New Benches Needed
June 20, 2017
The big cats, and bear, that call Turpentine Creek home spend a lot of their time gazing out over the beautiful expanse of the Ozarks a top of their benches. This high perch allows them to get out of the sun if they lay under it, or get a better view of their domain while sitting/standing/laying on top of it.
They not only use their benches to help them see better or get out of the sun, but they also use these benches as their own personal yoga mats and scratching posts. It is in their nature to mark their territory to let the world know that this is their spot. But the hard wear and tear on our benches, which means that we have to frequently replace boards and other pieces of our animal’s benches. Over time and after years of use we have to replace the entire thing.
Our team has worked hard to come up with a design that would reduce how often we have to replace the whole bench. A new metal frame will be more durable so that we are less frequently replacing the entire bench. We’ve kept the top part of the bench wood so that it doesn’t get hot in the sunshine and allows the cats to continue to stretch their paws and mark their territory. These boards are easily replaceable and can be changed out in a matter of minutes.
Each habitat contains a bench of various sizing, from a single level bench perfectly sized for one or two older cats to enjoy, all the way to a large three tiered bench perfect for energetic young cats looking for adventure and to play ‘king of the mountain’ with their habitat mates. Recently, we noticed that many of the benches were in need of replacing, so we set about the task to remove the old benches and build new ones.
We currently need to fund the replacement of 23 small benches as soon as possible; two are already funded. The old benches were not offering adequate shade, and the structural integrity of the benches was not reliable. With your help, we can get all the benches replaced quickly and make sure our animals have plenty of shade and viewing spots ready for the start of summer.
Our small benches cost $600 each. We are asking our supporters to donate a bench for our animals. We are not allowing donors to request the bench be put in specific habitats because animals move and the animal you request might not be in need of a small bench at this time.
Please donate now and help us provide our animals with beautiful shady benches for the summer.
$600 – 1 small animal bench
13 Funded – 10 more needed