Why One Big Cat Sanctuary Is Staying Put In The Wildfire Zone

A nonprofit sanctuary nestled successful the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada mountains keeps uncovering itself adjacent the way of wildfires. But it's not moving.

"If you really person to determination the cats," Dale Anderson said, "it is simply a large undertaking, truthful the past happening you privation to bash is person to determination the animals."

Anderson, a erstwhile hose pilot, founded Cat Haven 23 years ago. He says fires person go a perennial menace successful caller years.

DALE ANDERSON: "At the opening of the year, occurrence season, we spell done each our checks. We get crates out. We bash prep connected making definite that cats are acceptable to spell if we person to."

JASON BELLINI: "Where bash they spell if there's an emergency?"

ANDERSON: "If we person to evacuate — which we did a implicit evacuation successful 2015 with the Rough occurrence — we had cats successful 4 oregon 5 antithetic facilities ... Because again, if it's conscionable a one-day oregon two-day evac oregon something, you could astir apt support them successful the crate for a abbreviated play of time. But we were retired for 2 weeks."

Anderson said the KNP Complex Fire successful Sequoia National Park came wrong 10 miles of Cat Haven successful aboriginal October.

ANDERSON: "We started making telephone calls and rounding up locations to beryllium capable to bring cats to, and we started getting drugs unneurotic due to the fact that if you person to mobilize cats to get them out, you person to marque definite you person capable drugs connected site. It's not conscionable the normal. Our veterinarian has drugs to beryllium capable to sound down a feline to bash an introspection oregon bash thing that way, but you person to sound down 25 large cats."

BELLINI: "Which you person to bash earlier you tin transport them?"

ANDERSON: "We person to bash it to beryllium capable to get them successful crates. We're feeding the cats successful the crate due to the fact that that trains them to spell into the crate. So if we person a fire, we tin get the feline successful the crate a batch easier if they’re bare and privation their nutrient they spell into the crate and adjacent the doorway and past it's not arsenic stressful for the cat."

BELLINI: "What astir the smoke? Is that a origin for you guys?"

ANDERSON: "Maybe agelong word we're going to person immoderate smoke-related issues that mightiness travel up. We ticker for that benignant of thing. Most of them spell wrong successful their dens and conscionable rest. They're not retired moving astir doing things."

Fires aside, these are chaotic times successful the large feline satellite due to the fact that of the spotlight Netflix's "Tiger King" enactment connected the arguable practices of immoderate large feline parks. Anderson said he's known Joe Exotic for a while, and 1 of his cats adjacent came from the Netflix star.

Now Anderson says he's nether expanding unit from carnal rights activists who reason the caging of large cats. 

"If you don't similar seeing a feline successful an enclosure, that's OK," Anderson said. "Don't travel here. But what I'm doing present isn't atrocious for the cats."

He says what's bully for large cats successful the chaotic is the wealth that sanctuaries similar his rise to assistance support them. 

"Cats are autarkic animals," Anderson said. "They deliberation astir their ain situation. Their ain involvement doesn't mean they can't beryllium affable and kind, conscionable similar a canine would, but they besides person that autarkic tone to them. So cats, erstwhile you beryllium determination and say, wherefore bash I privation to enactment with cats? I beryllium determination and go, due to the fact that I similar that independence. I similar to beryllium independent. I similar to person my ain thinking, my ain mode of doing things, and cats bash the aforesaid thing."

Anderson's mode is staying successful the occurrence zone, trying to debar the feline fights.