May 5, 2002 By James Pletcher Jr. 5 min read

Despite the career training, getting “peed on’ wasn’t part of the deal for building trades students from Fayette Area Vocational Technical School who were performing some free work. But they weren’t about to argue with “Baby,’ the cat that so rudely insulted them, since Baby is one of the 34 lions, tigers, cougars and other assorted large cats at the Western Pennsylvania National Wild Animal Orphanage at Rowes Run.

The students built a pair of jump boards at the wildlife center, which the big cats will use to rest upon. They can also lay beneath them when it rains.

“We got experience, we got a tour of the orphanage and we got to see all the cats,’ one student said of the occurrence.

Jeff Pettruci, who teaches construction trades at the Vo-Tech, said the project, building a pair of jump boards for the large felines, gives practical training to his students, all of whom are bound for the building trades.

After doing the job at the wildlife orphanage, the group was heading to Masontown to put a trussed roof on a garage the vo-tech built.

The demand for his students at graduation, Pettruci said, is great.

“I don’t have enough,’ he said, adding that if “they want a job, there’s a job for them.’

The project started during a visit by Penn State Fayette Campus English faculty member Lynn Petko. She asked campus engineering department members if they could work up some designs for the jump boards.

“Milton Shaulis of our engineering department asked his students to come up with some designs,’ Petko said.

Pettruci’s vo-tech students built the jump boards, which are basically very solid raised wooden platforms that will stand the hundreds of pounds of cat that will use them.

Dr. June Iben, one of the veterinarians at the orphanage, said the students plan to return next year and build another two to four jump boards.

“We like to do live work like this,’ Pettruci, a nine-year veteran of the vo-tech, said.

Directed by Iben, the students enjoyed their time working around the big cats.

At 75, Iben, who practiced veterinary medicine for 35 years in Monroeville, works with Dr. William Sheperd, who founded the orphanage. Iben lives at the facility, where she has several big cats of her own in residence. One, a cougar named “Munchie,’ benefited from the project by having a wooden cover placed atop a short concrete block partition.

Iben explains part of the philosophy behind adopting large cats.

“There is a story called ‘The Little Prince.’ In it there is a character, a fox, who says that once you have tamed something you are responsible for it forever.’

Not all animal handlers adopt that thinking in a kind way, Iben said, since most of the cats at the orphanage have been rescued from abusive or inadequate situations.

Dr. William and Rebecca Sheperd founded the orphanage in 1986 when the Pennsylvania Game Commission asked him to care for a cougar named Tabitha, who has become a permanent resident.

Each year the game commission and other law enforcement agencies rescue a number of exotic felines from inadequate or abusive homes and businesses. However, these agencies are not able to care for the animals and there aren’t many places willing to take in a wayward lion, Iben explained.

Once an animal has been tainted by human contact, an orphanage is usually its last hope. But these safe havens are few and far between, according to Sheperd, who has found facilities in North Carolina and Texas, but his is the only one in Pennsylvania.

Each animal has its own stall with automatic waterers and an adjoining outdoor enclosure that is surrounded by a 12-foot high cyclone fence with electrified wire tops. All of this is surrounded by a perimeter fence which serves as an added safety measure since big cats are known to jump far and high. In addition to building cages and providing a home for the orphaned cats, Dr. Sheperd has provided them with necessary medical care, proper food, vitamins, and lots of TLC.

Sheperd devotes 10 to 12 hours each day to his veterinary practice and then attends to his charges at the orphanage. The animals are fed daily with a diet of quality beef, hamburger, chicken, canned cat foods, as well as nutritional supplements and vitamins. Although the orphanage does receive some donations, Sheperd personally pays for most of the cats’ care and upkeep, which is over $75,000 a year.

At the moment, Sheperd sees a critical need to add more pens, fencing and pools. Ultimately, he would like to build an educational center for schools and visitors to use. He envisions a day when volunteers will be able to go to schools to teach children that these animals are not to be considered house pets.

While it is non-profit, the orphanage is open to the public for tours every third Sunday during the summer. Proceeds go toward feeding and caring for the animals, which include species other than felines. In one enclosed are a pair of emus and a white-tailed deer.

For information, call the orphanage at 724-437-7838.