Big Cat Rescue Reviews

Amazing sanctuary. My husband and I had a private tour in mid November, and saw how hard this organization works to provide a forever home for these big cats, while tirelessly advocating on their behalf. They don't allow visitors to touch the cats, or even touch them themselves unless it is medically necessary. They use healthy methods of enrichment and while not all their enclosures are very large, they are certainly large enough for the cats to play, eat, sleep, and whatever else they decide to do with their days. All the animals looked healthy and very well taken care of. Can't wait to visit again!

Things to Know: You Need a tour reservation to come. There are specific tours if you are coming with kids under 10. Come 20-30min early.

It was a wonderful experience! Saw so many different wild cats up close. Bridget was a wonderful tour guide. You listen to a headset to learn about each cats story. Duchess is such a beautiful Tiger and was super photogenic.

Don t listen to the bad reviews. They are either ignorant or spammers and have never actually been there. The cages are big enough. Would they like them to be bigger...of course! But they do well with the space given. They have 2 large vacation areas that they rotate the cats thru.

loved it! everyone should visit it and bring their children for this wonderfull and educational experience!

I want to bring my children here, they have an awesome collection of big beautiful cats!

Went on the feeding tour and enjoyed it very much. It was very informative and it was so great seeing the animals feeding and the bones crunching as they ate. The tour guides were very nice and we didn't feel rush at all, and got some great pictures of all the cats we saw! Can't wait to go back again!

Took my gf there as a Christmas gift and purchased the private keeper tour. Our guide was very nice and extremely knowledgeable and showed us around the entire facility. We made toys for the cats to play with and learned an absolute ton about all the cats the facility houses. They do great work there and really care for the animals.

Great tour. Really opens one's eyes to the abuse of these grand creatures.

Amazing place!!!! The animals are very well cared for and everything is perfectly maintained. The cats seem happy and healthy and peaceful. It exceeded my expectations and I can't wait to visit again!

Awesome experience!!! The people working there are totally committed to the well being of those big cats. A big thank you to Barbara Ann, Babs, and Kristen.

Love what y'all do. Would love to work for you guys! Much better than certain people in say....... Kaufman TX........you know who I mean

My bf and I took the keeper tour to see the cats. Our experience was fun, informative and full of cat viewings. We started with making cat toys for the big cats. It was fun to see that catnip is an attraction no matter the size of the cat. But I learned a few new things to try with my tiny housecats to keep them entertained. It is great that these large rescues have landed in such a caring environment. We saw most of the cats on our tour since they had learned to associate the wagon being pulled by the staff to mean good treats. It was fun watching some of them pretend indifference until we started to walk away...then out they came for their snacks, lol.

Beautiful animals, seem well kept and the caretakers care about them. The stories behind the cats were sad but I appreciate being made aware of it. Overall the tour was a great experience and we will come back, however our interaction with one lady named "Karma" was unpleasant, she seemed annoyed at our questions (this was our first time there) and was clearly pissed off when I asked for a Military discount. My husband has been in the Air Force for almost 30 years and is currently deployed. I did not appreciate her attitude and approach. Other than her everyone else we interacted with was friendly and informative.

Great place to see animals rescued from horrendous lives. Very interesting and informative.

Whenever we make a trip to the West Coast of Florida we always make a visit to the Big Cat Rescue. We have visited several sanctuaries around the country and put Big Cat Rescue at the very top of the list.

All enclosures are fashioned as closely as possible to the natural habitat of each animal. Consequently it is a peaceful place for them to live out their lives (retirement) as if they were in the wild.

To the credit of the BCR their tours are considerably smaller than those of other sanctuaries we have visited. Total number of people for day tours is 20 people. This is done so as not to upset the animals. The price of tours are very much in line with other sanctuaries and in some cases less. Public is NOT permitted to wander around outside of the tour as in other sanctuaries. Income from the tours provide money which is used for the benefit of the inhabitants and the wonderful education provided by BCR in regard to exotic animals.

