Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary

Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary is the Northside big-cat rescue and education park at 1860 Starratt Road, Jacksonville, FL 32226. Visit Jacksonville lists it as a 501(c)(3) sanctuary whose mission is a forever home for rescued cats and public education about animals in the wild and in captivity. This Stay Safe Jax page is only that Starratt Road sanctuary. It is not Jacksonville Zoo and Botanical Gardens on Zoo Parkway, not a roadside zoo in another county, and not a daycare despite the Education & Daycare catalog bucket. Public ratings on this page are stored snapshots, not live scores. Google Places currently lists The Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary at 4.8 from 3,192 reviews for 1860 Starratt Road. Stay Safe Jax previously stored 4.8 from 3,190 reviews for the same place. Stay Safe Jax has no stored Yelp rating, so the headline is the Google snapshot: 4.8 from 3,192 reviews. Those numbers do not refresh when someone opens the page. A high-4 score from thousands of visitors is ordinary praise, not a warning. Visit Jacksonville says residents include tigers, lions, cougars, leopards, bobcats, arctic foxes, and coatimundis, that the sanctuary does not breed, sell, or trade animals, and that daytime guided tours and Friday–Saturday night feedings are the public programs. Google hours on the stored card are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily; Visit Jacksonville still tells people to check current tour days before they drive. Phone on Google and Visit Jacksonville is (904) 757-3603. Google lists wheelchair parking, entrance, and seating; Visit Jacksonville also marks the sanctuary wheelchair accessible and kid-friendly. Some visitors still mention mud after rain. News4Jax reported on April 13, 2020 that founder Curt LoGiudice started the Northside project in 1986, that it was licensed to open to the public in 2004, and that the property had grown to about 225 acres. That story distinguished Catty Shack from the Tiger King entertainment image and noted ticket-funded operations rather than city grants. The Florida Times-Union reported on February 6, 2020 that the sanctuary was planning an estimated $8 million renovation of habitats, education space, veterinary space, parking, and stormwater, with a St. Johns River Water Management District permit. ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer files Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary Inc. as a 501(c) wildlife refuge under EIN 59-3698971. GuideStar carries the same charity profile and Florida solicitation number CH-14355. Older USDA inspection citations from the 2010s appear in academic summaries of captive-wildlife regulation. Those reports are historical context, not a current Attorney General case or a reason to turn a 4.8 family attraction into a hit list. Stay Safe Jax leaves warning flags at 0. Residents can still share factual notes about walkways, heat, bugs, and how staff handle a crowded night feeding.