As a volunteer at Big Cat Rescue, not only do we provide excellent care for the cats (by cleaning their enclosures every day, feeding them the best food money can buy, providing them with multiple types of enrichment, and operant conditioning, etc), but a major part of our mission is also to "end the trade in exotic cats". As a tour guide, we educate the public every day on the dangers of wild cats being owned by private hands, as well as describe the conditions that many of our cats were rescued from. Big Cat Rescue is not a zoo; we do not tell you just about the species and facts. Many of our cats came from shut-down facilities, relinquished from owners who could not care for them anymore or simply did not want them anymore, or those who aged-out of circuses and could not perform anymore. Part of our mission is to discuss this with our tour guests, and encourage them to become "advocats" (to contact their legislators, and follow campaigns such as ending private breeding of tigers, and banning traveling circuses with animals). The welfare of the cats at Big Cat Rescue is WHY we all volunteer or work for BCR. Not only do we have a huge desire to make the lives of the cats in our care the best they can be, but we also strive to make the lives of other cats we may never know the best they can be as well. All of the volunteers and staff at BCR have pure hearts of gold.