The work to help save endangered big cats
giles Clark on the joys of having beautiful big cat cubs roaming freely around his home…
NEW
When TV Times arrives at The Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden, Kent, we’re surprised to see it looking so green and lush. Just days earlier, the wildlife park had been battered by the ‘Beast from the East’ snowstorm – but as boss Giles Clark tells us, the cats at the sanctuary didn’t mind the snow one little bit!
‘We had to shut down some of our experiences and lodges because lots of staff couldn’t get in, but the cats absolutely loved it. The older cats here stayed in their dens thinking: “Ooh, that’s cold” but the younger cats were running around and generally acting like goofballs,’ says Giles, star of Big Cats About the House, starting on BBC2 this week.
British-born Giles – who has a notable Australian accent from the 13 years he spent working at Australia Zoo in Queensland – has been hand-raising big cat cubs for more than two decades.
But the three-part series – the follow-up to 2014’s Tigers About the House – sees Giles tackle his toughest challenge yet, as he takes Maya, a five-dayold black jaguar, and Willow, a five-month-old cheetah, home to his house to look after them!
Here, Giles reveals how handraising these cubs ended up keeping him up all night…
When did your enthusiasm for big cats begin?
I grew up around domestic cats; my mum and dad always took in waifs and strays. Then, at 15, I did work experience at Paradise Wildlife
Park in Hertfordshire. As soon as I was exposed to all the lions and tigers there, I knew that’s what I wanted to do for a career. My philosophy has always been that I want to do my utmost for the animals in my care but, with 80 per cent of the world’s big cat species endangered, it’s also about protecting their cousins in the wild. That’s what excites me about the opportunities we have at The Big Cat Sanctuary.
How did you juggle hand-raising Maya and Willow at home with your work at the sanctuary?
It was incredibly challenging. I was so grateful to my team; they all knew I was really stretched. For the first six weeks, when Maya was having nightly feeds, it was very much like having a small, dependent child. I had no social life for three or four months – I couldn’t just ask people: ‘Would you mind if I brought my jaguar along?’ By the time Maya came to the sanctuary at three months old, I was thoroughly exhausted!
You had Maya at home when she started teething. did she damage your furniture?
There was no serious damage, but I wouldn’t say we got away totally scot-free! There are a few scratches on the settee and, if you look carefully, there are dent marks in some steps. We could never have the blinds down and we soon had to take any ornaments away – anything lower than two-feet tall she was climbing up and knocking things off. When she figured out how to get on to the kitchen worktop, that’s when I thought: ‘Right, enough is enough’ and we moved her to the house on-site at the sanctuary.
We see your wife, Catherine, and daughter, sam, helping to care for the cubs. Have they always been supportive of your job? They can’t help but be totally immersed in what I do because it’s not just a job, it’s a way of life. My wife’s idea of a holiday is finding a beach, whereas mine is finding a jungle. So we have to compromise – I’ll do a few days on the beach,
she’ll do a few days in the jungle.
I’m so fortunate that both Catherine and Sam, who works at the sanctuary, have been so supportive.
do you think this documentary could prompt an influx of people wanting to own these wild cats as domestic pets?
I’ve hand-raised probably 70 to 80 cats in my career and many times in my own home. But, let me be clear, these are not pets! They are wild animals, they have their instincts and they certainly know how to use those teeth and claws that they have. My relationship with these cats is a friendship based on mutual respect, but I never trust these cats 100 per cent. I would never suggest that having a jaguar at home is a good idea!
also in the series, you visit Cambodia, Costa Rica and Kenya to explore conservation projects in action. How is The Big Cat sanctuary helping endangered cats across the globe?
We’ve developed the Four Pillars, which are our ethos. First there’s Welfare, which is looking after the animals we have; then there’s Breeding, which is supporting any recognised coordinated breeding programmes. We also want to increase Education, so raising awareness of what we do and last, but by no means least, it’s about Conservation and trying to save these animals’ wild counterparts. The dream for me is for the sanctuary to be a global centre of excellence for cat conservation.