Great Cats World Park
Encyclopedia
Great Cats World Park is a big cat
zoo
. It is located a few miles south of Cave Junction, Oregon
. It is owned by Craig Wagner, and he and a select few staff members involve themselves personally in the raising of the cats: feeding them, training them and sometimes sleeping with them as babies. The park's mission is to educate the public about these feline ambassadors to increase conservation and awareness. The park's breeding projects involve the Amur Leopard
, a highly endangered cat that will most likely be extinct from the wild by 2012, and the White Tiger, a cat whose genetic diversity is highly threatened by only a captive gene pool. The breeding projects at the park ensure higher genetic diversity for these beautiful and endangered animals. Craig lives with the cats and has a strong relationship with these predators, despite being attacked by their charges over the years. The guided tours at the park ensure an up front and personal visit with over 16 species of wild cats, including a Clouded Leopard, Ocelot, Jaguars, and Snow Leopard, to name a few. The cats are highly bonded with these trainers and amicable towards the other staff members, relationships not seen at any zoo.
after he accidentally met a cougar, and is federally licensed to own and show big cats. In 1998, he brought his cats to Wildlife Safari
in Winston, Oregon
, where he periodically returns to put on cat shows. After several years in Winston, Wagner moved to Cave Junction and set up Great Cats World Park.
As of 2007, Great Cats World Park has 32 cats, of 17 different species, including cougars, leopard
s, jaguar
s, lion
s, Siberian tiger cubs, a fishing cat
, and an ocelot
.
and fined $10,000. Owner Craig Wagner pleaded guilty in June 2007 to purchasing the park's ocelot for $3,000. There is a near-total ban on ocelot sales in order to discourage the commercialization of the rare animals. The ocelot was purchased from the Isis Society for Inspirational Studies, who were given two years probation and fined $60,000. The ocelot will continue to live at Great Parks World Park. According to Phil Land, the resident U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent in charge, "Sometimes it's actually better to leave them with the people that care for them. Then we don't have to try to find a place for them."
Big cat
The term big cat – which is not a biological classification – is used informally to distinguish the larger felid species from smaller ones. One definition of "big cat" includes the four members of the genus Panthera: the tiger, lion, jaguar, and leopard. Members of this genus are the only cats able...
zoo
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
. It is located a few miles south of Cave Junction, Oregon
Cave Junction, Oregon
Cave Junction, incorporated in 1948, is a city in Josephine County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,883. Its motto is the "Gateway to the Oregon Caves," and the city got its name by virtue of its location at the junction of Redwood Highway and Caves Highway...
. It is owned by Craig Wagner, and he and a select few staff members involve themselves personally in the raising of the cats: feeding them, training them and sometimes sleeping with them as babies. The park's mission is to educate the public about these feline ambassadors to increase conservation and awareness. The park's breeding projects involve the Amur Leopard
Amur Leopard
The Amur leopard , also known as the Far Eastern leopard, Korean leopard, and Manchurian leopard is one of nine recognised subspecies of leopard. It is a wild feline predator native to the mountainous areas of the Russian Far East. It used to inhabit the forests of Korea and China, but it has...
, a highly endangered cat that will most likely be extinct from the wild by 2012, and the White Tiger, a cat whose genetic diversity is highly threatened by only a captive gene pool. The breeding projects at the park ensure higher genetic diversity for these beautiful and endangered animals. Craig lives with the cats and has a strong relationship with these predators, despite being attacked by their charges over the years. The guided tours at the park ensure an up front and personal visit with over 16 species of wild cats, including a Clouded Leopard, Ocelot, Jaguars, and Snow Leopard, to name a few. The cats are highly bonded with these trainers and amicable towards the other staff members, relationships not seen at any zoo.
History
Craig Wagner first began raising big cats at the age of 23 in MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
after he accidentally met a cougar, and is federally licensed to own and show big cats. In 1998, he brought his cats to Wildlife Safari
Wildlife Safari
Wildlife Safari is a safari park in Winston, Oregon, United States. It is home to more than 500 animals that wander freely over the park, which guests can drive through. The park also includes a walk through Safari Village that is home to some of the park's smaller animals...
in Winston, Oregon
Winston, Oregon
Winston is a city in Douglas County, Oregon, United States. The population was 4,613 at the 2000 census. It is home to Wildlife Safari.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:...
, where he periodically returns to put on cat shows. After several years in Winston, Wagner moved to Cave Junction and set up Great Cats World Park.
Cats
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
s, jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
s, lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, Siberian tiger cubs, a fishing cat
Fishing Cat
The Fishing Cat is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. In 2008, the IUCN classified the fishing cat as endangered since they are concentrated primarily in wetland habitats, which are increasingly being settled, degraded and converted...
, and an ocelot
Ocelot
The ocelot , pronounced /ˈɒsəˌlɒt/, also known as the dwarf leopard or McKenney's wildcat is a wild cat distributed over South and Central America and Mexico, but has been reported as far north as Texas and in Trinidad, in the Caribbean...
.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service probation
In September 2007,Great Cats World Park was sentenced by a Federal Court to one month probation for violation of the Endangered Species ActEndangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
and fined $10,000. Owner Craig Wagner pleaded guilty in June 2007 to purchasing the park's ocelot for $3,000. There is a near-total ban on ocelot sales in order to discourage the commercialization of the rare animals. The ocelot was purchased from the Isis Society for Inspirational Studies, who were given two years probation and fined $60,000. The ocelot will continue to live at Great Parks World Park. According to Phil Land, the resident U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent in charge, "Sometimes it's actually better to leave them with the people that care for them. Then we don't have to try to find a place for them."