Florida Man Lives With 14 Big Cats Including Lions And Tigers, Oh My!
10/30/2014, 9:14 AM - Source: elitedaily.comft
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People call me a crazy cat lady because I have three cats. This is fair, and I’ll wear the title proudly. But, in my defense, there are people out there even crazier than I am.
Take, for example, the Florida man who has 14 cats.In this case, however, the “cats” he keeps aren’t domesticated pets so much as they are wild animals. Carl Bovard takes care of big cats including tigers, panthers and lions. And I’m the crazy one? (Just kidding, this would be my dream come true.)
Bovard’s Florida home includes a massive 274-acre outdoor enclosure for the oversized kitties to roam and hunt, although he also lets them inside his house.He hopes to raise awareness for the animals, many of which are endangered, through his 9-year-old animal welfare nonprofit, Single Vision.
Though some may argue against keeping wild animals in captivity, Bovard claims,"It is essential that we keep them in captivity to create that passion in people and make them want to help these beautiful animals… I do what I can to give these guys the best lives possible and I want to work to ensure more tigers and lions in captivity are better treated.
So what does Bovard do? Well, for one, he buys a whopping 1,500 pounds of meat every week for the ferocious felines, which often go through 200 pounds of food in one sitting.
He also, unbelievably, plays with them. Although he has been bitten by a leopard before, he believes it’s important to let the cats play rough like they would in the wild.He realizes that being around the big kitties could result in his death: His biggest cat, Sampson, is a 700-pound, 9-foot-tall Siberian tiger.
But to him, it’s a risk worth taking.Hats off to Bovard — that’s one kitty situation even the most seasoned cat ladies would shy away from. Check out some incredible footage of Bovard and his feline friends above.