Talking Animals: Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

Talking Animals: Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

Tanya Smith–founder and president of Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, a 459-acre sanctuary in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, chiefly housing abused, abandoned, and neglected big cats—recalls a precocious first foray into big cat rescue…at age 11.   She explains that this was the outgrowth of her parents—inveterate animal lovers—intervening in an odd, colorful situation where a lion cub was provided as a form of payment on a debt to a friend of their…