Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge hosted a 31st anniversary celebration on Saturday, April 29, but the anniversary wasn’t the only cause for celebration.

Turpentine Creek president and founder Tanya Smith and her husband, Scott — the company’s vice president — were joined by more than 100 guests at the “Feast With the Beasts” event. That number included two special visitors, Carole and Howard Baskin.

The Baskins, who own and operate the Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Tampa, Fla., announced in March that they will be moving most of their animals to Turpentine Creek. Tanya Smith said Turpentine Creek hopes to receive six tigers from Big Cat Rescue by July and smaller animals from the Florida sanctuary by October.

Howard Baskin said moving Big Cat Rescue’s animals to Turpentine Creek will allow him and his wife to sell the Florida property. Funds from that sale will be used to help fund projects aimed at protecting big cats in the wild, he said.

“By moving the cats here, we will be able to sell the land — and it’s worth millions — and be able to fund much, much more of these projects,” Howard Baskin said.

At Saturday’s event, the Baskins also touted the signing of the Big Cat Public Safety Act — an act approved by Congress and signed into law last year that prohibits cub petting and private ownership of big cats.

“It does two simple things,” Howard Baskin said. “The first one is stop the cub petting — and the cub petting is just so horrible, because they’re torn from their mothers at birth, they’re often deprived of sleep and of food, and we have videos of them being physically punished to diminish their natural behaviors, so putting a stop to that is a huge diminution in the kind of abuse that we see of these cats.”

“The second thing that the Big Cat Public Safety Act will do is to phase out … private ownership,” Carole Baskin said. “People who have them can keep them, but they can’t buy, breed or acquire any more, and they have to register them with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so that they know how many cats are out there and they know whether or not the people are breaking the law.”

The Baskins announced that while they were visiting Turpentine Creek, the refuge received the first tiger cub seized in Arkansas under the new law.

“It’s incredibly exciting to be here when the first prosecution occurred,” Howard Baskin said.

Scott Smith played a key role in helping get the Big Cat Safety Act passed, Howard Baskin said.

“The last point we want to make on the bill is the role that Turpentine Creek and Scott Smith personally played,” he said. “Turpentine just did a fantastic job of urging supporters to contact their legislators and that grassroots effort made a huge difference. … From time to time I would call on Scott and ask him to personally speak with either a legislator or a member of staff … and he was fantastic. In particular, what he was able to do was talk about the rescues he’s done that involved law enforcement because for certain legislators who might not have an interest in animal welfare, the first responder safety issue is what sold them, and Scott was brilliant at conveying those.”

Carole and Howard Baskin, who received national attention after being featured prominently in the Netflix series “Tiger King,” wore caps depicting male and female lions at Saturday’s event before removing them to “crown” the Smiths.

“The self-proclaimed ‘Tiger King’ is going to be in jail for the next 20 years,” Carole Baskin said. “We think it’s time we crowned the king and queen of all big cats, Scott and Tanya.”

The Turpentine Creek refuge is growing, with plans to construct an education center and museum as well as develop a 13-acre field — dubbed Freedom Field — into 40 new habitats. A paved walkway and pavilion have already been completed.

Tanya Smith said the refuge still has to raise $3.4 million to complete the expansion with the goal of finishing the project by the end of 2024.

“I just want you to know that, with your help, we have total confidence that this can happen,” she said. “And we have confidence that it can happen by 2024.”

Tanya Smith said the expansion will have an economic impact on Northwest Arkansas of more than $51 million. The increase in visitors will create more than 220 jobs in the hospitality industry alone, she said.

“All of this progress for our mission and for our community is happening because of all of you,” Smith told those in attendance.

Attendees were given a tour of the facility by animal curator Emily McCormack and enjoyed dinner prepared by Catered Creations.

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily during Daylight Saving Time.