Kelly Halls - National Geographic Kids Chapters - Tiger in Trouble! - and More True Stories of Amazing Animal Rescues

Kansas is one of the 13 states with some rules. But the rules are not strong enough, said Sheriff Rod Taylor, the officer who arrested Jeffrey. Owners do not even need to take a class to learn how to care for a wild animal. If people like Jeffrey Harsh follow a few rules, they can buy big cats and raise them. And terrible things can happen.

Jeffrey didn’t see it that way. He didn’t think his big cats would hurt anyone. He thought since his animals were raised in captivity, or in cages, they would not act like wild animals.

“They were born in captivity,” he said on his website, “and bottle fed, so they think they are human. They are as gentle and sweet as a house cat.” He was wrong.

The judge gave Jeffrey a choice. He could pay fines and spend months in jail, or he could give the big cats to people who knew how to take care of them. Jeffrey decided to give his pets away. The lionesses were headed to the Detroit Zoo. But this zoo didn’t need any tigers. No zoo did.

( illustration credit 1.2)

So You Think You Want a Baby Tiger?

Keeping a baby tiger as a pet might seem like a great idea. At first, they weigh only a few pounds. And they don’t have teeth. They are cute and harmless.

But as they grow bigger and stronger, tigers play rough. They can hurt their owners. It is better to visit a tiger in a zoo or animal rescue. They don’t belong in people’s homes.

So where would Nitro and Apache go?

Sheriff Taylor called animal rescue experts for help. They told him about Carolina Tiger Rescue in North Carolina. Would they agree to take Nitro and Apache? That was the big question.

Kathryn Bertok works at Carolina Tiger Rescue. She takes care of the animals that live there.

“We won’t take an animal unless we can take them for the rest of their lives,” Kathryn explained. That’s because moving a tiger is hard. It is hard for the tiger. It is also hard for the people moving it.

Tigers that are cared for by humans can live to be 20 years old. Nitro and Apache were 10 years old. Tiger Rescue would have to pay the cost of feeding and caring for two tigers for ten more years. Could they afford it?

There was another important question: How much space would Nitro and Apache need? Big cats get sad in small spaces. They pace in a figure-eight pattern. They pant and grumble. They even suck their tails, like a baby human sucks its thumb.

The tiny cage in Kansas was far too small for two full-grown cats. A new home for Nitro and Apache would need to be bigger. Much bigger. It would take a space 37 times as big as their Kansas cage to keep them happy.

Experts at Carolina Tiger Rescue thought long and hard.

At last, they answered yes.

The experts at Carolina Tiger Rescue know how to care for and move big cats. ( illustration credit 2.1)

Moving Nitro and Apache from Kansas to North Carolina would be a tiger-size challenge. Even so, Kathryn was sure she could do it.

Kathryn loaded the Rescue’s truck. She put in two large crates—one for Nitro and one for Apache. She also took along tools and fence cutters. The tiger cubs had grown large in their little chain-link cage. They were now too big to get in and out through the door. Kathryn might have to cut the cage apart.

On April 12, 2009, Kathryn arrived in Oakley, Kansas. She had been driving for 26 hours. She checked into a hotel and got ready for a good night’s sleep. Saving two tigers would not be easy. Kathryn would need all her strength and energy.

Kathryn, Sheriff Taylor, and an animal doctor called a veterinarian (vet) met at the front gate of the Prairie Cat Animal Refuge. Nitro was awake. He heard new voices and smelled unfamiliar scents. The strangers made him feel uneasy. He paced and softly grumbled.

Kathryn could tell that the tigers were calm. But they did not seem to trust her. “Animals can sense when something big is about to happen,” she said.

It was time for Nitro and Apache to take a nap. The vet had a special dart gun to shoot medicine into the tigers. If the darts hit just right, Nitro and Apache would be fast asleep in no time. They would sleep while the team moved them. Then they would wake up safe and sound inside their travel crates. The vet knew just the right amount of medicine to use.

POP. POP . The vet pulled the trigger, and the darts hit their targets.

Nitro hissed quietly when the dart hit his shoulder. His ears fell flat against his head. He was afraid. Then he felt the medicine start to work. He settled down. His stomach was flat on the dusty earth. His breathing slowed down. He fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

Quickly, Kathryn cut a large hole in the chain-link fence. She and the others climbed through the hole into the cage. Gently, they loaded Nitro into a large travel crate. It looked like a crate for a very large dog.

Nitro woke a short time later. He was safely loaded into the Carolina Tiger Rescue truck. Kathryn drove east, out of Kansas. Nitro was slightly confused, but not afraid.

“It depends on the animal,” Kathryn said. “But these guys were fine. When you get on the road, they tend to settle down, like kids. The movement of the truck relaxes them.”

Every two hours, Nitro saw his new caretakers. They stopped to check on him and give him food or water. Twenty-six hours later, Nitro was at the rescue. But it would still be another month before he could move into his forever home.

The concrete cells where Nitro and Apache first stayed weren’t very comfortable. The hard surface felt strange against Nitro’s paws. But the cells were clean and safe.

The people at the rescue needed to keep Nitro and Apache separated. They could not be near the other cats for 30 days. During that time, the tigers would get a full medical checkup by the veterinarians.

If they had any diseases, the vets could find out before they passed it on to other tigers. They would also check Nitro and Apache for injuries and give them medicine if they needed it. Only after that could the tigers be around other animals.

The veterinarian put Nitro to sleep again. This time, it was a much deeper sleep because the vet had a lot to do. Nitro needed his teeth cleaned. He had to get shots. And he needed to have a tiny microchip placed just under his skin. Then he could be tracked and returned to Carolina Tiger Rescue if he was ever lost or stolen.

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