Good news for one tiger

[krait]

I just found out that "Tony", a tiger imprisoned in a U.S. truck stop for most of his life, has successfully been declared an illegally owned big cat, and will be moving to a sanctuary!

May he discover the small miracles of grass and entertainment, and may he life a long and prosperous life amongst them.

Comments

[blnchflr]

I know nothing about this case, but could imagine the possibility that he's so messed up that he might not be able to function with other cats. In which case he may go to a sanctuary and have grass in his cage, but will be in his own little cage anyways, and may suffer more, if he was very attached to the humans he lived with/near. But hopefully it'll be all yay!

(Just in case: so against people keeping exotic animals - while in theory a person could own enough land and have enough animal skills to rival professional places, in practice it's way more likely to be: not so much.)

[krait]

I do worry about that -- but I don't think tigers are generally social, outside of mating? At least not more than casually/passing through. The news story did seem pretty clear that he's not bonded to any humans: the "owner" claims he's a pet, but Tony doesn't live at the "owner's" residence, and the man not only has numerous charges laid against him in the past for failure to provide basic care to his animals, he's also had tigers seized from his possession.

Less clear, but suggestive, is the mention that Tony "has been alone since 2003", which would be seven-eight years ago; considering that he's stated to be ten years old, it sounds like he may have had company for the first two years of his life. (Siblings? A parent?)

From what I know about BigCatRescue, who has offered to house Tony, they've got pretty good big cat enclosures. (I've never been there or anything, but I have been aware of them for several years and have seen videos/other success cases.) Hopefully they'll know how to go about introducing Tony to the idea of tiger neighbours, when he arrives! :D

And yeah, I hear you with the theoretically thing. Alas, this guy doesn't even seem interested in lip service to the idea, much less actually being qualified. D: Anything's got to be better than that.

[blnchflr]

Ok, you've convinced me - sounds like he is definitely better off :o)

[krait]

Hee! I couldn't help it, he was so cute -- I not only read the linked article, I read all the other articles referenced at the bottom of it, and watched a video too. :D

[psyfic]

I'm glad there is a possibility of a happy ending for the tiger. That's no life for anyone, stuck in a cage on concrete.