Catch A Tiger by the Tail

The other day we went to Stearns Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation in Tampa. We saw many, many animals that arrived here for one reason or another. This little tiger was born in Oklahoma, and moved here. Here name is "Nikita" and she is 14 months old. They told us she was at just about the age where humans are not able to just pat her as we were doing. She was quite a handful as it was. In fact, she bit a hole in one of the handler's jeans with barely any effort. I was surprised to find that her fur was quite course. I in my ignorance thought she would have soft fur. Her paws are already very strong, as is her bite. She loved biting her toys, and I suspect she WAS getting sick of so many people manhandling her.

There was a puzzling Emu walking the grounds. He had been there for some time. One of his legs was deformed, having survived an attack. But he got around just fine. There was a three legged whitetail deer, that also got around fine. Amazing, because out in the wild both of these creatures would have been eaten long ago.

My main concern with this facility was that most of the animal enclosures were, in my opinion much too small. There were Siberian Tigers in kennel sized cages. They paced back and forth, clearly reduced to psychological ruin. It was sad I thought. Black bears, African Lions, Florida Panther, Jaguar, and other cats are housed here. There are also many, many birds to include very beautiful pheasants from the orient, Parrots, Macaws, and even a flock of Turkeys. There were some small monkeys as well.

Two more days of warm sunshine here in Florida, then back to the harsh reality of late winter in New Hampshire....ugh. I will be glad to see MY creatures after so many days.