Parents struggled to keep up with their children as they rushed from station to station to learn about and interact with Tiger, Wakanda and Solidarity, three shelter cats brought to a cafe event at the Field Museum to celebrate “Cats: Predators to Pets.”
Close to a dozen young children rushed toward a gated area set up at the back of the cafe to see three kittens, while others sat at lunch tables across the room and colored in pictures related to the exhibit.
Rachel Nevergall and her three children visited the exhibit before coming to see the cats. They can’t have a cat at home because two of their family members are allergic, so the event allowed them to see the felines up close.
“If you can’t have a cat at home, this is a good second chance, right?” said Nevergall, 42.
Her 10-year-old son, Elliott, was most excited to pet the cats.
“Her skin is smooth and soft,” Elliott said with a smile.
The exhibit, which opened in late November and will run until April 27, highlights the entire feline family tree from domestic cats commonly found in homes to feared predators like tigers and lions.
“A lot of the exhibit talks about how behaviors and traits that we see in our own pet cats are also present in a lot of these big wild cats,” said Kate Golembiewski, a science writer with the Field Museum.
The exhibit features taxidermy, different skeletons over a century old, video projections, games and connections to pop culture.
“There’s really something there for everyone,” Golembiewski said.
The Field Museum hosted the event in collaboration with Anti-Cruelty, a River North animal shelter.
“The collaboration is really important because it ties the local community and the local shelter to not only spread the mission of the shelters, but the museum as well,” said Theresa Galaboff, a six-year volunteer with the shelter. “Big Cats is a fabulous way to take the domestic side of things before exploring the more exotic side of things.”
The event is also beneficial for the cats.
“It gives them a lot of enrichment,” Galaboff said. “They’re getting the physical touch that they may not get in the shelter.”
Galaboff also encouraged museum visitors to head to the shelter to find their next pet.
“The exhibit will close in April, but the Anti-Cruelty Society will be around every day,” she said.