Jamie Veronica - Big Cat Rescue

04/22/2026

What a day! 3 years since we last rescued a wild bobcat…time flies, but bobcat catching skills are still on point 😅

03/05/2026

So interesting 🤯

Right now, in the mountains of central Mexico, monarchs are waking up.

They've been sleeping since November — clustered so thick the trees bend under their weight. This week they begin the journey north.

The butterfly that left your garden last September will never return.

She made it to Mexico. She survived the winter. But she won't make it back to your yard. Instead she'll fly north into Texas, find milkw**d, lay eggs, and her journey ends there.

Her children continue north. They live a few weeks. Lay eggs. The next generation pushes further. Then the next. It takes four generations to reach the northern states.

Then in late summer something changes.

The fourth generation is different. They don't reproduce. They live eight to nine months instead of weeks. They fly three thousand miles south to a forest in Mexico they've never seen. And they find the exact same trees their great-great-grandparents left.

No one fully understands how.

The migration isn't one journey. It's a relay race across a continent, written in genes. And it depends entirely on one plant being available at every stop along the way.

🦋 What makes the relay work:

- Milkw**d is the only plant monarch caterpillars can eat — no milkw**d at any stage of the relay means that generation fails and the chain breaks
- Plant native milkw**d species, not tropical milkw**d — tropical varieties don't die back in winter and can harbor parasites that build up in resident populations
- Common milkw**d, swamp milkw**d, and butterfly w**d are the best options for most of the US
- Even a few plants in a container on a porch gives a passing female a place to lay eggs

The first generation arrives in the southern US this month. They're looking for milkw**d. Everything that follows depends on finding it 🌿

02/16/2026

The Monarchs have emerged 😻

02/05/2026

There were quite a few chrysalises formed and a couple that unfortunately were attacked by tachnid fly larvae ( a common parasite to the monarch that lives on the milkw**d and in the soil ). Since the weather has warmed up we decided to move the plant back out into the butterfly garden. One chrysalis is still clinging to the butterfly enclosure so we will keep it in there and hopefully the flies have not infected it 🤞 🦋

01/30/2026

Ahead of the freezing temperatures we are expecting tomorrow night Victor and I set out on a rescue mission in our butterfly garden. We have several species of milkw**d in our garden including giant milkw**d and native milkw**d as well as a plethora of pollinator plants. The milkw**ds have been inundated with caterpillars recently. To give these little guys the best chance possible we relocated them temporarily into a heated space with a full grown potted milkw**d to chow down on until the weather warms up a bit. One has already made itself a nice cozy cocoon 🥰 🦋

01/02/2026

12/28/2025

Foraging for breakfast snacks

08/28/2025

What a huge transitional time for us and you, our supporters. So proud that we will be able to donate a million dollars annually to saving cats in the wild. To everyone who has stood by us, thank you 🙏

Discover why Big Cat Rescue sold its 67-acre sanctuary after 32 years to focus on saving wild cats. Learn how the $20M sale is funding larger enclosures for rescued cats and tripling global conservation efforts. A win-win for big cats everywhere!

07/05/2025

Nature hike at Brooker Creek on a quiet post holiday morning 🐝

05/04/2025

Stumbled across these amazing plants on a recent hike 🤩 They were so tiny, only standing about a half an inch at their tallest.

Pink sundew (Drosera capillaris) is an insectivorous wildflower that grows in abundance in wet pinelands, savannas and bogs. The leaf blades are covered in tentacle-like glands that secrete a sticky, acidic substance in which insects become trapped. The leaves then fold in on themselves, ensnaring the insects until digestion is complete. How cool is that!