I first heard about Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge while on vacation in July 2014. I immediately started looking into the place and booked a suite during Veteran’s day weekend. The staff was very knowledgeable and told stories about how each cat was rescued from deplorable conditions. What impressed me the most was that they were working so hard to get all of the animals out of small concrete floored cages and into large grassy habitats where they could run and play and enjoy life. At that time there were still a few animals in the small cages and you could definitely tell the difference in the demeanor of the cats in cages and the ones in habitats. Thor the lion was still on concrete during my first visit. His feet were sore because his foot pads were cracked from walking on cold, dry concrete, and it took him a long time to get up and moving. It broke my heart to see how pitiful his condition was. The staff would put Vaseline on the concrete in hoping he would walk in it and get some relief.
When I returned in May 2015, Thor was in a habitat and thriving. He was running around and playing and appeared to be actually enjoying life. It was during my second trip that I met Duke. He is a very large tiger and was in Thor’s old concrete cage. It was so sad to see him pace back and forth in such a tiny cage. I was so excited for him when he was released into his habitat a few months later.
I recently returned in October 2015 and all animals were in habitats and the concrete cages were gone. The staff talked about how excited they were to be building more habitats so they could rescue more animals, and that no more animals would be housed in tiny cages without grass and room to run. I saw Duke and he looked so happy lying in the grass. All of the animals look happy, and they appear to really enjoy the staff and interns. I never saw a staff member or intern who did not seem to be thoroughly enjoying their job. I believe TCWR is the best place a captive animal could hope for. They strive to make sure that all of the animals are fed, medicated, entertained, and are living the most comfortable life possible and in a forever home. I will be making at least yearly trips (five hours for me) to stay a weekend at TCWR. I tell all of my friends about them. TCWR is my Amazon Smile charity and I ask all my friends and colleagues to use Amazon Smile also. As long as TCWR is rescuing and providing excellent care and forever homes for these majestic animals, I will continue to give as much as I can, as often as I can, to their mission. As long as they truly care about the animals in their care and constantly strive to improve; and because they use all donations to help the animals, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge will be my charity of choice.
Review from #MyGivingStory
#MyGivingStory about www.turpentinecreek.org
Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge located in Eureka Springs, AR. Turpentine Creek rescues Tigers, Lions, Cougars, Bobcats, Black Bears, a Grizzly and other assorted creatures that come from private homes and facilities that can no longer take care of these beautiful creatures.
My husband and I were struggling financially, my husband needed a second job. Scott Smith hired him to drive the tour trolley, he has many skills but was grateful to have this job. This blessing of a job helped us make ends that were far from being met, to being met. About 6 months after my husband started working at TCWR they got a call that turned out to be their biggest rescue ever. A woman in Mountainburg, AR had a very large collection of Tigers in very poor conditions and, as we found out later, very poor health. My husband and I went from being grateful for this income, to having hearts sold out to helping these magnificent creatures. In order to rescue all 28 cats, that were eventually transported to TCWR, homes needed to be built for them. My husband took his vacation from his full time job and helped weld homes for them on Rescue Ridge, the new area for these new residents. We saw some very sick animals come to Turpentine Creek and we wished we could help financially but we were barely getting by. I volunteered time in the office while my husband worked but we wanted to do more. Specially for the ones needing extra healthcare.
Today, if one of the animals is sick and they can not be treated on site they need to be anesthsised, transported to the vet (about 40 miles away) kept under anesthsia while being treated and then while being transported back. A very serious situation for the animal, as well as staff. It's always been a dream at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge to build an onsite Vetinary Hospital. Something my husband and I wished we could make happen. Something that seemed totally out of reach but very necessary.
In April of 2014 my husband and I were blessed with a very big windfall and one of the first things we did was make a very large donation towards building the Vet Hospital at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. A campaign kicked off and all the money for the building has been raised but what good will the building be with no equipment? So now there is a big need-some $150,000 or so to equip the Vetinary Hospital-I believe about a third has been raised so far. It would be such a blessing to have this project completely funded. Building has begun on the Vetinary Hospital, we feel so blessed to have been able to help build the Hospital, won't you please help fully fund it? BamBam, the Grizzly, Duke, one of the Tigers, Elvis, one of the Bobcats, and all the other 100 or so residents of Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge would be so grateful...we humans would be pretty thrilled too!
Review from #MyGivingStory
Turpentine Creek Animal Refuge
While vacationing in Eureka Springs, Arkansas a few years ago we saw a sign for Turpentine Creek Animal Refuge with pictures of Tigers. We, being cat lovers, decided to visit the refuge and see all the big cats. What was a tourist activity became much more. It became a learning experience when we took the tour they offer a couple of times daily. We were amazed to learn just how many big cats are in the hands of private owners. The regulations vary from state to state if there are any regulations at all. The thought that their could be a full grown tiger in the basement of your neighbors house was hard to believe but it is true. We learned that there are more tigers in captivity than there are in the wild. The big problem here is proper care. Most people who own one or more of these big cats are ill prepared to care for them. That included diet, medical, and habitat. The tour guides at Turpentine Creek can give you the back stories on all of the animals now in their care. These stories are pretty sad, often tragic. It would have been unbearable for us to hear these stories if not for the fact that now these cats have been taken in and cared for by the folks at Turpentine Creek. This is a very costly operation and this is a worthy cause to support. Some contributors make big donations others like ourselves are very modest donations, but all are welcome. Our first move was to adopt a tiger named Tami and we pay $150 a year which goes directly to the care of Tami. We now make several trips to Turpentine Creek every year and we have taken bowling pins, boxes, and other items for the enrichment of these cats. We occasionally will send other modest monetary donations. We love this place and we love all the cats. They also have bears, lions, leopards, bobcats, cougars and a duck that just wandered in a stayed without going through any formal adoption. I like to say that duck just kind of slipped through the quacks.
Review from #MyGivingStory