Phoenix Exotics

See an interactive online map of exotic cat owners . See people being stupid with big cats, endangering themselves and others HERE . See the awful conditions that many captive cats endure HERE .

Phoenix Exotics is comprised primarily of a group who believe that they should be allowed to breed, buy, sell and trade exotics of all types. They maintain a chat list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoe nix_Exotics/ and anyone can join. Because they spend much of their time trying to discredit Big Cat Rescue, many of their members have made a point to copy me whenever my name or organization is the subject of their bashing and threats. The group has 866 members and it appears that the main purpose of the list is to mount counter attacks to legislation that is being promoted to protect exotic animals from exploitation and abuse.

The purpose of sharing quotes here from members of Phoenix Exotics is to show that they are actively trying to discredit anyone who would speak out for the animals. They cannot fight the issue of keeping wild animals as pets based on the merits. They seem to believe they can only succeed in "protecting their right to have whatever kind of animal they want" by trying to take the focus off the issue and put it on things that happened a long time ago in the pasts of those who have evolved in their beliefs far beyond where these people are so deeply entrenched.

A lot of misinformation about Big Cat Rescue will be quoted by them below, just to show the extent to which these people will go to try and cause us harm. To read all about us, visit About Us and follow the links from there. Some of these people have tried to discredit Big Cat Rescue by making accusations about our practices to The Association of Sanctuaries , the USDA and others. None of the allegations against us have been found to have any merit.

The only person to give them any help, was Chris Hawes at Bay News 9 who had just run a story on our rezoning. She had tried to find someone who was against it, but all of our neighbors were for it, so she twisted and edited an interview with our next door neighbor to make it look like they were opposed. After the story ran our neighbors came to us and told us that she took what they had said, completely out of context, and pieced it together to make it look like they were opposed to us. The one place where I said, “You got me on that. I just don't know. It's not in the list,” was when she said, "You claim that you stopped breeding cats in 1997 but I have proof that you had caracal kittens born in 1998." When she showed me her "proof", it was a newsletter that said we thought that one of the caracals was pregnant, but we must have been wrong because there were no kittens after that time. If she had shown the tape from where she made the accusation through where I showed her that no kittens had been born the viewers would have seen that my statement was only reflective of the fact that I didn’t know how she could have proof that we had kittens when I knew we didn’t. She cut it to just that one statement to make it look like she had caught me at something, when in fact I was able to show her that she had not. Despite her claim that we never disclosed on the web site that some of the cats were born there in the early years, we have always linked those cats stories to our own history and evolution .

We spoke with Jim Moore who was quoted in her story and he said he intended no harm to us and knew that we were not breeding on purpose after 1997 because he was there and saw that we were separating animals as quickly as funds would allow. We don't know why Chris Hawes seems to have such a vendetta against Big Cat Rescue. We suspect it is because of the wrath she incurred from people who know that exotic cats don't make good pets after she previously ran a story promoting hybrid exotics as pets. She had interveiwed us prior to running the story and we showed her all of the abandoned hybrids we have had to take in and informed her of all of the reasons why it never works out for the pet or the people, but she ran the cutesy-exotic-on-the-couch story anyway. She probably got a lot of negative mail from people who know better who often cite our website as the explanation of why wild animals shouldn't be promoted as pets.

When Chris Hawes said that Vernon Yates and others we are trying to bar from breeding, selling and keeping tigers as pets had told her bad things about us, we invited Chris Hawes to look through all of our records to show the allegations to be false, but she chose instead to go with the story she had concocted with their help and did not indulge our request to show her the proof of our innocence. If you were to play the tape she took of the hour or more she interviewed on camera, you would see that over and over I offered to show her the truth, but that she didn't want to see it. She claimed to be using USDA documents as her source, but USDA doesn't keep records more than 3 years old, and the records she referred to were all dated prior to 1997. There was nothing in the old records that we have not freely admitted all along on our web site and on our tours. This was not investigative reporting or she would have determined the same thing that everyone else did; we were wrongly accused. In just one year since her story ran we have been featured in the press, in a positive light, more than 130 times! We have had more than 300 positive stories done on us in just past few years. Not one other negative story ever aired because everyone else knows better.

Despite being tried and convicted on nothing more than gossip I don't hold any ill will toward Chris Hawes or Bay News 9. I was thinking in the aftermath how sad it would be to be her. Every day I am surrounded by people who love me, who share my vision and who are all working together to make the world a better place. My life is full of joy. Chris Hawes has probably never had a single day in her life that is as good as every day I enjoy and I can’t even imagine how sad a life that would be. When you focus on bad things you attract bad things into your life. While many of our supporters, who saw the show that is being distributed widely by those who breed and sell dangerous animals as pets, have contacted the station asking that she be fired, we did not encourage that and have not asked that she be reprimanded. Until she experiences an awakening of how good life can be, if you focus on the positive, she condemns herself.(You might note that it was one of the last stories she ever did for Bay News 9 and she is no longer working for any news provider in Florida)

Resignation from Animal Advisory Commission

On the above paragraph 3 you will find quotes from the The Association of Sanctuaries and the actual report from USDA on their investigation into the false allegations being made by the exotic pet owners. Just click on the links in that paragraph to view them. I found it interesting that in March Linda Hunnicutt (lindmonk) who listed at Publi.com as having a criminal record in bank and charity fraud was bragging that she was having me removed from the Animal Advisory Committee, three months before I knew anything about it, and her email suggests that she and the person she intended the email to, were sending multiple letters to pressure Commissioner Blair to have me removed.

