Pictured: Big Cat Habitat is home to over 300 animals across 62 species, including the Florida Panther.

The wonders of the wild are not entirely out of reach. At Sarasota’s Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast Sanctuary, visitors can explore, learn about and even interact with some of the world’s most exotic animals. The animal rescue and conservation center was founded in 1987, the familial operation of the Rosaire’s, a longtime Sarasota circus family. “I had stopped doing circuses at a certain point, because I was concerned about the plight of the endangered tigers and lions in the wild–they were really in trouble. There were also a lot of cats in this country that needed homes,” says Kay Rosaire, who founded the sanctuary with her family and manages it today with her son Clayton. “We’d taken in a tiger, Nadu, from some people that had planned on taking him to another country and they asked us if they could keep him at our place for a couple of weeks while they got the permits – well they never got the permits and they never returned. People heard that we’d taken him in and started asking if we’d adopt other animals in need.”

Word of mouth–and the roars of lions echoing throughout the neighborhood–quickly made Big Cat Habitat a go-to destination for both animals in need of a home and visitors looking to lay eyes on these unique creatures. The sanctuary has grown ever since, incorporating into a non-profit in 2005, building new animal enclosures including a conservation area and expanding their experiences offered to visitors. Today, the sanctuary is home to over 300 animals across 62 species. Everything from Himalayan and Brown Bears to the African Caracal, Bengal Tigers, Clouded Leopards, the Florida Panther, all types of lemurs, exotic birds and monkeys are cared for on the organization’s campus.

Some of the experiences offered at the sanctuary include wild yoga with capybaras, Bengal Tigers, foxes and lemurs as well as animal encounters with mammals such as the Arctic Wolf, Two Toed Sloth, Bennett Wallaby and African Caracal. “The whole purpose of the animal encounters is that when you get up close and personal with an animal, it’s an entirely different story,” says Clayton Rosaire. “It’s that contact, that interaction when a little kid goes in there and gets to give a Ruffed Lemur praise and touches them and learns about them and where they’re from and how incredible their species is, that little kid might just leave our facility and tell their parents that they want to be a veterinarian.”

Big Cat Habitat, 1701 Palmer Blvd, Sarasota, 941-371-6377, info@bigcathabitat.org 

Pictured: Big Cat Habitat is home to over 300 animals across 62 species, including the Florida Panther.