Please Help Andy Goldfarb Receive Necessary Care

Big Cat Keeper Andy Goldfarb needs our help!

Andy Goldfarb spent a lifetime caring for big cats, and now Andy himself is in need of care.

For over 35 years Andy dedicated his life to the care and conservation of wild animals, and assisted in the birth, hand-feeding and rearing of over 100 wild animal cubs including endangered Sumatran tigers and clouded leopards. His astonishing career took him to zoos and animal sanctuaries all over the world, from California, to Australia, to Thailand and beyond, where he worked tirelessly to conserve big cats. Now, at the age of 58, Andy suffers from an aggressive type of Young Onset Alzheimer’s disease that has rendered him not only unable to work with the animals he loves but unable to just take care of his own daily living needs.

He isn’t just a cat person.

Andy is a people person, too. He has trained and mentored countless zookeepers and wild animal specialists, always with a smile and an easy-going manner. He even reached across cultural boundaries to build long-time friendships with keepers in Thailand as he poured his heart into a ground breaking clouded leopard breeding program there.

After such a storied and incomparable career, forging lifelong connections with humans and animals everywhere he goes, Andy is more than a zookeeper, conservationist, wild animal lover.

He is a legend.

And he deserves care on par with what he gave to his beloved tigers and clouded leopards for so many years. Though he was working as a zookeeper as recently as January of 2020, Andy’s Young Onset Alzheimer’s disease has progressed so rapidly that he now needs help with daily tasks as simple as dressing and bathing. Andy struggles to communicate due to also having logopenic primary progressive aphasia, a very rare neurological syndrome, and experiences deep anxiety when Maureen, his wife of 29 years, goes to work.

Andy wants to remain in his home with Maureen - where he is comfortable and surrounded by reminders of his extraordinary life - for as long as possible. On the walls of his home hang framed portraits of Andy’s most beloved animal, a tiger named Rakhan. Even long after Rakhan’s passing, Andy still speaks of his best friend “Rocky” with misty eyes. These are the memories that slip away from Andy every day. The cost of in-home care is devastating. One year of care will cost over $80,000 dollars, far more than what Maureen’s zookeeper salary will provide.

We can’t stop Alzheimer’s.

But what we can do is give Andy the love and care he needs to live out the remainder of his extraordinary life as best he can. Andy’s contribution to the populations of tigers, clouded leopards and other big cats in zoos and in the wild all over the planet is incalculable. Now, it’s our turn to give Andy Goldfarb the attention he deserves. He and Maureen need our help. They will be truly grateful for any support you can give.

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