Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1: It's time for our community connection. We have Cheryl King
Speaker 1: from Turpentine Greek Wildlife Refuge, the place where big cats
Speaker 1: call home. I hope I got that right, Cheryl.
Speaker 2: You certainly did. Tom.
Speaker 1: Good morning, well good marketing, because I remembered that. Now.
Speaker 1: What's happening at Turpentine Creek these days?
Speaker 2: Well spring is springing, and Saturday we will be hosting
Speaker 2: our thirty third annual Kite Fest sponsored by Colido Kites.
Speaker 2: Out of your week at springs.
Speaker 1: My goodness sakes, you couldn't have time it any better.
Speaker 1: It's that time of year where there's a lot of
Speaker 1: wind about.
Speaker 2: And the wind is blowing, but it looks like it's
Speaker 2: going to be perfect on Saturday. Just the right amount,
Speaker 2: not too much, yeah, just what we.
Speaker 1: Need, just enough to lift those kites and have some fun.
Speaker 1: And this is a big family to do.
Speaker 2: Isn't it It is? It is? It's free. You can
Speaker 2: amount make a kite. Collido Kites will have kite making.
Speaker 2: They'll also have kites for sale or bring your kite,
Speaker 2: and it's just really a lot of fun when you
Speaker 2: start seeing all these kites up in the air over
Speaker 2: the refuge. The cats enjoy it, and of course the
Speaker 2: kids and the people. We're going to have a lot
Speaker 2: of vendors this year, and we've got a special guest
Speaker 2: that's going to be making an appearance.
Speaker 1: You tell we do.
Speaker 2: It's going to be Strike, the mascot for the Northwest
Speaker 2: Arkansas Naturals.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: So yeah, what's better than a cat but a sasquatch.
Speaker 1: This is going to be so much fun. You know,
Speaker 1: your Turpetite Creek is right there in Eureka Springs.
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, we are. We're seven miles south on a
Speaker 2: Highway twenty three.
Speaker 1: There you go. So all you got to do if
Speaker 1: you're coming in from Bartlesville is hit Eureka Springs, take
Speaker 1: a right, and then you'll be there. Just follow the
Speaker 1: signs because they're all over the place too. You know,
Speaker 1: the kite flying event is going to be a lot
Speaker 1: of fun for the whole family. But the refuge itself
Speaker 1: is something that families would want to maybe think about
Speaker 1: taking in to just see what it's all about. What
Speaker 1: can you see there? I guess the shorter list is
Speaker 1: what you can't see.
Speaker 2: This is true, this is true. Coming in you should
Speaker 2: be able to see our grizzly bear bam bam. Now
Speaker 2: it is spring and so he's probably he still is
Speaker 2: very much in his torpor state. They're starting to wake up,
Speaker 2: you know. We've just come out of some cold weather
Speaker 2: here at the beginning of the month. But things are
Speaker 2: warming up and the bears are waking up. You'll also
Speaker 2: get to see our tigers, lions, leopard. We have cougars, servis,
Speaker 2: and bobcats among others.
Speaker 1: My goodness sakes, that's amazing. Now, how did we all
Speaker 1: get started here with turpe and tig Creek has been
Speaker 1: around a while. Some people kind of forget in the beginning.
Speaker 2: As they say, this is true in nineteen ninety two,
Speaker 2: So thirty three years ago we started. And it began
Speaker 2: with a woman that had thirty three animals that were
Speaker 2: crammed into two cattle cars, and it was obvious that
Speaker 2: something was needed to take care of those animals. And
Speaker 2: the Jackson family sold everything, bought this property and created
Speaker 2: Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. And who knew that thirty three
Speaker 2: years later we would still be filling this need, that
Speaker 2: there was such a need. You know, these animals, Tom,
Speaker 2: they're not household pets. You can't take a tiger or
Speaker 2: a lion or a bobcat and turn them into a pet.
Speaker 2: They're a wild animal, they're a predator. They just don't
Speaker 2: belong in their homes, and sadly people find that out.
Speaker 2: It's heartbreaking for everybody involved. But we're happy to provide
Speaker 2: them or forever home.
