Yogie and Friends faces hurdles

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from the Shreveport Times website

FRIERSON — Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of Yogie and Friends Exotic Cat Sanctuary in Frierson and it marks a pivotal year for the private, nonprofit facility that is in need of donations to complete upgrades required by a state law implemented four years ago.

The law regulates the importation and private ownership of big exotic cats. And it sets a permitting process for classification of sanctuaries not accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. The classification allows the sanctuary to stay open to the public.

An on-site visit by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in July identified several improvements needed at the rural sanctuary. The cheapest projects — raising fencing from 12 feet to 16 feet and ringing all fences with concrete to ensure they are secured to the ground — are almost completed.

The high dollar project that calls for providing concrete pads and cinderblock shelters for the animals has yet to get under way. LDWF officials are requiring the sturdier housing to replace existing calf hutches to protect the lions and tigers during inclement weather.

None of the animals have been injured by weather-related events, Executive Director Jenny Senier said. But Yogie and Friends still must comply.

"We have a December deadline to get the improvements made. The most difficult part will be in getting the cinderblock den houses," Senier said. "We will have to do a concrete pad. That's our biggest challenge right now. It's not going to be cheap."

With cinderblocks selling for about $1.84 each, Senier envisions the den houses, which will vary in size depending on how many animals will be accommodated, costing around $10,000 to $20,000 each if done professionally. For example, Moses, the 4-year-old lion is in a pen by himself and will have his own house, while four tigers that already share a pen also will share a den house. The houses must be built outside the pens with a guillotine system to allow doors to be raised and lowered in emergencies.

If volunteers step up, Senier hopes the work can be done at a lesser cost. She even suggests donations of cinderblocks would help.

"No one here gets paid; all of the work is done for free," she said of the volunteers who already have been a part of keeping Yogie and Friends up and running for the past 10 years. Among those are Timothy J. Mills, who lives on-site and is the full-time animal care director, and Victoria G. Volk, who is vice president and a part-time animal caregiver.

president and a part-time animal caregiver.

"I hope we can get it all done before the end of December if we get the right support," Senier said. She is uncertain what LDWF will do if the work is not done on time.

Rooting for Yogie is a pair of long-distance supporters, Louise and Paul Denman, an Australian couple who recently made a return trip to Frierson to spend several days visiting their new friends. The Denmans, who live near Australia's Sunshine Coast, learned about Louisiana's only big cat sanctuary about five years ago through online research.

"We can only see them in zoos in Australia. You can't see them in private facilities like this," Louise Denman said. "We were interested in seeing what people in other areas were doing with the big cats."

When a trip in 2005 took the Denmans to Dallas, they took a side trip to Frierson. They keep in touch with Senier, and they made a special trip to the area two weeks ago so they could spend several days at Yogie and Friends.

Never far from Louise Denman's mind is what Yogie's residents — six tigers, six lions, three servals and one cougar, black leopard and bobcat — went through before their rescue. They were rescued from situations such as small zoos, private owners and traveling photo exhibitions, and some of them were in extremely poor health.

"What they do just amazes me," Louise Denman said of the care and love Yogie's volunteers give the animals. She pointed to the interaction between Mills and several of the big cats, who snuggled against wire fences as he talked to them while replenishing their water bowls and swimming pools. Several followed him along the fence line as he moved from pen to pen.

"To think what they went through and to still have an affinity with a human being is amazing," Louise Denman said. "We love to come and support them, and we tell others we know who are in the States to come, too. They do such as wonderful job."