Kowiachobee Animal Preserve is under the watchful eye of critics, investigators and an enthused public.

“People love what I do and people hate what I do,” said John Slaby, co-owner of Kowiachobee Animal Preserve in Golden Gate Estates, founded with wife Grace more than 24 years ago.

The 5-acre preserve offers guided tours 10 a.m. daily by appointment and offers offsite opportunities at schools, retirement communities and events, such as the Christmas Extravaganza at Venetian Village.

Animal advocates, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and a network of people associated with Tampa-based Big Cat Rescue—which was made famous when its co-founder, Carole Baskin, was on the Netflix docuseries “Tiger King”—have reported numerous perceived violations. Many were found by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission not to be violations, according to public records of investigations over the past year by the agency. Others were corrected within 30 days. However, a couple of the most recently reported concerns remain under investigation.

Jeff Kremer, a former employee of Big Cat Rescue and Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park, posted a video that seems to show a man touching a white tiger’s nose through a fence at Kowiachobee in December. This came after Kremer posted criticisms and concerns about Kowiachobee in September on the website 911animalabuse.com.

Kremer sent the December video to the reporter, FWC and the Baskins.

“I discovered a video posted by a visitor that had recently visited Kowiachobee Animal Preserve and during a private tour was allowed/encouraged to engage in an egregiously unsafe encounter with one of the facility’s white tigers,” Kremer wrote in an email.

Slaby contended that the video was taken out of context.

In the video, a man holds his hand out toward the enclosure where there are two white tigers.

“Oh, you’ve got a soft nose. Big kitty,” the man says.

But first, as he has his hand outstretched toward the enclosure, a woman says, “You’ve got to hold your hand flat.”

The man responds, “I don’t want him to grab me.”

“He won’t,” she says. The woman says, “Gosh, look at your paws.”

The man says, “No, I don’t want to.” Slaby responded that much of Kremer’s narrative surrounding the video is inaccurate; the man in the video is a family member who applied to be a volunteer at Kowiachobee. As for the man possibly touching the nose, Slaby said he didn’t know it happened.

“It is unacceptable. This is not something I allow,” Slaby said.

It was not clear if contact was actually made through the fence or if the man in the video was joking.

As of press time, FWC had not yet completed an investigation of Kremer’s complaints.

Animal encounters last December

This most recent video of perceived contact with a tiger comes a year after a woman was bitten at Kowiachobee Animal Preserve by a ring-tailed lemur, according to FWC incident reports. The 64-year-old woman was bitten during a public tour in December 2022 when guests were invited to feed the animals marshmallows, according to a FWC report.

She was treated at North Naples Hospital after Collier County Health Department recommended rabies prevention treatment as an extra precaution for her safety.

Slaby responded saying that he would no longer allow the public to feed animals, and going forward, sticks and tongs would be used for feeding.

Pastor kissing alligator

Anna Whistler of PETA wrote a letter to FWC stating concerns about a pastor kissing an alligator during a Kowiachobee visit to First Naples Church also in December 2022. In addition to the public contact with the alligator, with the gator’s mouth taped, Whistler noted concerns about the safety of a travel trailer for the tiger.

FWC officer Lex Corteguera reported there were no violations at that event, but recommended that the floor of the tiger’s cage be reinforced with the required gauge fencing.

“I’m always kissing Bubba,” said Joe Nesci, who is Bubba’s handler.

“I trained him. He’s very gentle,” Nesci said, listing off TV shows such as “Oprah” that Bubba has visited.

Summer violations corrected

Over the summer, FWC and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials reported concerns about the white tigers’ ears injured by flies. The tigers’ ears had open sores, and one tiger’s ear was missing a tip, investigators wrote in July. USDA veterinarian Dr. Charles Palmer contacted Dr. Thomas Goldsmith, a vet hired by Slaby for the tigers’ care, to ensure the ears were treated.

Part of the correction included removing a food compost heap to minimize the flies, in addition to a fly repellant spray and petroleum jelly applied to the tigers. FWC reports showed photographs of the tigers’ ears healing.

Also in July, public safety barriers, including roping off areas to create distance, were added near the zebra, marmoset monkeys and ring-tailed lemur enclosures.

Red-eared slider turtles were moved from Kowiachobee to Reptile Industries, a Naples facility licensed for the species.

Other violations and corrections that occurred over the past year include removing rust from tiger enclosures’ chain-link fencing; increasing the gauge of fencing and enclosures; adding or improving a top to an enclosure with a lion and a tiger; adding enrichment items for the skunk and creating a large pool of water for the sulcata tortoise.

