rescuing exotic cats that have been reportedly been kept in despicable, unsafe conditions. The entire operation has rightly received praise from veterinarians, zoo curators, law enforcement officials, and animal activists alike.
Zoning compliance is not sufficient reason to close this excellent facility—such a restriction is an artificial construct, likely prompted more by motives of profit or “not in my backyard” prejudice than civic duty. Compassion demands that Meme and the other residents of the Wildcat Sanctuary be allowed to live their remaining lives in peace. Federal law requires that their lives not be further endangered.
Our human responsibility to those creatures that we have exploited should be both a necessary and sufficient reason to allow this sanctuary to remain. If we don’t have the compassion to share our environment with them, we have condemned these majestic animals to a death as miserable as their life in captivity.
If you believe that these exotic cats should be allowed rescue and rehabilitation in Minnesota, please express your sentiments in a polite, positive letter to the Athens Township Board, and forward it via email to Rachel Rosen {rrosen@ramsaydevore.com}, legal counsel, who will assure that public input will be conveyed.
What is the motivation behind the municipality's crusade to close the facility?
I dont care.
big cat ping
No one seems to know exactly why the bureaucrats have chosen to shut down a such a widely praised, beneficent endeavor. Rumor has it--deosn't it always?--that someone in an adjacent plot of land has received a "can't be refused" offer from some developer. The sanctuary's attempts at expanding have been thwarted, so my guess is that a "Kelo-like" overtake is possible.
Another reason for ousting the sanctuary might be fear of liability. Minnesota has witnessed several incidents in the past few years in which exotics living in "petting zoos" have mauled and/or severely injured visitors, due to the obvious negligence of the caretakes.
Personally, I would rather live next to a facility like the sanctuary, in which the wild animals are thoughtfully confined and well-maintained, than have a junior high school bound my backyard.
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