Every animal has it's own cage to go to when their food is distributed. As a matter of fact, if one is at the BCR a half hour or so before feeding, due to the schedule one would see animals sitting patiently in their feeding cage waiting for the feeding. Animals are given any necessary medications and carefully observed while in these small cages. Also it is at this time that keepers clean out the enclosures which have always been clean and well cared for when we have visited.

BCR provides daily exercise for the cats by the numerous platforms, trees and ponds in the enclosures. Boredom is non-existant for the cats at this sanctuary due to the many different stimulating "toys" and activities planned for them. At Halloween, pumpkins are placed in the enclosures, Christmas trees are donated during the season and add new smells and as cats of all sizes are curious, the trees give them an opportunity to investigate something new. Large exercise balls are in the enclosures, dens to hide in, balls hanging from branches to bat around, various items made out of cardboard boxes to tear apart ......I could go on and on mentioning all the creative ways they do things to keep these majestic animals happy and content.

BCR has wonderful medical facilities on it's property and many a cat has been saved pain and suffering due to the compassion shown by these people. They have a tremendous volunteer organization "Skipaholics" that help monitor the recovery of cats that have had surgery.

I have found their tour guides to be very informative and excited over all that they are accomplishing in giving these animals a chance to live out their lives in a healthy and peaceful atmosphere. The tours not only provide an opportunity to see BCR but they are extremely educational. It is because of my first tour at the sanctuary that I became interested in Animal Welfare and the plight of these big cats. I would also add, that I am still learning from the newsletters, and informative postings they provide.

I would give BCR a Five Star rating any day and encourage people who want to experience an overwhelming adventure to visit the Sanctuary. They will come away with a greater respect and understanding of what a Sanctuary is all about.
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I loved it here and what BCR does for these cats. Do the feeding tour for a more intimate experience and you won't regret it. Bring water, it gets hot fast. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and the volunteers were amazing with the cats. It was quite an experience to see the bond between the cats and volunteers!

First time there... the light rain made me feel like I was in the rain forest, so in a peculiar way, it was a welcomed weather pattern. BCR provided free ponchos which was very nice. Tour guide "Alissa" was very knowledgeable and walked the entire tour backwards. That would've been even more impressive if she'd done it in heels, Ginger Rogers style, but still... Well done, BCR.

This was a great day trip for my son and I. We went in the kids tour with a small group of about 3 other families. The volunteers were knowledgeable and kept the children engaged and happy while explaining the importance of protecting our wild life. I definitely recommend if you are near Tampa to stop by for a tour.

The gold standard for how "rescue sanctuaries" should be run. BCR respects their cats for the wild animals they are and not for what humans want them to be - pets.

It was totally awesome. I loved the entire visit. The Big cats are wonderful and or guides were perfect. I will recommend this beautiful place to everyone.
Thank you so much.
Also it was another adventure for my daughter and I to do.

Very enjoyable tour, a worthwhile experience, would not hesitate to go again.

I'm thankful that Big Cat Rescue are taking care of these cats and showing them the love they deserve.

This is a really neat place to visit. It's cool to learn about the big cats and see them up close. Great place!

Wonderful!!!!! Thank god someone helps these animals.

Cats! Giant, gorgeous, amazing cats! What else needs to be said? Oh, and the staff is friendly.

Fantastic tour of the facilities - guide was great and you can tell all who work there love the cats. Only downside is the fact it makes you wonder how folk can be so cruel in their treatment of animals. Good job there is a place like this for the cats to go so they can enjoy their lives more. How anyone can get a cat however big or small declawed is beyond belief! Thank God for Big Cat Rescue. Long may it continue.

We had a great time here on the Feeding Tour. Follow a keeper and their wagon full of meat and watch the cats eat their food. The cats come to the lockouts because they know it is mealtime so you see the cats up close, much closer than a regular tour where they might be sleeping or hiding. The whole facility is very clean and the enclosures are big and luxurious.

It is absolutely the greatest sanctuary I've ever been to. The level of love for the animals and operational standard of care for every aspect of the place is superb. Everyone needs to go to Big Cat Rescue at least once for the cats and to just behold how much the place is run just like a huge company.