Speaker 1: And sometimes there are cases where people will attempt to
Speaker 1: maybe even showcase these big cats and I think that
Speaker 1: they can take care of them, and they find out
Speaker 1: as they kind of age, they can't. And this is
Speaker 1: a place where I know some have come from, like Florida,
Speaker 1: in place like that.
Speaker 2: Yes they have. We've actually taken in cats all over
Speaker 2: the country now, from upstate New York to California, all
Speaker 2: the way down to Florida. You're right, Carol Baskins, we
Speaker 2: all know that name. She sold Big Cat Rescue earlier
Speaker 2: this year and in twenty twenty three we relocated all
Speaker 2: of her animals. They are now here at Turpentine Creek
Speaker 2: Wildlife Refuge. We have over one hundred animals and a
Speaker 2: good many of those did come from Tiger King. We've
Speaker 2: got twenty tigers and lions that were part of confiscations
Speaker 2: related to them, and.
Speaker 1: You give them a great place to live out Their
Speaker 1: life is about as close to naturally as possible.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, that is our commitment to them. Our vision is
Speaker 2: to educate and have people come in and learn so
Speaker 2: that we can put an end. You know, we are
Speaker 2: a nonprofit that is trying to work itself out of business.
Speaker 2: It's hard to believe we keep taking in more animals,
Speaker 2: but that is our goal. And yes, we give them
Speaker 2: all a natural habitat. They have their nighthouses and then
Speaker 2: their big grassy habitats that allow them to live as
Speaker 2: close as they could to life in the wild. These
Speaker 2: animals could never survive in the wild. They would be
Speaker 2: a danger to any human and they likely wouldn't survive.
Speaker 2: They don't know how to hunt. They were never taught,
Speaker 2: so they just it would be tragic to try to
Speaker 2: release them into the wild. So we give them the
Speaker 2: best life possible.
Speaker 1: That brings the next question, how do you feed all
Speaker 1: those cats?
Speaker 2: Thank you to Tysons, big shout out to Tysons, and
Speaker 2: also a shout out to Walmart. You know, Tom, we're
Speaker 2: feeding hundreds of pounds of meat a day. Each of
Speaker 2: these animals is on a unique individualized diet based on
Speaker 2: their particular needs. But it's anywhere from ten to fifteen
Speaker 2: pounds of meat per cat per day. And then our bears,
Speaker 2: oh my goodness, don't get me started. We need all
Speaker 2: kinds of food for bears, the produce and the you know,
Speaker 2: they need fresh veggies. So that stuff's got to be
Speaker 2: turned around pretty quickly. And it's not cheap.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and those bears will eat dart near anything.
Speaker 2: They sure will. Bambam's favorite is a peanut butter sandwich.
Speaker 1: I'll be darn, I had no idea. Let's get back
Speaker 1: to the kite thing here. It's coming up this weekend, right.
Speaker 2: Yes, sir, it will be on Saturday, March twenty second.
Speaker 2: The fun will start at ten o'clock. Vendors will start
Speaker 2: packing up at about three. But if you've got a
Speaker 2: kite in the air, you're welcome to stay as long
Speaker 2: as you'd like.
Speaker 1: And that is that Turpentine Creek, and that is in
Speaker 1: Eureka Springs. Hey, if some folks might not be able
Speaker 1: to get away to enjoy the park this weekend, but
Speaker 1: if say they got a thousand dollars bill in their pocket,
Speaker 1: is just burn in a hole and they're thinking, well,
Speaker 1: this sounds like a pretty good outfit to support. How
Speaker 1: do they go about making a donation?
Speaker 2: Yes, go check us out on our website www Dot
Speaker 2: TCWR dot org. Do's www dot TCWR dot org. And
Speaker 2: there are lots of ways that you can help support
Speaker 2: the animals from just a straight donation, purchasing a membership.
Speaker 2: You can adopt or sponsor one of our animals, and
Speaker 2: each of those comes with its own you know, you
Speaker 2: get your individual packages that come with a membership for example,
Speaker 2: or an adoption or a sponsorship. All of that is
Speaker 2: on our website.
Speaker 1: Very good, Thank you very much for being with us today.
Speaker 2: Such a pleasure, Tom, Thank you for having me