EXCLUSIVE Chance to win $10,000!

Calling ALL Friends and Supporters of IEAS:

The first two weeks of October are going to be very important ones for us here at the Sanctuary!

Because we support Albertsons through their Community Partners program, we have an exclusive chance to earn a grant worth $10,000!

PLEASE help the animals of the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary!

HERE'S HOW:

1. Go to albertsonscpchallenge.com and login, by entering your e-mail address.

2. If this is your first time to the site, you will be taken to the e-mail verification page.

3. Once your e-mail is verified, you can login and vote using just your e-mail.

4. Enter CHARITY CODE #0194 in the upper left hand corner, then click GO.

5. When you see our entry, click on VOTE!

You can vote up to FIVE TIME PER DAY from October 1st through October 15th!

Don't worry - we'll send reminders ;)

Please SPREAD THE WORD to your family, friends, and co-workers!

THANKS so much - we hope the cats and bears here at IEAS can rely on your help!

New Houses and Pools!

You would be hard pressed to find a time in the past few months when Roy, our Maintenance Supervisor, and Richard, Director, haven't been welding, cutting, attaching, fixing, and rebuilding twenty year old houses for the feline residents of IEAS alongside dedicated volunteers and community service individuals. The new houses will have improved safety features for both the protection of the cats, and the safety of the staff. Khera's has just been finished, Kimberly's is in the works, and we have three more lined up! It is our HOPE that soon, Karen, and our new tigers, Danvir and Sajani, will have spacious and comfortable new houses to relax in! We are also hoping to enlarge Danvir and Sajani's pool, so they can comfortably enjoy it together. To change these hopes into reality, we need your help!

These three houses and one pool will cost us about $10,000 in materials total. Luckily, we have some great volunteers who have promised to help us build the houses so the labor will be free, though we may reward them with some donuts in the mornings! A big thanks to Billy, George, and Matt for their assistance in helping to build the last few houses! We also want to thank the community service department in Decatur, TX for allowing individuals to complete their community service hours by working them off at IEAS. In the past year, over 6,000 hours of community service have been completed here, and the free labor they have done has been immensely helpful!

We will be setting up a thermometer so you can all stay updated on how close we are to reaching our goal. We understand that this letter falls on difficult times for everyone, but remember, every dollar counts! Do what you can and we can promise you that the cats whose lives YOU helped change, will be grateful for what you have given!

Click HERE to DONATE or call 940-433-5091!

Who doesn't love a WILD present!?

With the holidays just a few months away, we decided to help you with your shopping! We know that many of you have come to know and love the animals here at IEAS. Whether it be through your visits to the Sanctuary or by reading about them on the website, you have come to care for these magnificent animals. Why not take this opportunity to receive a spectacular, black and white drawing of your favorite animal. Nissa Marione, the Education Coordinator at IEAS, is probably the most talented artist we have ever had come through our intern program. Nissa would like to donate her time and talents to provide you with an amazing 8x10 drawing of your favorite animal. To our many adoptive parents, this is a wonderful opportunity to receive a unique drawing of your adopted animal! All proceeds will go strictly to the Intern Program here at the Sanctuary. Check out the photo and illustration below to see just how talented Nissa is!

Nissa Marione completed our Intern Program during the summer of 2010. Her hard work, determination and love for these animals earned her a full time position at the Sanctuary. Nissa has become part of the IEAS Staff and is the Education Coordinator responsible for giving School Presentations and guided tours.

Nissa would like to ask for a donation of $200 for each portrait and $250 for each full body sketch she does. If you are interested in this special opportunity, please contact our office at 940-433-5091 or you can email us at richard@bigcat.org. Don't let this unique chance pass you by! Call today and order your perfect holiday gift!

ANOTHER GREAT IDEA!

Is that a little outside your budget? How bout this - make your friend or family member the "Friend of a Feline" or "Buddy of a Bear" by purchasing a $40 gift packet from the IEAS gift store! This packet gives your gift recipient an 8 x 10 photo of their favorite IEAS animal, that animal's personal history, AND a FREE PASS to come to the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary and visit their new Feline Friend or Bear Buddy! This gives them the chance to spend one-on-one quality time with an EXOTIC new friend (from outside the habitat, of course)! What better gift is there!?

Don't leave the holiday shopping until the last minute!

Visit IEAS NOW to make your purchases!

(Feel free to pick something up for yourself as well!)

Watch Them Work!

Here are some pictures of the interns, hard at work, helping us with projects all over the Sanctuary!

AMBER - Skimming out the big pool! Fall will bring lots of leaves!

BETSY - Getting ready to scrub and sanitize!

JENNIFER - Learning how to work with mortar!

MEGAN - Cleaning out Duke's pool!

TARA - Helping rebuild a waterfall!

ALEX - Fixing some cracks that are causing a leaky pool!

Stay tuned to see what our interns are up to this session!

Garden Buckets Galore!

Well, we've finally accepted that we need new garden buckets! We've been hanging on to our current six for quite some time but we have realized that the condition they are in is just too...rough. Most have either no handles or broken ones, and half have giant cracks and holes in the bottoms and sides. This makes them slightly less functional and the lack of handles DEFINITELY makes them harder to carry...

If YOU have any of these garden buckets around (that might be in better condition than our own), we'd love to take them off your hands! They would be a huge help to our staff and interns in getting our daily projects done - especially with fall arrivng, we'll have plenty of raked up leaves to fill these buckets!

THANKS!

Getting Back Into Our Routine!

Well, we are finally starting to get back into our normal routines here! After a few very understaffed weeks without interns, our new fall interns are here and ready to learn!

Amber, Betsy, Alex, Megan, Jennifer, and Tara have had their first few days here at IEAS and have already taken in HUGE amounts of information. The keepers are finally getting the chance to catch everyone back up on the Blog, YouTube, and all that fun stuff. Keep an eye out for all our new posts and think good thoughts for our new interns, who will be very tired and full of information at the end of their training!