Exotic Feline Rescue Center

We were so happy to get to spend time with my Croatian professor, Lidija.  We wanted to take her to a place she probably hadn't seen yet, so we chose the Exotic Feline Rescue Center.  We hadn't seen it yet, either, and we thought Liv would really love it.  It was such an incredible experience!  We were inches away from lions, tigers, and cougars.  We walked right along a chain link fence, and four to five tigers followed along with us.  We also saw a white tiger, and the lion behind us was not happy we were looking at it.  I was a little terrified as it roared at us and lunged towards us, trying to push the fence with his massive head.  Of course we were fine, but that didn't keep me from being nervous and trying to protect Liv.

Liv just loved the animals and didn't seem scared at all.  She would wave and say hello and yell over and over, "Tiger! Tiger!  Come here!"  She also asked the golden tabby tiger, "How are you doing?"  It was pretty fun to see how much she liked them.

They were all so beautiful, and each had its own sad story of how it got there.  These are almost all rescue cats that came from really bad situations. Some of the owners had thought they would just starve them to death so they wouldn't have to take care of them anymore, some were kept in cages so small they could only walk in a tight circle, and others were underfed, escaped their owners, came from zoos, or were sent there to save their lives.

At the first enclosure, we were so busy looking at this little guy that we didn't notice two huge lions were sleeping right behind us, about two feet away!  I am now convinced I have no survival instincts and would die if left in the wild.

 These are the two lions that were right behind us

 Go cougars!

 Mom, Liv, and the cougar

 They told us this tiger is easily irritated and would back up and spray us if we waited around too long.  Needless to say, we didn't

 Daddy, Liv, and the tiger

 This was the scariest lion I have ever seen.  I really thought we might die.  I switched Liv to my other arm so she'd be farther away from him.  A lot of good that would have done us, as I would have been no match for him.  But hey, you've got to protect your young, right?

 All of these animals were so gorgeous!

 A little bit safer distance

 This is a golden tabby tiger.  They can't be bred for, so few of them exist.  They come from breeding white tigers.

 This tiger was finishing up his lunch, which Liv thought was an apple (no, no, it was a large bone of what had probably been a horse or cow)

 Lidija, Liv, and I in front of a tiger

The end of our tour.  Liv was glad she could finally pet one!