Please note that it specifically states that one purpose of effort with the reporter was to have me removed from the “commission board”, i.e. the Animal Advisory Committee.

“----- Original Message -----

From: lndmonk@aol.com

To: monkeyyardsale@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 3:11 PM

Subject: Re: [monkeyyardsale] Caorle Baskins.

In a message dated 3/10/06 3:06:36 PM Central Standard Time, lndmonk@aol.com writes:

No Vernon didn't I did... with Vernons information..lol.... and with all the messages we have sent out, (you and me) she is being removed from the commission board and they will be doing a TV expose' on her next week.. the tv crew is out at Vernons now.. he keeps calling me and having me speak to the reporter on behalf of simply simian... so we are in the forefront anyway.... Gloria is the one that wanted the website.. she is our ace in the hole, a professional lobbyist.. doing a crack up job at it too.. and she is thinking we are angels as we put that site up for her.. she was supposed to send you a check for the cost a few days ago.. so when you get it that is what it is for... not a membership... from Gloria Johnson...

I thought this was going to Karen please you guys keep this quiet... “

As you can see, it has been their plan to use you to remove me from the Advisory Board since back in March when they fed Chris Hawes the misinformation she relied on for her article. Gloria Johnson is the person in the St. Pete Times article today called Cuddly Pet or Wild Animal? HERE

The following seems to be circulating all over.

On Behalf Of Raven Simons
Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 5:59 PM
To: EPOU@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [EPOU] FW: FL Animal Rights activist removed from Animal Advisory

Hello all,

I am asking an important favor of everyone. Please write a thank you letter to Mr. Brian Blair for removing Carole Lewis Baskin (Big Cat Rescue and Humane USA) from the Hillsborough County Animal Advisory Committee. Carole is having a fit at being removed. Mr. Blair needs to show community support on this decision.

To all the bird people- This is the women that posted our names and address on her Humane USA website.

To all the pet owners- I welcome anyone to attend the meetings with us. This group called the Animal Advisory committee are nuts. They are extreme in their views.

Please feel free to forward this email to supportive individuals. We need as many letters as possible by Sunday 6/4/06. Anyone and everyone can write a letter, not just Hillsborough County people. This effects any animal owner. Counties tend to follow each other's lead.

Animal rights activist do not have a place on an advisory committee. They have a personal agenda that is not in anyone's best interest, including the animals.

Mr. Blair can be reached at Blair b@hillsboroughcounty.org . I am including the letter that I sent.

Thank you,

Lisa

Dear Mr. Blair:

I am writing to thank you for removing Carole Lewis Baskin from the Hillsborough County Animal Advisory Committee.

I have been attending the Animal Advisory meetings. The committee is made up of animal rescue/ animal rights individuals and local veterinarians. Ms. Baskin is the Florida director of Humane USA , an animal rights group. I feel there should be individuals representing the pet community (groomers, kennel owners, dog trainers,ect.) on this advisory committee.

The current Animal Advisory committee is outrageous in their proposals. They would like theHillsborough County ordinances to regulate the pet population and our ownership to an extreme. Without the balance of pet industry individuals, I feel that Hillsborough County will not be a pet friendly place to live. The pet industryprovides many jobs in our area andhas amultimillion dollar impact on our County. The medical community has also proven that pets improve the quality of our lives.

The story on BayNews 9 about the fraudulent fund raising at Big Cat Rescue, which Ms. Baskin is the CEO, is of concern also. It makes you question her integrity.

Thank you for taking the time to address this issue.

Respectfully,

Lisa Welch

This is also being circulated through the email list of the Phoenix Exotics, a group who promote exotic pet ownership and whose abuse was documented in the API study. Please notice that they view the entire Committee as “nuts” and feel people who are concerned about animal welfare have no place on it. This link is an undercover investigation video into members of Phoenix Exotics http://www.api4animals.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=16&pos=0 It is well worth the time to watch to fully understand why these people are doing all they can to discredit me and Big Cat Rescue.

See more on the resignation HERE

Posts from Phoenix Exotics and Others

We have listed information on those who seek to discredit Big Cat Rescue for two reasons:

1. So that you can make your own determination as to their credibility and sincerity.

2. In the hopes that you will say a silent prayer for them asking that they find peace and discover their inner beauty that will cause them to want to spread good will rather than gossip.

In the posts below, you will see that these people appear to threaten my life, encourage others to try and discredit us, sow seeds of doubt and even try to cause us financial harm by getting the whole group to click repeatedly on our pay per click advertising so that we will be billed unfairly. They suggest contacting those who provide service to us and our supporters to try and poison them against us. We have not included it here, but on their chat group they discuss methods to violate the Lacey Act and smuggle exotics across state and federal borders. Despite all of the malicious intent on the part of the following people, who we will identify as best we can, since they hide behind email addresses, we do not have ill will toward them. We are all here on planet earth to learn our lessons and to grow from them. We are no judge of anyone and provide this so that you can make your own judgment.

All of the typos, mis spellings and bad grammar of the original writers have been left in tact.

Who are these people and why do they not want laws that would restrict the trade in dangerous exotic animals? Find out HERE