Well kept sanctuary doing their absolute best for the big cats.

Been going here for years and they keep doing amazing work! Spring for the feeding or keeper tour as the cats interact more with the tour guide.

This was a fantastic tour, absolutely worth the time and the tour fee! It was nice to see the animals so relaxed and happy and learn all about the current issues around captivity and conservation for these beautiful animals.

My entire family loved the tour. We learned a bunch and the gift shop was fun too with a lot of clever items that help support the cats.

This was quite the experience. Not only do you see rescued big cats of all kinds but you hear the stories behind each. I would recommend everyone visit this place.

This place is really cool you guys do your best job add it but it makes me sad i used watch with my cat ruby but she passed cause of cancer but i love you guys i want to go but can't to far i watch your youtube channel it is great.big cat rescue could you give me a shout out on your new video soon

BCR had been on my list for years. I was so impressed with not only the facility, the care of the cats, but the education on the plight of these magnificent animals. It's great to know that there are such dedicated people in the world. I'm going back this year!

Excellent!!! You get to see the cats up close, assuming they cooperate. Their passion to care for the cats was very evident. Very education. Highly recommend.

It's very educational. It's great what they do for tgesr magnificent animals.

I wasn't impressed. You would make more of an impact to animals in need if you would open a big dog rescue.

Great place. They offer a good service for cats that need out of the public eye and to retire in peace. People are just good people and are there for the animals.

Great facility doing the right thing for the beautiful cats they have. A must see in Tampa
Donate if you can.

I went with colleagues from work and we volunteered. It's a great way to give back to the animals that have been abused.

Linda n I loved the note your. The care of cats, the knowledge of the guides is unprecedented. They really care n are experts. Great tour, I will tell my friends about. Keep up great work, alll.

Really fantastic tour. It lasts about 2 hours, and you get to see an incredible number of cats who are taken care of and treated well. Every cat has a story, and on the tour you get to hear those stories. This enriches the tour and helps make it an unforgettable experience. A lot of the stories are sad, but the sanctuary itself is such a happy ending that you can feel good contributing to its success with the price of a ticket.

The best part of the tour? The MASSIVE "vacation spot" that every cat gets to spend time in (taking turns, of course). It's a huge compound, and on our tour we got to see 3 tigers enjoying the expansive environment.

WARNING: This sanctuary is VERY biased against drug dealers who keep big cats as pets. Be forewarned :P*

*This is sarcasm intended to poke fun at the garbage one-star reviews that are clearly fake.

I attended the Wildcat Walkabout last month and had a wonderful time. The cats have tons of room and seem extremely happy. I was sad that I didn't get to see Joseph the lion but they explained to me that he has anxiety from being used as a photo prop and is uncomfortable with crowds, so then I was very happy that he wasn't on the tour. They clearly care about their cats and work hard to keep them happy and healthy. I felt good spending my money on something that would benefit big cats rather than continue the cycle of keeping them in captivity, like a zoo. I loved everything about it.

2nd time here! Tour guide Taylor was great. Only complaint is that the kids tour was at noon - the hottest time of the day. Besides being hot, most cats are sleeping/hiding to stay cool. Definitely take the 1000 tour.

Nice place but we had not read that you can only enter by appointment and children under 10 can only sit on it and sent in by appointment by noon. So a ride for nothing ... private tour was $ 150 pp. So then not.
I bought some nice things in the shop to support this foundation that takes care of sick and neglected cats!

Loved it! Will return to visit these amazing animals as well as staff.

Very educational and a great mission. We saw several cats I had never heard of before. You can tell the cats are taken care of as well as they can and our guide was quite passionate about them.

Thank you SO much for BCR!!! The work you do to educate humans, protect these magnificent felines, and advocate for them moves me beyond belief! Please visit this awesome place!

I was very impressed, to see so many beautiful cat's and being well taken care of.... Great job . It's ashame they all could not be released back into their natural habitat but, BCR is doing an excellent job giving them the care they need and the environment to live comfortably . Thank you .

