CRC in the News

Originally published September 10, 2006

The cat lady
Big cats are Gloria Johnson's life

By Nikki Beare
SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT

HAVANA - For some people, devotion to Florida wildlife means buying a Florida panther license plate.

For Gloria Johnson, it means transforming her whole life. Selling her house in Tallahassee. Buying 18 acres north of Havana. Building giant cages. Buying two cougars and a rare white Siberian tiger. Nursing them through sickness. Satisfying their enormous appetites. Cutting up their meat into bite-size pieces. Introducing schoolchildren and other visitors to her beasts. Beating the bushes for donations to keep her nonprofit Cougar Ridge Educational Center going.

For an $8 admission price ($5 for kids), you can catch a glimpse of four of Gadsden County's most unusual residents: Sugar (aka Ashukalee, a Seminole Indian word for sugar), a 7-year-old female cougar; Lakota, a 4-year-old male cougar; Casanova, a 15-month-old white Siberian tiger; and Johnson herself, a 50-year-old Tallahassee lobbyist who has devoted decades to this passion.

"She is a wonderful, caring person who loves these animals and wants to teach young people to think about keeping our Earth a safe place for (them)," celebrity naturalist Jim Fowler said recently by phone from Albany, Ga.

When Johnson's cats were small, she took them to Gretchen Everhart School, Gilchrist Elementary and other places. Now her audiences come to her at Cougar Ridge.

"I've personally seen the looks on the faces of the people in (Johnson's) audience," Fowler states on her Web site. "People of all ages light up and listen. In many zoos today, one can't experience the presence of an animal up close and personal."

Johnson loves to introduce people to these wild animals. In return, through the Cougar Ridge Center Inc., she gladly accepts tax-exempt donations: of money, of meat, of fencing material to expand the center's perimeter.

She's a gentle person with a sense of humor and a healthy social life, but there's no question about her main focus.

"My whole life is centered on these animals," she said. "I love them. They are really my family."

A cat's life

She walks right into their cages, without any hesitation. They immediately rush up to her.

She rubs their backs and ears, hugs them and speaks with them constantly. They eat out of a bowl - but prefer it when she hand-feeds them.

While most places feed their animals only chicken or processed "prepared zoo diet," Johnson feeds her animals venison, beef cattle, horse, fish and organ meat.

"Each night I cut about 20 lbs of meat which is more work than it sounds like," she wrote on her Web site. "I cut it into stew size pieces so that the 4 vitamin supplements they get will coat the meat well. This of course has to be done rain or shine, in sickness and health."

She encourages deer hunters to donate their freezer-burnt venison.

She also makes sure her animals get their exercise.

"Each animal has to have 'enrichment' or 'play time' to keep them from being bored," she said, and to keep their minds active.

They play with car tires, bowling pins, even meat hidden inside a cardboard box. Johnson also plays swimming-pool basketball with them regularly. Of course, they're rough on toys. The ball typically lasts about 10 minutes before getting popped.

They've never injured her, she insists, but when they were babies she often had scratches. Their claws weren't removed until they were several months old.

Getting started

In 1982, the Legislature named the Florida panther the state mammal. Learning that the animal was endangered piqued Johnson's interest.

(Cougars, Florida panthers and mountain lions are all Puma concolor: "the same species living in different geographic areas," she explains. She prefers "cougar.")

Little by little she became immersed in the subject of big cats. Finally she decided to become an exhibitor and educator.

It's not easy. It takes 1,000 hours of training and a whole series of lessons.

In 1999 she traveled down to the 43-acre Rare Feline Breeding Center in Centerhill, near Bushnell. Robert Baudy, who established it, became her mentor. Johnson spent two years there.

She began her training by cleaning cages and feeding adult tigers. The babies were kept in various homes and bottle-fed. When they returned to the center several months later, they had to learn to eat solid food.

That's where Johnson took over. She weaned them from bottle-feeding to eating meat, and she taught them to walk on a leash and to refrain from scratching and biting.

Gradually she met all of the state and federal requirements. She received her designation as an "Exhibitor of Wildlife."

Sugar

One of the cougars Johnson weaned, trained and nursed through a serious illness was named Sugar. The illness lasted 10 weeks, during which time Johnson fed her through a syringe and stayed with her throughout the night. The two developed such a bond that Sugar usually wants nothing to do with other humans.

Eventually, Johnson had to leave the breeding center to return to Tallahassee and her lobbying work. But she was so upset about leaving her pet, she couldn't eat. Sugar was so lonesome, she wouldn't eat, either.

So Johnson decided there was only one thing to do: In 2000, she bought Sugar.

But now what? You can't just bring a cougar home to a typical Tallahassee neighborhood.

So she took the next step: She sold her Tallahassee home and sought a spacious home for her cougar.

