Kathy Stearns 

I have always been attracted to exotic cats and non human primates.  At an early age I remember visiting my uncle in Miami and being amazed at the capuchin monkeys and bears.  At the age of 14, I met my future husband, Kenny.  He grew up with a woolly monkey and it was neat interacting with him at the time.  Three years later, I married Kenny and on Feb 25, 2008 we celebrated 31 years of marriage.  I began working with fellow rehabilitators about 20 years ago with native wildlife, which I still enjoy doing.  There is nothing like rescuing animals and returning them back into the wild.  But working with exotic animals is a passion I began and have not been able to stop.  I created Stearns Zoological Rescue & Rehab Center about 8 years ago.  We were lucky to reach a larger dream in opening our gift shop in historical downtown Dade City, Florida and began to offer trolley rides to the zoo and educational tours on a full time basis.  We are operating this as d/b/a Dade City’s Wild Things.  Check our website www.dadecityswildthings.com. 

With the help of my family:  husband, Kenny Stearns, children:  Randy Stearns, Kristy & Brandon Truax we would not be where we are today.  There is nothing like having your family enjoys your passion and be such a major support system.

I have been blessed to work with and provide a home for many felids including:  jaguars, leopards, lions, tigers, servals, bobcats, jungle cats, panthers, Canadian lynx and Siberian lynx; non human primates:  snow macaques, java macaque, bonnet macaques, squirrel monkeys, cotton top tamarian, chacma baboon, hamadryas baboon, capuchins, brown lemurs, ring tail lemurs;   I also have, black bears, north American river otters, raccoons, coatamondi, skunk, prairie dogs, chinchilla, tegu lizard, iguana, snakes, tortoises, turtles, silver fox, pot bellied pig, horses, white tail deer, fallow deer, emu, rhea, African pigmy goat, numerous types of birds, parrots, pheasants, ducks, chickens and more. 

This last year, I was honored and lucky to serve on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Technical Advisory Committee.  I was supported by many exotic animal owners who believe in private ownership and against all bans.  I am proud of standing up for all exotic owners’ rights.  I look forward to hopefully serving on this again during the next term.  It sparked a great desire to work in spreading legislature issues because I experienced first hand on how quickly our rights can be removed in working with non human primate owners in various other states like Pennsylvania where there is a ban on private ownership of non human primates.  I have also seen many private people enjoying their animals not realizing they were breaking any laws because un-reputable breeders sold them animals without educating them on the State law requirements.  Unfortunately most times the animals pay the price for this selfishness of the breeder.  I feel strongly reputable breeders care for their animals and want to make sure they go to good homes that are educated in the laws as well as the care of the animals.  I would like to see a mandate on a federal level with USDA that requires all breeders who sale animals are responsible in making sure that the purchaser’s are licensed in their own states.  It would not take much time to contact those states they sale in and finding the requirements for ownership and requiring a copy of that license before the sale of any animals.  This would ensure that the public is educated on the care of those animals and law requirements. 

I have memberships in:  SSA, AZA, FCF, U.A.P.P.E.A.L, AAZK, NWRA