Carnivore Preservation Trust (Pittsboro, North Carolina)

Carnivore Preservation Trust (Pittsboro, NC)

Editor’s note (quick update): The Carnivore Preservation Trust is now Carolina Tiger Rescue in Pittsboro, and tours generally require advance ticket purchase/reservations through their site.

Overview: The Carnivore Preservation Trust, located in Pittsboro, North Carolina, seeks to provide a refuge and sanctuary for mistreated or unwanted carnivores. For a fee, visitors can tour the refuge and learn about tigers, caracals, ocelots, and a number of other members of the taxonomic order Carnivora (all members of this order have carnassial teeth, but not all members are carnivorous, i.e., meat eaters). Reservations are required.

Directions: The Carnivore Preservation Trust, located south of Chapel Hill, can be a bit tricky to get to. Detailed directions are available through the sanctuary’s website.

Observations & Ponderings: My family and I visited the Carnivore Preservation Trust on Sunday, January 11, 2009, for the second time. After signing release forms, a friendly guide explained that the trust was originally founded by Dr. Michael Bleyman, who wanted to ensure the survival of keystone species from threatened ecosystems. Dr. Bleyman originally started a breeding program for caracals, servals, ocelots, and binturongs. This breeding program is no longer in place, and CPT now functions solely as a carnivore sanctuary.

After the brief introduction, we followed our guide onto the grounds, where animals are kept in well-maintained habitats—often with heated sleep boxes—delineated by chain-link fencing. We were first introduced to the caracals (a word meaning “black ears” in Turkish), a sand-colored, medium-sized cat with tufted black ears, found mostly in the dry steppes and other arid habitats of Africa and the Middle East.

Next, we met the servals (Leptailurus serval) of Africa. These medium-sized cats are tawny and dotted with black spots. They also have a pair of white spots on the back of their ears, which allow servals to lead their young through tall savanna grass. Interestingly, this cat can consume up to 4,000 rodents each year.

CPT is home to a number of large tigers (Panthera tigris) of diverse origin: two were collected from the side of the road in North Carolina; others were once kept as pets; and some used to be in zoos or the circus. According to our guide, there are currently more tigers in captivity in the state of Texas than exist in the wild. Tigers are found in Asia and prefer dense cover (e.g., forests) close to water. The tigers at CPT had a variety of temperaments; some were curious, others simply hungry for a chicken-leg snack, and some seemed to seek out the special pleasure of marking visitors with a misty cloud of urine.

The last carnivore we met was the binturong (Arctictis binturong), a nocturnal omnivore found in the rainforest canopies of Southeast Asia. The binturong is especially significant, as it is “the only known animal with digestive enzymes capable of softening the seed coat of strangler fig,” thus making it critical to the dispersal of strangler figs, an important rainforest plant. The binturong at CPT seemed amicable and enjoyed the banana bits offered by the guide, but they can be quite vicious when cornered.