Eventually she found 18 acres just north of Havana. She first built a 16-by-32-foot steel cage for 90-pound Sugar just 10 feet from her house, so the cougar could see her through her bedroom windows. Soon she would add another cage that size. Sugar was about to get some company.

Lakota

In 2002 Johnson acquired Lakota (the name means "to walk in beauty" in the Lakota Indian language) from Chestatee Wildlife Foundation in Georgia. Lakota was healthy and happy and, when he was still small, made several public appearances with her at schools.

Then Lakota became mysteriously ill. As it turned out, he had a painful calcium deficiency.

Johnson worked with Greg Winter, a Gadsden County veterinarian. She did whatever it took to help her cat recover - even at the cost of her own comfort. Lakota had fractured one of his legs, so it was all wired together with a long pin down it, and it was hard for him to keep still. So for three months, Johnson slept on the floor with him - even though she was wearing a body brace because doctors were correcting a congenital back problem. That's dedication.

"He finally survived and is in great shape now," she said.

Casanova

Last year the Florida owner of a white Siberian tiger kitten became so ill he no longer could care for the animal. He put him up for sale.

Siberian tigers are rare, Johnson said, but white Siberians are extremely rare. This one was 14 weeks old, tiny and adorable. She had to have him. But the going price is generally around $15,000.

She sat in his 6-by-8-foot baby cage with him. Using her cell phone, she called her friends and asked them to help her buy this rare white tiger.

"I was happy to help," said one of those friends, Rick Hardy, CEO of Florida Family Insurance Co.

So was Mike Kenyan, patrol sergeant with the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

"When I got a call from Gloria about her wanting to purchase a white Siberian tiger and that she had spent three days in the cat's cage calling people. . . , I thought, 'Wow, what dedication, what a woman! Who else would do that?'

"I wasn't surprised by her doing that. I met her when I was in Tallahassee for one of the legislative sessions and was bringing the (department's) mascot, an 18-year-old panther, Corky Cougar. She came right up to it and Corky took to her right away."

Johnson's friends gave what they could, but she finally had to refinance her home to raise enough to bring Casanova home with her.

"Most of the few (white Siberians) left are found in northern China and South Korea," she said. "I am so happy I was able to purchase this animal."

Of course, now she had to build two more 16-by-32-foot cages, positioned together to form an L shape. This cat will grow to weigh more than 700 pounds. This summer, when he turned 1 year old, he already weighed 250.

"Now that I have Casanova in a habitat next to the cougars," she wrote on her Web site, "I must be very careful to give everyone equal attention. Ashukalee especially gets her feelings hurt if she is not first to greet and last to say good night. She was the first, is the oldest, and is the queen of this castle."

Neighbor reactions

Johnson built a barrier for visitors to stand behind while they watch the animals in their cages. It protects both the visitors and the animals.

So what's it like to have two panthers and one tiger as neighbors?

"Our members are very satisfied that Ms. Johnson is maintaining the animals in a safe and educated way and that she is doing something to help the area be a little bit different," said Richard Bunyan, president of the Wayside Farm Property Owners Association. "The animals do not make any noise, and the visits from school classes are not a bother, either.

"In fact, we are proud of what she is doing to educate the children about the need to protect these animals. She is a good neighbor, and we are proud to have her here."

She's also an artist. Terri Lantz, director of Light 'N' Up Art Gallery Cooperative in downtown Havana, displays some of Johnson's paintings of big cats.

"She does beautiful work," Lantz said. "We photographed the paintings and made them into colorful note paper and envelopes. We provide a portion of the sale of these to help her nonprofit organization.

". . . We think it is great that Havana has a real live wild animal center."

Cougar Ridge is still a pretty well-kept secret, but hundreds of people visit each year. Often the children's first reaction is, "Oh, cool! I want one!" That's when she reminds the kids: These animals are wild, not pets. Respect them. Protect them. Do what you can to preserve them.

About Gloria Johnson

Age: 50
Birthplace: Washington, D.C.
Education: Graduated from Tallahassee Community College, became certified paralegal.
Occupation: lobbyist, Gloria Johnson & Associates Inc., primarily dealing with insurance; founder of Cougar Ridge Educational Center Inc.
Appointment: Selected to serve on Florida Wildlife Commission committee to review all rules that affect wildlife; committee is asked to make recommendations to Legislature about any changes necessary; it's a two-year process.

Marital status: Divorced
Wish list: Build a longer cage for Casanova so tiger can get more exercise; build covered bleachers for children who visit; have documentary made about the animals and near extinction of panthers.

About the center

What: Cougar Ridge Educational Center

Where: North of Havana

Admission: $10 for adults, $8 for children

Before you visit: Call (850) 539-4337 to make an appointment. Fact sheets about the endangered species are e-mailed to teachers a week before the visit, so children may research and prepare questions before seeing the animals. Also, don't plan on having your photo taken with any of the wild animals.

Web site: www. cougar-ridge.org