Rosamond’s Exotic Feline Breeding Compound

Want to see a real-life tiger? You can — and you can do it without even leaving the Antelope Valley. In fact, The Antelope Valley has a breeding compound where exotic — almost extinct — felines live.

The Exotic Feline Breeding Compound’s mission is to bring awareness to the seventy kinds of nearly-extinct felines who live on its premises. The compound is attempting to ensure that these creatures don’t go extinct, in hopes that they will one day be able to go back to the wild and repopulate with their kind.

Some of the felines that can be found at the compound include the Amur Leopard, Black-footed Cat, Bobcat, and Canada Lynx. The workers hope to prevent these animals from following in the footsteps of the Tasmanian Tiger, which went extinct in 1936. In addition to caring for these animals, the workers teach visitors about the different types of cats and the way that poaching and habitat destruction have threatened their survival.

Protecting endangered animals may seem important, but many people don’t seem too familiar with the issues. And that’s concerning — not just to the workers at the compound, but also to Eastside graduate Anahi Gonzalez.

“Not many people are aware of things happening in the world, let alone in our community,” she says. “There should be a lot more people being made aware of these animals that may not exist one day.”

She recommends visiting the compound. “Families can take their kids and enjoy the presence of the big cats,” she says. “The kids may even enjoy learning something new.”

Biomed teacher Mr. Gomez agrees with Anahi that people should be paying more attention. “People should definitely be more concerned about this,” he says. “We may lose some creatures forever and future generations won’t know what they truly looked like.”

The compound is located at 3718 60th Street West in Rosamond. It is open to the public from 10 am to 4 pm every day except Wednesdays.