My visit to the Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden

On Sunday I had the pleasure of visiting the Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Smarden near Ashford, home of The Big Cat Sanctuary. They only hold open days a few times a year so it’s a great chance to see some endangered big cats. The rest of the year they are focussed on a very successful breeding programme, as well as conservation, research, and eduction.

Cats are my favourite animal and I love how I can see familiar traits and behaviours between the big cats and my own domestic cat. Okay the sizes differ but there is something familiar in the way all cats go about their business and their demeanour.

Okay enough waffling from me and now for some photos (see more on Flickr). The cats are all behind fences so it was a matter of getting the focus and zoom right so that I was able to only capture the cats. I used my Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens to get these although their were a few people there who gave me lens envy!

White Lions

Cheetah

Tigers

African Lions

Find out more

If you want to find out about adopting (no you don’t get to take them home), volunteering, donating, or purchasing an amazing experience at the Sanctuary then visit www.whf.org.uk or you can find them on Twitter or Facebook.