Glossary

Big cat sanctuary

A facility that gives lifetime care to captive big cats without breeding them, trading them or allowing public contact, unlike a roadside zoo.

Also called: accredited sanctuary, exotic cat rescue, roadside zoo

A big cat sanctuary is a place that takes in lions, tigers, leopards and other big cats that cannot live in the wild, such as animals rescued from private owners, circuses, closed zoos or the illegal pet trade. A true sanctuary provides lifetime care. It does not breed, buy or sell animals, does not let visitors touch or pose with cubs, and does not use animals for entertainment. Many hold accreditation from an independent body, which inspects their standards.

A roadside zoo or private menagerie, by contrast, may breed cubs for photos and sales, and keep animals in poor conditions. The word sanctuary is not always protected, so the label alone proves little. Questions worth asking include whether the facility breeds, whether it has accreditation, whether it lets visitors handle cubs, and where its animals come from.

In the United States, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, signed in December 2022, limits private possession of lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cougars and their hybrids, and bans direct contact between the public and cubs, with exceptions for approved facilities. Rules elsewhere differ, so check local law. This entry is general information, not legal advice. Sanctuaries rely on donations and cannot take every unwanted cat.

Last reviewed November 7, 2026

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Related terms

Captive breeding Breeding a threatened species under human care, in zoos or breeding centres, to keep a safe population and sometimes supply animals for release. Big cat An informal name for the largest wild cats, usually the lion, tiger, leopard and jaguar, and often the snow leopard, cheetah and cougar too. Poaching The illegal killing or capture of wild animals, often for their skins, bones, teeth or meat, a major threat to tigers, leopards and other wild cats. Human-wildlife conflict Harm that people and wild animals cause each other, such as big cats killing livestock and herders killing cats in return. Hybrid cat A cat bred from a domestic cat and a wild species, such as the Bengal from the Asian leopard cat or the Savannah from the serval.