Amazing experience. You can tell how well the cats are taken care of. Hope to go again in the near future.

We enjoyed our visit last time but this time I forgot that tickets need to be purchased in advance

Wonderful tour, fabulous facility and the interns who conduct the tours make me proud of our younger generation. Great job!

I had no idea there were so many different types/sizes of cats. I learned a lot about them and how the federal government should make big cat breeding and private ownership illegal. Thank you to Big Cat Rescue for helping these animals enjoy a better life. The stories of how they came into your care are heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time. Worth the visit when near Tampa.

Visit exceptional, the work they do is amazing, the stories of abuse are so sad. I will always support this kind of rescue charity, as we do back in UK.

What a wonderful day! What an outstanding place! What truly beautiful souls, both the people who volunteer/work there and the absolutely magnificent cats! I highly highly recommend doing a tour there! It goes to a great cause of course and you will learn a lot! I give this amazing rescue 10 stars out of 5!!

I visited your facility in January and went on an amazing tour of your facility - it was very informative, educational and very fun. It is quite obvious that the animals are loved and well cared for and the contentment is seen on their faces. I will be sure to return for another visit each time I am in the Tampa area. I hope that many others will visit as well.

Stop in and check out Big Cat Rescue. This is an exceptional, clean, and beautiful 68 acre facility. The tours help pay for taking care off the cats, all of which are rescues from illegal pet trade, criminal siege, or orphaned. No cats are bred nor handled. Each cat requires about $10k per year to maintain. My kids and I learned a lot.

Had a wonderful, educational tour here. Very interesting to learn about all the cats, and you'll certainly see many of them much better than you might at a zoo. Bonus, your ticket is tax-deductible!
They don't beat you over the head with their opinions on animal cruelty, but you will hear about how poor of a pet a large cat makes, and may be encouraged to write a congressman.

Denny was a great guide. Sad for the cats but great that these people are here to help them.

Highly recommended! The care, love, and respect that these volunteers show lets you know how much they love these creatures. I was highly impressed with the number of big cats we saw and their backstory. If you go in the summer, there's some shade from the trees and they provide water on the tours.

Amazing!knowledgeable, supporting wild cats! Every one should see!

Loved our visit during Spring Break! Very knowledgeable volunteers and interns. Keep doing all you do to protect and save cats of all kinds. We are likely to return sometime in the future for the feeding tour.

My mother and I visited this sanctuary in Tampa and were blown away on multiple levels. There is an intense amount of care and respect evident in everything the volunteer and non-profit staff do for these beautiful animals, and although the stories of their oftentimes sad and disturbing pasts were difficult to listen to, seeing the gorgeous, spacious, and individually designed enclosures they are allowed to lounge and play in unmolested by man makes my eyes well up with happiness for them and any others who this rescue takes into their care.

They rescue these animals from illegal breeders, zoos, and private ownership where they were being abused or neglected, nurse them back to health, and let them live out their days largely unintruded in these massive, lush, gorgeous environments. Tours are only by appointment so they aren't being gawked at all day, and if they don't feel like being seen they have lots of hides and little privacy areas. The tour guides do not linger on animals who have not chosen to grace us with their presence that tour - if they're hiding or resting we just moved on to who was out.

Every two weeks, one of the big cats and one of the smaller cats gets to go on "vacation" in their respective areas. Big cat vacation is a 2.5acre open space with a lake and toys and trees where they can hang out and run at full speed if they want. They switch which cat (they have about 70 small and large) is going every 2 weeks and so all of them have multiple times per year they get to go play.

The tour guide describes this as not a zoo but a retirement home for these animals. I learned a lot, not just about the animals themselves but about their plight in the US with a distinct lack of laws restricting or prohibiting their private ownership. This tour may be difficult for some attendees who are sensitive to graphic descriptions of animal abuse.

Awesome group to support. One time there and you know they care for the cats and are trying to make a difference. The people that work here are super passionate, plus the animals are awesome too see and learn their stories!

I took my wife and family here for the walk about and absolutely loved it. I will definitely be coming back again. This is a wonderful place with a great mission.

