Destiny Big Cat Sanctuary: Our World

As the black of night slowly gives way to the pastel-hued fingertips of a new dawn, the vibrant colors slowly unfurl themselves high in the sky above the heads of the sleeping animal compound.

Inside the Lion Habitat, the majestic resident male lion, Zenobia, begins to slowly stir himself awake as the light of a new day penetrates like pinpricks through the branches of the tree where he had laid down to rest from the night before.

Rising to stretch his muscular limbs, he regally shakes his golden and black colored mane with a toss of his massive head, while he slowly opens his mouth baring his lethal arsenal of fangs. It starts out slowly at first and is almost inaudible; a low rumbling not unlike that of a Harley Davidson Motorcycle that has yet to be revved up to full speed. As his powerful chest and lungs expand to suck in more air, the vibration grows louder in intensity until the very air and ground tremble with this very distinctive call from the king of the beasts. "Caroling" for the next few minutes, the sounds range in intensity and pitch until the lion has announced his presence to all within a quarter mile range.

The ancient and respected tribes of the Masai Warriors of Africa believe that, as a lion calls out at dusk and dawn to announce his ownership of his territory, within his song can almost be heard the words "this land is mine, mine, mine, mine" as the haunting echo of the call fades off into the African plains as King lays claim to his turf.

Inside their respective houses on the property,owner Victoria Canzonetta, Compound Manager Kelley Rego, and Keelan Bailey are slowly awakened, not by the shrill ringing of the alarm clock, but by the call of the wild. Zen is up and demanding breakfast. A new day has begun, and so begins the daunting yet exciting task of caring for the 4-legged residents of Destiny Big Cat Sanctuary.

When asked if there is such a thing as a "typical day" the staff at Destiny quietly chuckle to themselves. The words "typical, normal, routine, and ordinary" are all relative terms to what their daily rounds of activity involve while they are caretakers of these beautiful beings. Like any well-run organization, there are certain tasks that need to be performed daily for the smooth flow of the day, but just one animal demanding extra attention due to the sickness, emotional need or dietary changes can send these highly effective individuals into overdrive.

With Destiny's 4-legged residences being of both the domestic and exotic variety type, the staff divides up the morning duties for the domestic animals. Some animals like to eat first thing in the morning, breakfast being served about 8:00 am or so. As the staff is fond of telling new hires or prospective wanna-be's, this is not a 9 to 5 job. It is more of a 24/7 lifestyle who's hours are determined by the needs of the animals, with those needs changing drastically on any given day.

As they say, there's no rest for the wicked. Not even being given a chance to wipe the sleep from her eyes, Victoria is tag-teamed by the three domestic house cats, a gray, black, and white mixed named Princess, a black and white female named Morgana, and their older partner in crime, a blue-eyed Siamese veteran who answers to the name of Ki. The kitties walk across and over her head, despite Victoria's best efforts to hide from them under her mound of covers.

They know that once "Mom" goes outside to attend to their larger, more vocal cousins, their priority on the pecking order gets reduced in rank, so they take advantage of the moment they have of her undivided attention NOW.

Meanwhile, the same scenario is being played out on the other end of the compound in the room of Keelan Bailey, with Keelan attending to the demanding needs of the 2 dogs who call this 6-acre safe haven home: a rottie/dobbie mixed female named PJ, and a retired service dog named Major who is a golden retriever. Major is recently retired after 10 years of faithful service to a friend of the sanctuary that is paralyzed. His owner wanted Major to live out his last years as a regular dog. Keelan hides under the covers as PJ rocks his bed and Major, resorting to his old routine with his former owner, tries to pull the covers back, and pull Keelan out of bed. Both dogs love to act as if they haven't been fed in weeks. Keelan hides under the covers, hoping that Kelley will come down stairs and feed the dogs instead...Keelan is not a morning person. Finally giving up, Keelan drags himself out of bed, and gets the dogs fed. Keelan has found it is easier that if he wishes to enjoy his morning coffee and cereal uninterrupted to get them fed first.

After breakfast, it's outside to start the day. Chances are once they get going, they won't quit until well after dark that evening when they put the animals "UP" for the night. For Victoria though, the day continues on as she answers e-mails, returns calls and sends out press kits, all the office work that was put off during the day while she took care of her charges. Keelan usually gets to work on the sanctuary's website, and Kelley goes over the plans for the next day.

Victoria and her staff communicate over the vast acreage by means of a 2-way radio, which the staff jokes is required to be attached to each of their bodies like an extra appendage 24/7. Yet, even without the alert from the radio to each other that they are entering the enclosed habitat areas of the exotic residents to begin the morning routines, the big cat calls and baby-like cries from the youngest white tiger resident acts as an instant communication system. Victoria bottle-feeding Isis

While the first order of the day is to check on how each cat has fared through the night, and to look for obvious signs of distress such as vomiting, blood, or other unusual occurrences, the animals let out very loud and excited calls of greeting upon seeing each staff member, each vying to be the first to lure the trainer over to their enclosure for that early morning "rubs and hugs."

There is a definite pecking order that the animals have, depending on age and friendship with each individual trainer. Any deviation from this routine will generally result in a full-blown lion or tiger temper tantrum, should the youngest upstart try and gain "Mom's" attention over the "eldest" of the family!

You haven't really started your day until you've been "dissed" by a 900 lb. Siberian tiger who's been ignored in favor of the littlest and noisiest one of the bunch. His displeasure will become quite apparent very quickly for this breach of respect by regally tossing his head, turning his back to you on your approach, while disdainfully giving the water bucket at his side a swift kick!

You will then find yourself spending the rest of the day attempting to make up your serious "breach of protocol" by providing the injured party with extra attention, new toys and food bribes which may or may not be graciously accepted if you are to be forgiven.