Carole Baskin And Her Husband Are Moving Their Cats To Arkansas & They'll Sell The Sanctuary
They're saying goodbye to all the cool cats and kittens.
A cat at Big Cat Rescue. Right: Carole Baskin on Tiger King.
Netflix's Tiger King docu-series premiered in 2020, and in the months following, all eyes were on Carole Baskin and her Big Cat Rescue sanctuary. Recently, her husband, Howard Baskin, announced they're moving their cats to a refuge in Arkansas and selling the property in the near future.
They're saying goodbye to all the cool cats and kittens.
"Big Cat Rescue has entered into an agreement with Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, an accredited sanctuary in Arkansas, to move most of Big Cat Rescue’s cats to Turpentine Creek where we will continue to fund their care for the rest of their lives," the owners wrote on their website.
Baskin wrote their goal was to always go out of business, as their rescue center was a place to give the cats the best life in their care, put an end to the abuse and avoid extinction.
In December 2022, the Big Cat Public Safety Act (BCPSA) was signed into law. The law ends cub petting and prevents private ownership of big cats in the backyards of those without a USDA exhibitor’s license.
Baskin notes that since the law came into effect, there has been a large decline in animals to care for, and while most of their facility is "geriatric," it's financially not feasible to keep the sanctuary running until the last cat dies, so they plan to merge with the Arkansas refuge.
As for Big Cat Rescue, they hope to sell the property once the last feline leaves.
"Once we have no cats at the sanctuary, we will sell the sanctuary property and use the proceeds to fund these species-saving projects in the wild."