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Image 4 out of 4

Series Images:

Control: it's something that as humans, we like to do. We try to control our future's outcome, our children in the grocery store and even how another person behaves, but there is one thing we as humans do not enjoy: someone controlling us. It's a vicious cycle of wanting control but not wanting to be controlled. We take this into nature, controlling the landscape and even wildlife so it's safer and more convenient for ourselves. But what if nature doesn't want to be controlled? What then? Wild and big cat's have been a target for humans to control either for profit, as a pet or for entertainment. When a wild cat gets out of our control, it can be disastrous and result in death for either the human and/or animal. It's upsetting when an animal acts on its instinct and is killed because of their inability to act domestically.
There are still fur farms in America where Bobcats and Lynxes are being bread and raised only to be slaughtered for their fur. Tigers in America are on the black market where their bodies are worth more dead than alive. White tigers come from inbreeding and yet most people who pay to see a white tiger have no idea of the health issues that lay underneath their fur- they just look pretty. It's the same concept we do to ourselves: we will do anything unhealthy, like starve ourselves, just to fit into a pair of jeans. Unlike humans, animals do not connect through the same senses as we do. Once we smell, touch, watch or listen to someone, it's personal and can create a connection between two people. But it is not the same with animals. Most people think a domesticated cat is showing affection when it rubs it head on a person’s leg, but in reality the cat contains glands on the side of their mouth that they are using to mark their territory.
I myself am still researching and pondering the fine line that exists between preserving and educating ourselves about animal species versus controlling them. Being in an enclosure is not always the healthiest environment, nor are the animals truly free but programs in zoo's help people learn more about animals and how we can take part in conservation.

About Catera
Male Bobcat

DOB 7/24/97
Death: August 2010

His parents, Shiloh and Indian Summer had been a bonded pair for seven years before coming to live on Easy Street. They had never reproduced, so we left them together and of course a littler of three resulted in just a few short months. The mother, on the third day, began killing the kittens and by the time the Founder could get to her, two were dead and she was biting the last one on the chest and abdomen. She snatched the bleeding kitten away from her and took it to medicate and bottle raise. It wasn't long before the she discovered why the mother had brutally attacked her offspring. Catera (named for theCaddy that zigs) was obviously brain damaged and from the condition of all three kittens, it was apparent that they had not been nursing although the dam had stayed with them faithfully. It took hours to feed Catera and every time, it was as if it was the first time for him. It took him a year to get on to solid foods and again, every meal was like the first he ever had. If his surrogate mother walks out of the room and walks back in ten minutes later, he has forgotten who she was and only through the vocalizations they have shared over and over and over does he again recognize her. Every day is new and exciting to Catera and he is quite possibly the happiest cat living on Easy Street. Catera runs incessantly in circles and attacks everyone he can't remember, which is everyone he knows. Catera has shown much improvement over the years and is doing very well with his operant conditioning sessions. He has learned 3 behaviors in only a few months.Catera has his own Cat-a-tat that provides plenty of running room. Most of our bobcats were rescued from fur farms where they were being raised to slaughter for their fur. Some were being sold at auction where taxidermists would buy them and club them to death in the parking lot, but a few were born here in the early days when we were ignorant of the truth and were being told by the breeders and dealers that these cats should be bred for "conservation." Once we learned that there are NO captive breeding programs that actually contribute to conservation in the wild we began neutering and spaying our cats in the mid 1990's. Knowing what we do about the intelligence and magnificence of these creatures we do not believe that exotic cats should be bred for lives in cages.

Prior permission from Jeff Kremer (the Director of Donor Appreciation at Big Cat Rescue) to use Catera in my senior show and information.
Link to Original text: [link]

All other content is copyright under my name "Amanda McNeil" and my studio name "Amandas Sketches".

