Natural habitats are shrinking, and as these habitats shrink, the need for sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers increase. If these animals are destined to live their lives in captivity, they deserve the fundamental right to live in enclosures that simulate their natural habitat and allow them to express their natural behaviors.
Before people understood the importance of enrichment for captive animals, cages were typically small and barren with cement floors and metal bars, animals were isolated or in mismatched pairs, and vacant stares reflected back at the people who came to visit. The boredom that some of these animals experienced would frequently lead to hopelessness and madness. The fear that they experienced would often turn into aggression. They would exhibit aggressive, fearful, and self-destructive behavior until the day they died.
Enrichment is an animal husbandry principle that seeks to enhance the quality of captive animal care by identifying and providing the environmental stimuli necessary for optimal psychological and physiological well-being.
The mission of The C.A.R.E. Society is to identify sanctuaries and wildlife rehabilitation centers that are already placing an emphasis on enrichment for its captive animals, so that we can perform enrichment studies, conduct enrichment training courses, and assist in raising funds for specific enrichment needs of animals in captivity.
Shobha N. Lizaso
Shobha N. Lizaso is an attorney by trade, but an animal behaviorist at heart. She majored in Comparative Psychology during her undergraduate studies and wrote legal articles about non-human primate rights during law school. Over the last 25 years, she has reserved part of her free time to study captive animal behavior and to identify enrichment needs of animals at various zoos, sanctuaries, and rehabilitation centers. She founded the CARE Society so that she can raise funds and collect donations for animal facilities in need of enrichment for their animals. Shobha also serves as legal counsel to Sharks4Kids, a non-profit focused on shark conservation and is a trained emergency wildlife rescuer (marine and land).
Willow Hecht is an experienced exotic animal caretaker, environmental educator, and enrichment specialist dedicated to improving captive animal welfare. She is a graduate student in International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law at the University of Edinburgh and founder/owner of Black Cat Consulting, an animal welfare and enrichment consulting business. She recently completed the Shape of Enrichment Workshop at the International Conference on Environmental Enrichment in Bogota, Colombia, having been awarded the Lee Houts Travel Grant to present her paper entitled “Creativity and Community Engagement Fuel Unique Big Cat Enrichment Program.” Willow has spent years working with big cats, at Big Cat Rescue and with Animal Defenders International, and she is a lover of cats big and small. She currently lives in Peru, where she works to help captive and trafficked wildlife and street cats in Lima.
Ivan Lizaso serves as our treasurer.
Penny Garcia is an attorney with over 10 years experience who spends her free time as a photographer and artist. As an avid animal lover, she has rescued dogs and pigeons. Penny is dedicated to capturing the beauty of South Florida's captive and non-captive wildlife.