This Christmas Eve, instead of reindeer at Santa Claus’ side it will be Sabeena the tiger at the Christmas Extravaganza at Venetian Village. The tiger’s public appearances, along with her home of Kowiachobee Animal Preserve in Golden Gate Estates, are catching the watchful eye of big cat advocates, particularly on the first anniversary of the Big Cat Public Safety Act limiting such public exposure to large cats.

“We’ve taken a lot of hits the last few years, especially with ‘Tiger King,’” said John Slaby, who founded Kowiachobee with wife Grace in 2001. He recalled times when Grace walked down Fifth Avenue South in Naples with a tiger on a leash.

The BCPSA was championed by Tampa-based Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin, who was made famous in the Netflix docuseries “Tiger King” for publicly calling out other cat owners.

Big cats legislated by the BCPSA include lions, tigers, leopards, chee- tahs, jaguars and cougars, as well as hybrids of those animals. Kowiachobee now has lions and tigers, and used to have the other species before they passed away with age, said Slaby.

The BCPSA, signed into law Dec. 20, 2022, seeks to put an eventual end to private big cat ownership, prohibiting breeding, purchasing and direct public contact with the big cat species—and especially with cubs. An exhibitor’s license and registration with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by June 18, 2023, allows for some exemptions.

Kowiachobee means “big cat” or “big screaming cat” in the Muscogee Seminole language of the local Indigenous people, said Slaby.

He shared Kowiachobee’s U.S. Department of Agriculture permit renewal process on social media, acquiring its Class C license with the USDA in August.

In addition to Sabeena, other big cats there include 12-year-old orange Siberian tiger Subaliczar, who plays with the 12-year-old African lion named Shaumbay, as well as white Bengal tiger twins, Mali and Tanju. There are as many as 100 other animals at Kowiachobee, including Zahara the zebra, a purple skunk, alligators, a donkey, a turkey, goats, pigs, birds, horses, lemurs and tortoises, as well as other species from farm animals to natives, exotics and invasives. Most would not survive in the wild and could not be released.

Santa and Sabeena the tiger

“She’s the prettiest tiger I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Slaby, as Sabeena, the orange Bengal tiger, came to the fence edge and leaned her whole body toward Slaby, rubbing against the fence.

“She’s domesticated, like a house cat. I did raise her in the house,” Slaby said. “But I don’t advocate them as pets, because you know how when you pet a cat that doesn’t want to be petted, you survive because he’s 8 or 10 pounds. He’ll scratch and bite.”

But when that “house cat” is a tiger, it’s a different story.

“He’ll roar and slice and there will be a possible dismemberment,” he said.

That’s what happened in December 2021 at Naples Zoo, and March 2022 at Wooten’s Airboat Tours, when tigers in each place bit men who entered their enclosures without authorization. One member of an endangered species was shot and killed.

Such attacks, in fact, don’t happen as often as they do from small house cats, said Slaby. “They’re actually more tolerant,” he said of the big cats.

But they’re more dangerous. “That’s why I don’t get in there. I feel bad because they don’t understand that. I took away their interaction,” Slaby said.

He pointed to the open-air trailer and said he looks forward to bringing the orange Bengal tiger, Sabeena, to the Christmas Extravaganza at Venetian Village, 2-5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 24, where children can visit her alongside Santa Claus.

“It’s a different activity for her. It’s like a kid going on a field trip. But I’ll get reported by Carole Baskin’s people,” said Slaby.

Reports of suspected violations

One of those people is freelance animal advocate Jeff Kremer, who used to work for BCR.

Kremer wrote a September post on the website 911animalabuse. com saying Kowiachobee’s public outings with the tiger put children’s safety at risk during an elementary school visit because the kids were allowed too close to the tiger without a permanent barrier between them as required by the BCPSA. Kremer described the “dilapidated” caged trailer and warned of a hole the size a hand could fit through in one permanent enclosure on the preserve, among other allegations.

“I alerted Big Cat Rescue to him [Slaby] being at the elementary school. It appeared the children were less than 15 feet from the enclosure, violating the BCPSA,” said Kremer during a phone interview. He also alerted U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. FWS is looking into reports of wrongdoing at Kowiachobee, according to a Dec. 18 email from FWS southeastern communications director Dan Chapman.

“No AZA-accredited (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) zoo is bringing a lion or a tiger to a school. They’re doing a lot of other not good things for the animals, but not that,” said Kremer.

