*All credit for the pictures is given to Tina Matejek. Tina is a lifelong animal lover. Her motivation comes from the love and energy that these beautiful and highly sensitive creatures bestow upon her. Their unique personalities are embraced by her and it shows as she helps care for these orphaned and abused animals that call “Keepers of the Wild” their final home.

Glossary

ANIMAL ABUSE: the crime of inflicting physical pain, suffering or death on an animal, usually a tame one, beyond necessity for normal discipline. It can include neglect that is so monstrous (withholding food and water) that the animal has suffered, died or been put in imminent danger of death.

ANIMAL INSTINCT: the inherent disposition of a living organism toward a particular behavior.

BIG CATS: any of several large cats typically able to roar and living in the wild. One definition of “big cat” includes the four members of the genus Panthera: the tiger, lion, jaguar, and leopard. Members of this genus are the only cats able to roar. A more expansive definition of “big cat” also includes the cougar, cheetah, snow leopard, and clouded leopard.

CARNIVORE: meaning meat eater is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging. A carnivore that sits at the top of the food chain is an apex predator.

CONSERVATION MOVEMENT: known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the future.

ENDANGERED SPECIES: is a population of organisms facing a high risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters.

HABITAT DESTRUCTION: is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity. Habitat destruction by human activity is mainly for the purpose of harvesting natural resources for industry production and urbanization. Clearing habitats for agriculture is the principal cause of habitat destruction. Other important causes of habitat destruction include mining, logging, trawling and urban sprawl. Habitat destruction is currently ranked as the primary cause of species extinction worldwide.

HERBIVORE: an organism that is anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods.

NATURAL HABITAT: A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds (influences and is utilized by) a species population.

PREDATOR: in ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is hunting) feeds on its prey (the organism that is attacked). Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation often results in the death of its prey and the eventual absorption of the prey’s tissue through consumption.

OMNIVORES: consume both animal and non-animal food, and apart from the more general definition, there is no clearly defined ratio of plant to animal material that would distinguish a facultative carnivore from an omnivore, or an omnivore from a facultative herbivore, for that matter.