On Wednesday night, as Hurricane Michael raged through the area, Bertie said that she and her husband repeatedly checked on the cats outside.
"If I could have I would have evacuated, but I couldn’t leave the animals," she said. "We had to hunker down and make sure they were OK for the safety of the community."
She said neighbors were justifiably concerned that some of the big cats might escape in the storm.
"We're kind of worried about those cats getting out. There’s a lot of kids in this neighborhood," said Jonathon Roeder, 33, who lives with his family in Cedar Wood Estates, about two miles from the Center.
Neighbors and agents from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission checked on the center after the storm.
"These cats can hurt people. You don’t know what they would do if they were out," Bertie said, explaining that the mountain lions are large enough to be dangerous and have no fear of people because they never lived in the wild.
On Friday, the Center was without electricity, running water and telephone reception. The owners estimated that it has as much as $100,000 in damages and that it will take at least six months to restore it.
But what matters most to them is the animals; the mountain lions are still pacing anxiously in their cages, which is not their normal behavior. "The big guys are pacing, which makes us cry," Jim said.
