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Simba, one of our stinky doofuses
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My wife loves cats. We have two stinky little dorks she loves very much, and I don't think there has been a cat she hasn't immediately fallen in love with, which made it surprising when I learned she hadn't been to the Feline Conservation Center in Rosamond, California. I like cats well enough, but I really appreciate conservation and protecting wildlife, but in light of the Netflix series
Tiger King and knowing a few redneck types from Rosamond, I wanted to check the place out to make sure that the California High Desert didn't have its own Joe Exotic.
The Exotic Feline Breeding Compound's Conservation Center was established in 1977 to house endangered big cats from all over the world, and was opened to the public in 1983 as a nonprofit. They provide educational tours to inform people about the cats and their natural habitats, and they provide the cats with as much enrichment as possible by means of toys and things to play with and chew on, like boxes (all cats love boxes), bones, and essential oils, among other things. The Conservation Center is part of a global network of zoos and facilities dedicated to the protection of cats, so they aren't bred for sale and are instead bred for species conservation, which is really cool.
Getting there was a bit of an adventure. From the 14 Freeway I headed west, past the shopping centers and the high school and into the desert with smatterings of trailer parks and subdivision housing. I then headed north on a side street toward what appeared to be some abandoned mine operation on the hillside, passing more residential housing among the sagebrush until I saw a sign with a tiger on it and the letters "EFBC" with an arrow pointing to the left. After a short drive down a dusty dirt road I came to the parking area of the compound.
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| The entrance |
Walking up, you're greeted by a gate with a couple cat statues on either end, which opens up to a little atrium with a memorial placard commemorating the information center and gift shop. From there, you enter the gift shop to pay the fee to enter the grounds (it was $10 for me, but $5 for kids and $8 for veterans). The shop was stocked with plenty of big cat memorabilia and toys, along with a couple taxidermed big cats, probably from years ago. After a quick speech from the shop attendant about not harassing the cats, keeping my mask on at all times, and keeping off the grass, I was set loose to check out the animals.
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| An unfazed caracal |
There's a lawn surrounded by trees and enclosures for the cats, and since I went early in the day some of them were being fed. Chinese leopards were pacing and scoping out the staff carrying food, and a caracal snoozing on a perch acted like I wasn't even there. I got stared down by a jaguar, which was cool because there was a fence between us so I didn't have to act on my primal instinct to freak out or act on my dumb domesticated brain to want to pet his toebeans. There are informational plaques that give a lot of interesting information about their habitats, social behaviors, diets, and appearances, so you get both an educational experience and a chance to see animals that are hard to find in the wild.
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| A serval and his plaque |
I'll be back for sure, because even though I didn't spend a long time checking out the place I'm sure my cat-loving wife will love it and make a whole morning of it. If you like supporting the conservation of endangered wildlife and seeing big furry babies doing cat stuff but, like, on a larger scale, it's worth the adventure into the desert to check it out. Plus, with everything being put on pause last year they could really use all the support they can get, so check out their
website for more information.
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