Return to Wildcat Mountain, Wisconsin Big Cat Shelter Owner Kozlowski affirms– NO Connection to Tiger King
Their business names–the Dairy State’s “Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue and Educational Shelter” and Tampa, Florida’s “Big Cats Shelter” (a.k.a. Greater Wynnewood Animal Park) are similar–both take in tigers, lions and other hulking felines with nowhere else to go. But the two animal parks could not be more different in their personal goals and personnel, says Rock Falls, WI’s Jeff Kozlowski. He and his wife, Jennifer, run a small non-profit specializing in programs for school children, while Florida’s Big Cats Shelter is something else–in any way you wish to take that phrase.
But in summer 2019, my fledgling crew (White Lhasa Studios LLC) and I were busy filming in and around Hillsboro, Wisconsin. Kozlowski was on our list for his knowledge of big cats. We were totally unaware of the concurrent production of a TV series titled Tiger King after its flamboyant and freewheeling Floridian owner, known as Joe Exotic.
Kozlowski isn’t featured on the TV show at all. He has said on local media that this does not bother him. His interview with us for our award-winning movie, Return to Wildcat Mountain; Wisconsin’s Black Panther Nexus, involved possible big cat escapes and the idea that inter-species romance might enable a black jaguar to mate with a mountain lion to produce the mysterious black “panthers” we tracked.
Since Kozlowski is a very knowledgeable and important presence in Return to Wildcat Mountain, we wanted to show him at work with a few of his own words.
Random Synchronicity of the day: Joe’s shelter is located in Florida’s Hillsborough County, while the Wisconsin shelter is only a bit over 15 miles from the Village of Hillsboro where we did the most work. Some would call this association of certain human and place names, “the name game.”
More about Return to Wildcat Mountain: Wisconsin’s Black Panther Nexus
Join Linda’s exciting trek through the mystically beautiful, central Wisconsin area of Hillsboro to hear first-hand eyewitnesses describe some of the region’s 150-plus sightings of mountain lions and black panthers…which scientists say do not exist! Learn about the unusual history of the area and what some Native American lore says about these creatures. The crew even revisits a frightening black panther episode from pioneer-days writer Laura Ingalls Wilder near her “Little House in the Big Woods.” Most of the reports were gathered by former Hillsboro newspaper writer Steve Stanek over several decades, and also include Amish encounters.
Other witnesses include a former sheriff’s deputy, a retired wildlife ranger, owners of a big cat rescue organization, and a former college professor who worked with the Florida panther restoration group and saw jaguar-sized black cats in the wild, to name a few. The most recent known sighting occurred in March, 2019 just inside the city limits!
This indie documentary was conceived, shot and produced almost entirely in Wisconsin on a shoestring budget by a bare threads crew: Linda Godfrey, her husband Steve, and their youngest son, Nate, who holds a 4-year degree with film emphasis from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and who served as cinematographer, audio, co-director, editor, and almost every other type of “ographer” in this film.
Featuring the majesty of Wisconsin’s Driftless Area river valleys as its backdrop, Return to Wildcat Mountain provides a compelling, beautiful and thought-provoking look at the phenomenon of native big cats heading across the Great Plains to reclaim their former territories. Can we learn to live with them, and vice versa? The answers so far are as elusive as the “black panthers” themselves. The time for a big cat conversation is now.
Below the photo gallery is the trailer for Return to Wildcat Mountain.
Author, investigator and artist Linda Godfrey has had 18 books published on strange creatures, phenomena and people. She’s a frequent guest on national TV and radio shows, including the Wall Street Journal Books page (Aug. 2019), Chicago Tribune, Small Town Monsters, Legend Seeker TV Show, Dead Files, The Unexplained (Travel Ch.), In Search of Monsters (TRVL Ch.) Monsterquest (Seasons 1 and 4), Fox News Red Eye, Lost Tapes, Monsters and Mysteries, Sean Hannity’s America, Inside Edition, Coast to Coast AM, Wis. Public Radio, the Jenny McCarthy Show and many more. She lives in the Kettle Moraine area of SE Wisconsin with her husband and monster dog, Grendel.
For more of contributing writer Linda Godfrey’s work, visit her on Facebook, or her website.