Wonderful experience. Closer encounters, friendly and knowledgeable staff. Best park, for the money in Tampa.

Best place to visit in the whole Tampa area. Dont go to the zoo and NEVER go to SeaWorld, this is the place to go. Its very important work they do and everyone can learn from the place and people working/volunteering there.

Love the experience of seeing these cats have a 2nd chance at a stress free life.

The place is very nice and clean. You have 1.5 hour tour with a guide. The down part is that you don't really see any animals. Because they are hiding in the caves. If you want to enjoy the animals, go to the feeding time tour. Of course, it's a lot more expensive.

Best Experience ever, a private tour is amazing do not miss is it very friendly tour guide

Big Cat Rescue is an awesome sanctuary! All the money that is charged for admission goes directly to the cats health and welfare. Each enclosure is much bigger than the cat would have if it were in the zoo. I've been on several tours and every time I've been there, the cages were being cleaned. The smell is from the pig farm next door. I live in Tampa, so I know this is true! It's sad to hear the cats stories, but thankfully they are now at BCR where they are loved and treated with respect for the rest of their lives. The 911 animal abuse website is a joke and is not at all true. Go to the sanctuary and see for yourself--you will not be disappointed!

Please visit and share the story! Save our cats, big and small!

I would come here every day if i could. lol
It's not really a zoo, more like a rehabilitation center for lack of a better term, everything they do here is for the cats benefit. I've been to a lot of zoo's across the U.S and I've never been so close to the animals like i was here. Our tour guide Melody was the best
she knew a ton of stuff about each cat and really made everybody feel welcome being there. :)
They play an audio clip explaining what each cat has been through prior to big cat rescue which was very educational/heartbreaking (I turn my audio box off it was hard to listen to the life the cats have had)
The gift shop is very cool with lots of t-shirts and things to buy. Thank you big cat rescue for all the things that you guys do there. 10/10 Awesome job!

I visited for the first time, recently, with friends from the UK. We are all avid wildlife lovers and yet were unaware of how big cats are exploited. If you love wild things, visit Big Cat Rescue and learn. The tour groups are small and the guides very informative. You are free to take all the pictures you want, but must stay with the group. Our guide was very informative and told us individual stories about each cat, not only how they came to be there, but their little personality quirks, too. Read up on the tour schedule and the rules. It is a 1-2 hour walk, so keep that in mind if you have little ones.

What an awesome place. You can tell the people here love big cats. If you are an animal lover you owe it to yourself to visit Big Cat Rescue. I can't wait to go back.

Big Cat Sanctuary is amazing! Our party opted for a Day Tour last Sunday. The tour was well-structured, starting with a briefing explaining safety rules and also ground rules ensuring a smooth experience.

The grounds seemed very humane with big enclosures and large areas for the cats to circulate into "vacation" (which is time in an extra large enclosure with enrichment activities). The tour is a combination of guide-led along with an earpiece that gives facts and individual stories of the animals (many of which were very sad).

The animals were never forced to interact with people and any interaction seemed to be on their terms, which made me feel better about the experience. Big Cat's stance on exotic animal ownership and breeding was very upfront and a compelling argument and I left feeling different about many issues such as hybrids, cub petting, and personal ownership. Bring an open mind and consider what it means to truly love an animal.

Tip: I would recommend booking ahead of time as there is limited availability and also paperwork to fill out beforehand.

I thouroghly enjoy Carol Baskin s Facebook Live walks around the sanctuary. Fun and educational

Better than a zoo, close look to Lions, tigers, cougars, and others big cats surrounded by the love and care that an awesome team of volunteers can give. Nice tour with an expert guide.

A great learning experience. Wonderful to see these cats up close. I appreciate Big Cats Rescue bringing attention to Big Cat Public Safety Act so people can call their representatives to vote YES on HR 1380.

I have been going to Big Cat Rescue for many years and continue to introduce all of my out of town family/friends to this wonderful place. Invaluable education and message for all!
Its an exciting, educational, fun experience and its such a great cause to support!