All done in "Photoshop CS5"

Special thank you to the following for their critique and support:

You can support and/or donate to Big Cat Rescue by sponsoring a cat! [link]

Description
Image 4 out of 4

Series Images:

Control: it's something that as humans, we like to do. We try to control our future's outcome, our children in the grocery store and even how another person behaves, but there is one thing we as humans do not enjoy: someone controlling us. It's a vicious cycle of wanting control but not wanting to be controlled. We take this into nature, controlling the landscape and even wildlife so it's safer and more convenient for ourselves. But what if nature doesn't want to be controlled? What then? Wild and big cat's have been a target for humans to control either for profit, as a pet or for entertainment. When a wild cat gets out of our control, it can be disastrous and result in death for either the human and/or animal. It's upsetting when an animal acts on its instinct and is killed because of their inability to act domestically.
There are still fur farms in America where Bobcats and Lynxes are being bread and raised only to be slaughtered for their fur. Tigers in America are on the black market where their bodies are worth more dead than alive. White tigers come from inbreeding and yet most people who pay to see a white tiger have no idea of the health issues that lay underneath their fur- they just look pretty. It's the same concept we do to ourselves: we will do anything unhealthy, like starve ourselves, just to fit into a pair of jeans. Unlike humans, animals do not connect through the same senses as we do. Once we smell, touch, watch or listen to someone, it's personal and can create a connection between two people. But it is not the same with animals. Most people think a domesticated cat is showing affection when it rubs it head on a person’s leg, but in reality the cat contains glands on the side of their mouth that they are using to mark their territory.
I myself am still researching and pondering the fine line that exists between preserving and educating ourselves about animal species versus controlling them. Being in an enclosure is not always the healthiest environment, nor are the animals truly free but programs in zoo's help people learn more about animals and how we can take part in conservation.

About Catera
Male Bobcat

DOB 7/24/97
Death: August 2010

His parents, Shiloh and Indian Summer had been a bonded pair for seven years before coming to live on Easy Street. They had never reproduced, so we left them together and of course a littler of three resulted in just a few short months. The mother, on the third day, began killing the kittens and by the time the Founder could get to her, two were dead and she was biting the last one on the chest and abdomen. She snatched the bleeding kitten away from her and took it to medicate and bottle raise. It wasn't long before the she discovered why the mother had brutally attacked her offspring. Catera (named for theCaddy that zigs) was obviously brain damaged and from the condition of all three kittens, it was apparent that they had not been nursing although the dam had stayed with them faithfully. It took hours to feed Catera and every time, it was as if it was the first time for him. It took him a year to get on to solid foods and again, every meal was like the first he ever had. If his surrogate mother walks out of the room and walks back in ten minutes later, he has forgotten who she was and only through the vocalizations they have shared over and over and over does he again recognize her. Every day is new and exciting to Catera and he is quite possibly the happiest cat living on Easy Street. Catera runs incessantly in circles and attacks everyone he can't remember, which is everyone he knows. Catera has shown much improvement over the years and is doing very well with his operant conditioning sessions. He has learned 3 behaviors in only a few months.Catera has his own Cat-a-tat that provides plenty of running room. Most of our bobcats were rescued from fur farms where they were being raised to slaughter for their fur. Some were being sold at auction where taxidermists would buy them and club them to death in the parking lot, but a few were born here in the early days when we were ignorant of the truth and were being told by the breeders and dealers that these cats should be bred for "conservation." Once we learned that there are NO captive breeding programs that actually contribute to conservation in the wild we began neutering and spaying our cats in the mid 1990's. Knowing what we do about the intelligence and magnificence of these creatures we do not believe that exotic cats should be bred for lives in cages.

Prior permission from Jeff Kremer (the Director of Donor Appreciation at Big Cat Rescue) to use Catera in my senior show and information.
Link to Original text: [link]

All other content is copyright under my name "Amanda McNeil" and my studio name "Amandas Sketches".

All done in "Photoshop CS5"

Special thank you to the following for their critique and support:

You can support and/or donate to Big Cat Rescue by sponsoring a cat! [link]