Supporters contrast opposition

Amidst the criticism from other big cat owners and requests for investigations, the Slabys also have a lot of support.

“When facilities bully other facilities, it breeds fear,” said Keriellen Lohrman, founder and operator of Bird Gardens of Naples. That’s what the Baskins have been doing for years to other facilities, she said.

“If you are about animals, you help other facilities,” Lohrman said.

The Baskins not only want to put others out of business, they want to put themselves out of business, according to Howard Baskin. He and wife Carole were moving from their Tampa home during the holidays, he said in a recent phone interview.

“To touch a tiger’s nose is illegal and dangerous,” said Baskin. Kowiachobee is like other roadside zoos and their owners, he said.

“They’re charismatic. They are good at telling a false story, saying they’re doing it for conservation,” said Baskin.

The Baskins have never met Slaby nor visited Kowiachobee, Howard Baskin said.

What separates Kowiachobee from zoos and sanctuaries in general, and Big Cat Rescue in particular, is that the latter doesn’t take tigers off site to be seen by the public.

“It sends the wrong message, that this is how we should treat these majestic animals. That they should sit in a tiny cage, so people can gawk at them,” Baskin said.

He didn’t find fault in the facilities that invite Kowiachobee, though.

“On the 911animalabuse site, you saw us criticize a school that had [Slaby] come. Schools don’t typically know any better. They’re typically well-intentioned,” said Baskin.

He and his wife are not like the people they are condemning, said Baskin.

“Do you see us putting our animals in tiny cages and taking them out for the public?” Baskin asked. “We don’t do that. We don’t participate in the five sins.” These include no selling or buying large cats, not allowing people to touch animals, not taking animals offsite and no breeding, he said.

“We don’t do any of that. That’s the qualifications. That and giving good animal care is what makes you a sanctuary versus a roadside zoo,” said Baskin.

“We want to be out of this business,” he said. And their business does appear to be changing.

The Baksins will eventually move all of their animals to a larger sanctuary in Arkansas and will fund their care. Most of their 40plus cats have already been moved.

They plan to keep a Florida bobcat rehab for the animals to be released in the wild, Baskin said.

Hands-on or hands-off

Nesci pointed out another distinction pertaining to Kowiachobee. “At zoos, it’s a hands-off facility,” said Nesci.

The animals at Kowiachobee are relaxed in part because of that interaction with people. Bubba was raised as a juvenile by a person who eventually could not care for the alligator. Many of the Slabys’ animals are also domesticated even though people refer to them as wild cats. The tigers and lion, for example, were raised by Slaby since cubs.

Bubba stays at Kowiachobee, where he’s lived the past four years.

“I selected this place because the animals are well cared for and it’s very natural,” said Nesci.

He and the Slabys have a common goal to educate children and increase their connection to animals, Nesci said.

Sabeena and Santa

Sabeena the tiger leapt to a shelf in her travel cage, rolled on her back, yawned and gave full-body leans toward Slaby during the Kowiachobee animal exhibit at Venetian Village in December.

Sydney the cockatoo paced the tables, walked the perimeter fence and allowed some petting from children and adults, often settling on Slaby’s shoulder, where she tugged occasionally on his hair and nibbled the rim of his cowboy hat.

“Never try to touch an animal on its face,” Slaby directed a child who reached out a hand toward the bird.

Patience Dougherty visited with her five children, ages 2 through 11, along with her husband and the children’s grandparents.

“It’s a very nice experience for the children,” said Dougherty. “They like to be hands-on.”

As for the animals, she commented that they looked great. “You wouldn’t want it to be inhumane for a show. It’s a good cause, actually, teaching kids,” she said.

“It may not be a reindeer, but we’ll take a snake or a tiger,” Dougherty added.

Visitor Marty Miron said he felt Slaby was more passionate than most animal caretakers.

“[Kowiachobee] is doing more than a lot of zoos are doing in terms of getting people involved in wildlife conservation, because they’re bringing it to the streets like this,” Miron said.

When laws recently changed that no longer allowed Slaby to keep some invasive reptile species, Slaby did all he could to find and deliver the animals to approved homes, ensuring they were not euthanized as many animals were the past two years.

Lohrman is concerned what will happen with animal and human interactions if the agenda is allowed to go too far.

“Some people would rather a species go extinct than to be confined to a cage,” she said. Species have been brought back from extinction in the wild through captive breeding, Lohrman said. And, she finds that people care much more about wildlife when they have direct contact than if they only read about animals.

“They don’t care what happens to her,” Slaby said as he stood with Sabeena the tiger leaning toward him in her travel enclosure the way a house cat would lean into a pet owner’s leg.