Make your way out into Osceola County east or south of the city of St. Cloud and you’ll start seeing some different animals than you might see back “in town”.
You know … the cows and the horses, the goats and the chickens, the lions and the tigers …
Wait … the what?
Yes, the lions and tigers!
They aren’t native to Osceola County, but they are here nonetheless as part of the Central Florida Animal Reserve, located off U.S. Highway 441 a few miles south of U.S. 192.
The “big cat” sanctuary, which houses lions, tigers, leopards, and cougars, moved from Brevard County in November 2017. It provides a home to these animals, that by nature live in the wild, including care and advocacy. Generally, CFAR cats are re-homed from other locations, or are placed by law enforcement.
Dr. K. “Simba” Wiltz has been doing hands-on work with CFAR since its inception and has been its CEO since 2009.
“Have been out here for five years, our mission is creating a platform of awareness and understanding, and the chance to engage people and provide value to society,” said Wiltz, a pharmacist by trade who immersed himself in the world of big cats in 1994 when studying an outbreak of canine distemper in Kenya. “The challenges are that it’s not a theme park or a true zoo, and it’s not near a population base.”
Many don’t know that it’s there. And since CFAR exists solely on philanthropy, a lot of its efforts go into raising funds — which go exclusively to caring for the cats.
Wiltz hopes being able to provide a glimpse of something not normally seen in our area can make the community jump at something so unique.
“We hope to provide a sense of child-like wonder about an unfamiliar world, and change their perception of these cats,” he said.
With COVID-19 restrictions — which hindered staffing at the reserve and affected costs of things like meat for these carnivores — starting to ease, Dr. Wiltz and CFAR hope to kindle more interest — and capture some of the excitement from the recent “Tiger King” Netflix series.
In December, CFAR held its annual “Sip and Stroll” event, which combined a wine tasting with tours of the sanctuary, raising about $3,500.
In 2022, CFAR will be celebrating its 25-year anniversary — in what is on the Chinese Zodiac calendar as, of course, the year of the Tiger. (And 2022 through Jan. 21, 2023 is a year of the Water Tiger, which only occurs every 60 years.)
“We’re hoping to fill the hunger for information, and we’re building a platform to address the challenges of big cats in the future,” said Wiltz, who noted CFAR hopes to soon build a veterinary hospital to meet residents’ ongoing medical needs, including x-rays, surgical and rehabilitative care.
For information on CFAR, visit www.cflar.org.
