海角大神

When Judy Berens took a neglected ocelot into her home in 1993, she never actually planned on finding it a companion. But as author Ernest Hemingway, who once kept 57 felines, famously observed: 鈥淥ne cat leads to another.鈥�

Fifteen years after that first furry companion, Ms. Berens shares her 10-acre estate in Wellington, Fla., with a 23-strong menagerie that includes some of the world鈥檚 most endangered species. Incongruous as their habitat may seem 鈥� Wellington is classic equestrian country, noted for its polo clubs, horse shows, and smart stables 鈥� the leopards, jaguars, caracals, panthers, ocelots, servals, bobcats, and cheetahs who reside here do so in quarters that are much different from their former homes.

Some, like jaguars Aztec and Zeus, are castoffs from circuses and entertainment acts; others are former pets, like Cody the ocelot, who simply outlasted their owners鈥� love for them. Duma the serval was dumped and abandoned outside a reptile shop, Pei the clouded leopard was rescued from the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.

Over the past decade, Berens has created a sort of modern Noah鈥檚 Ark for abused or neglected animals. While some critics fault her for turning her backyard into a personal zoo, Berens sees herself as a providing sanctuary for felines that no one else often wants.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not about building a cat collection, although it did start out basically because I couldn鈥檛 say 鈥楴o,鈥� 鈥� says Berens. 鈥淚 soon realized by perhaps the fifth cat that this wasn鈥檛 just going to be a habit, it was going to be a passion.鈥�

鈥⑩赌⑩赌�

From the outside, the Panther Ridge Conservation Center, as this place is called, looks like just another of Wellington鈥檚 upscale estates with its bougainvillea and neatly trimmed lawns.

But behind the manicured, three-quarter mile hedgerow that surrounds the property, it is not routine.

The exotic felines live in shady enclosures furnished with wooden kennels. In the case of Manolo the ocelot, who has a chronic skin condition, it also comes with air conditioning. Some have hammocks, wooden decks, and their own patios with potted plants. There are toys and distractions 鈥� footballs, trees to climb, rubber tubes to play in.
Berens 鈥� an elegant divorcee who, after cleaning out 23 cat enclosures and preparing 23 cat meals, still manages to look the picture of refinement 鈥� coos at Aztec and Zeus as they push their noses up against the mesh of their enclosure and bow their heads for an ear-tickling. 鈥淲ould you like your maid service?鈥� she jokes to them, poking her fingers through the fence to scratch their heads.

She doesn鈥檛 venture into their den, knowing that for all their apparent kitty-cat tenderness, humans and jaguars are a mismatch when in a cage together. These animals have the most powerful bite of any feline, and razors for claws.

In the case of Matt and Charlie, cheetahs who arrived here from South Africa earlier this year, she thought things would be different. Cheetahs are the least dangerous of the big cats. But as Berens stood in the cheetahs鈥� three-acre, open-air enclosure one day in March, addressing some visitors on the outside, it became clear that Matt and Charlie had not read the textbook. As a child in the visitor group played with a ball on the other side of the fence, one of the cheetahs 鈥� the fastest creatures on earth 鈥� bounded excitedly towards it, knocking Berens to the ground, whereupon she became the animals鈥� new toy.

鈥淭hat cheetah said, 鈥業鈥檓 having that ball,鈥� and I was in the way,鈥� she says. 鈥淎fter I fell, he said, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e second best, but you鈥檒l do.鈥� 鈥�

As the cheetahs mauled Berens, volunteers at the center raced to drive them off by spraying them with a hose. She was airlifted to a hospital, but discharged a day later, shrugging off the incident as accident rather than aggression.

Since then, she has been back in with Matt and Charlie, with undramatic consequences. But the incident left her irritated with herself, and with the publicity it garnered, the drama having led to mutterings from critics as to the justification for importing big cats like this.

Carole Baskin, chief executive of Big Cat Rescue, an 鈥渆ducational sanctuary鈥� in Tampa, Fla., which is home to more than 100 exotic felines saved from neglect and abuse, questioned the import of Matt and Charlie from their native South Africa and suggested that they were 鈥渂eing used as ego props in a backyard collection.鈥�

Others, however, see Berens鈥檚 sanctuary as a much-needed refuge for animals who would otherwise have few places to turn. 鈥淪ome people use the 鈥榚ducation鈥� argument as a facade for nothing more than doing a little circus show or using animals for commercials,鈥� says Ron Magill of Miami Metrozoo. 鈥淏ut with Judy it鈥檚 not commercial. She has made significant contributions to wildlife conservation.鈥�

For her part, Berens, who allows only private groups to tour the center 鈥� such as school pupils 鈥� robustly defends her work as contributing to education and the protection of wildlife.

She tells visitors, for example, about how clouded leopards face potential extinction because of the loss of their natural habitat in Asia, while cheetahs are trapped or shot by landowners in Africa for stealing livestock.

鈥淲hen I got my first cat, it was all about me and my special pet,鈥� she admits. 鈥淏ut then when you realize how many are out there in desperate situations ... there鈥檚 such potential for trying to fix the situation and to educate people about the problems they face.鈥�

Many of her four-legged lodgers were abused or neglected and referred here by authorities such as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. Matt and Charlie came from a breeder in Africa with the permission of the US Department of Agriculture, which grants import permits only for big cats that are three generations away from having lived in the wild. 鈥淭hey were exported as 鈥榓mbassador cats鈥� for their species,鈥� Berens says. 鈥淚 tell people about where they come from, their prospects, why they are in crisis.鈥�

She strolls past Apache the cougar, who belonged as a cub to a man who took him to children鈥檚 birthday parties as a novelty. 鈥淚t seems like such fun for a child at a party, but what happens to all these cats when they get older? I tell children: 鈥楾hink about what you are seeing.鈥� Hopefully they will take away an awareness of some important issues, about whether the parameters for keeping them as pets or for entertainment should be more stringent, and what the prospects for preserving them in the wild are.鈥�

鈥⑩赌⑩赌�

Born in Minneapolis, Berens was not allowed to keep pets as a child. Instead, she recalls, 鈥淚 would go out in the woods as a girl and befriend everything.鈥� But 鈥�Bringing Up Baby,鈥� a 1938 movie starring Katharine Hepburn as an heiress who uses a tame leopard to get the attention of a paleontologist (Cary Grant), sowed an even bigger fascination.

After coming to Florida in 1971 to get a master鈥檚 degree in business 鈥� 鈥渨hich doesn鈥檛 really prepare you for a life of picking up cat poop鈥� 鈥� she got her first cat, an ocelot, in 1993, after undergoing a rigorous licensing process. In 1998, with a second ocelot and a cougar also having joined her, she moved here to found Panther Ridge. It 鈥渞uns on a shoestring,鈥� she says, with the $150,000 annual costs covered by sponsors, public donations, and the small fees she charges for private tours.

Married twice but now on her own for 10 years, she has no trouble with being alone; this place keeps her busy. 鈥淢y parents would be rolling in their grave right now. They wanted me to be a doctor,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut I would be rolling in my grave if I didn鈥檛 do this.鈥