Even though Slaby isn’t a fan of Baskin, or of “Tiger King,” he said he doesn’t hate her or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an organization that publicly supports Baskin and BCR since she stopped her earlier life practices of purchasing, breeding and declawing cats.

“I don’t think it’s wrong to be passionate about anything. It’s not even wrong to try to convince people. It’s wrong to force people,” said Slaby.

Caring for lions and tigers

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation has confiscated invasive species from Kowiachobee that included Burmese python, yellow anaconda, reticulated python and a tegu lizard. Similar to the pigs he has, Slaby said he takes on such animals that he doesn’t want because he has a big heart.

Violations with the USDA over the years have included structures needing upgrades; nonhuman primates needing more psychologically enhanced environments and better vet records; and then-cubs Subaliczar and Shaumbay needing improved nutrition. Lack of calcium was causing bone disease and fractures, according to USDA reports in 2012.

Slaby said he is self-taught, learning to care for animals through research, and also through his wife, who volunteered for eight years at an animal preserve.

Financial strain

“There’s no money. It’s unforgiving; in fact you’re attacked for it,” said Slaby. “Instead of driving a Corvette, you’re driving that,” he said, pointing to an old, or classic, red pickup truck with a peacock sitting in the bed.

Kowiachobee survives on donations.

Collier County Code Enforcement fines from more than 10 years ago added up to a $30,600 lien on the property from $200 per day fines for violations that included outdated electric, plumbing and carport permits. County codes limit business activity on the agriculturally zoned property.

Slaby can only offer tours by reservation and invitation. Visits from public schools were put to an end, but private school children can schedule visits to Kowiachobee, and he continues going offsite to schools.

“I don’t want to be open to the public. I don’t want to be a tourist trap,” said Slaby.

Kowiachobee is about educating children on topics such as genetics and animal husbandry, he said.

The preserve costs about $150,000 per year to maintain, said Slaby. Most of Kowiachobee’s food is donated through waste reduction programs offered by Walmart and Whole Foods, among others.

According to the nonprofit’s 2022 tax return, Kowiachobee raised about $106,000, and half of that was from foundations and other nonprofits. One employee was paid $25,000.

Prized possessions and passion

“It’s tough, but it’s rewarding. My prize possessions are the letters, pictures and cards from children describing their visit here or my visits to them in their classroom,” said Slaby.

Slaby’s interest in big cats began in childhood, growing up in Roselle, Illinois, long before becoming a Naples area resident in 1987.

“I always had a fascination with big cats. The black panther was my passion. I used to dream about having one,” said Slaby. “[But] I thought you have to be rich and famous, like Mike Tyson, to have a big cat.”

Then, he met Gracelyn Rue, who is now his wife, at a big cat sanctuary in Florida that has since closed. She was a nurse and he was an electrical supervisor before Kowiachobee became their professions.

Volunteering at a big cat sanctuary with Grace is when he learned his dream was based on a lie. “There is no such thing as a black panther,” he said.

It would be like calling a tiger a “striped panther” because it has stripes and is in the panthera genus of big cats. A black panther is really either a black leopard or a black jaguar, Slaby explains.

Still, he sticks by his dream. Kowiachobee’s first two animals were black leopards, Sasha and Kayla, who since passed away.

The preserve’s heyday seems to have passed, as well. Slaby’s demeanor changed as he approached the somewhat dilapidated, vacant structures that once housed the other big cats, including a Florida panther who passed away in January.

“It leaves a hole in my heart, but in the business sense, it also leaves a hole,” he said.

When he’s educating, the numerous cats were part of the lessons he taught to children—including seeing in-person that the black panther was really a leopard that had spots.

Years ago, the Slabys’ daughter Ashlie, now 27, would be stretched out on their living room floor with a lion, a tiger and a husky, Slaby recalled. But eventually, when the tiger cub threw the recliner in the pool, it was time to move the tiger and the lion to an enclosure outside the home.

Those memories drew him toward the family portraits with big cats on his living room wall, as a black German shepherd greeted him at the door and a Catahoula leopard dog leaped up for attention. Exotic cat print decor fills the home, from coffee mugs to a mural.

As numerous enclosures sit empty, Slaby said he does not intend to get more cats, but rather focus his attention and finances on the 100 animals already in his care.

“We ourselves are in a cage,” Slaby said of the regulations and societal structures of humanity. “It’s illegal to live offgrid,” he offered as an example. “Maybe the conversation has to change from ‘This is right and this is wrong.’” He pondered aloud: “I admit it’s not easy to see an animal in a cage, but is it better for things to go extinct?”

Visit kowiachobee.org for more information.