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Doing right can be costly

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By Barb Ickes | Saturday, July 12, 2008 4:57 PM CDT | () comments

DAVENPORT doesn’t look so good in Bridgeport, Texas.

In fact, some might say we look bad.

Less than an hour’s drive from Fort Worth, rural Bridgeport is headquarters for the Center for Animal Research and Education, or CARE. The place takes in abused and abandoned big cats, and they’re sheltering more than 50 of them right now.

But, if you visit CARE’s Web site at bigcatcare.org/ homepage.htm, their mountain lions aren’t the first thing you see. Ours are.

The big, red letters jump out at you: “Mountain Lion Rescue Fund.”

It may seem irresponsible to some that the four mountain lions that have spent most of their long lives at Fejervary Children’s Zoo now are in need of rescuing. But it would be even more irresponsible for us to keep them.

Included in CARE’s plea for financial help in rescuing the Fejervary foursome is this explanation: “During a meeting in the first week of June, city council members (in Davenport) decided the mountain lions’ home would be terminated in Iowa.

“With your help, Majanna (7 yrs.), Taz (8 yrs.), Beauty (15 yrs.) and Beast (15 yrs.) will be coming to Texas to live at CARE.”

The news should, in fact, be cause for celebration. Fejervary, which has no full-time curator, has no business in the cougar business. And CARE is all about the health and happiness of big cats.

We’re not completely abandoning the animals. We’ve vowed to get them to Texas and are even sending along a dowry of some sort. City officials haven’t said how much we’re sending, probably because Davenport simply can’t afford to do right by all those animals.

The two elderly cougars, Beauty and Beast, for instance, have outlived the expectancy for wild cougars and are approaching the life expectancy for cougars in captivity. Their seniority is one factor that complicates their move.

At 15, the pair could have difficulty with the Texas heat and will have to be relocated during the winter months. But it likely will take at least that long for CARE to raise the $150,000 they need to accommodate our cats.

Davenport couldn’t possibly come up with that kind of dough for the cats and not pay the freight on new housing for the other displaced Fejervary residents.

Our three wolves have been relocated to New Mexico, and Romeo the red fox soon will be joining them. Murray the bobcat has a new home in Minnesota, and Isabelle the hawk will be moving soon, pending a background check on her new digs.

George the elk is another problem because he’s got a full rack right now and will be highly difficult to move. Ditto for dozens of prairie dogs who, thanks to the monkeypox scare, can’t cross state lines and have no place to go as of now.

In other words, Davenport has more to worry about than the cougar foursome.

It’s a shame all around, really. A great place like CARE has to beg and borrow for our cougars, the future of others at Fejervary remains uncertain and nobody’s got the extra money right now to pitch in the way we should to take care of our responsibilities.

“Yes, it stinks, but sometimes the responsible thing to do is let them go,” CARE director Heidi Berry said of the Fejervary situation. “The problem isn’t just in Davenport, though.

“It’s a global issue that’s resulted from the economy. People need to open their eyes to the fact that animals are suffering, too. It’s not just Davenport, Iowa.”

Kind of helps with the shame, doesn’t it?

Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.