Tribute to Alex Tiger

What was I going to do now?  The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources had told me they were going to seize Tony the tiger from the Tiger Truck Stop because the cat was held there illegally.  I had flown out to Baton Rouge, and driven up to Grosse Tete to assess what our rescue team would need in the way of vehicle, transport and capture tools.  It was 2009 and it had been illegal to keep a tiger in Iberville Parish since 1993, but the state had just passed a ban in 2008 and was now beginning to enforce it against those who had not willingly complied.  Michael Sandlin, who had family ties in government, was quickly able to thwart the rescue attempt by obtaining an injunction.  I didn’t know at the time that it would mean years of litigation against the owner of the truck stop, or that we would hire the first attorney to ever represent a tiger in court, but I did know that it meant I was done in Louisiana for the moment.

 

I had intended to ride back to Tampa with our rescue team, who was on standby, just waiting for my call.  Now I was in this backwater town without a ticket home.  As I was deciding what to do next, I got an email from Doll Stanley from In Defense of Animals.  She was begging for help for the last three surviving big cats at Cougar Ridge, in Mississippi.  Turns out the owner had left town with the last of the sanctuary’s funds to open a topless bar.  The power had been turned off and the cats only got water or food when she could make the long trip.  Of the 12 cats left behind to die, only three remained alive, Freckles the liger and 2 tigers named Cookie and Alex.

 

I know how slowly our courts work, so I figured it would be a while before Louisiana would be able to overturn the injunction on Tony the tiger, so I told Doll I’d drive over that day.  By the time I got there, it was getting dark.  I thought I must have the wrong address, because I was driving along a dirt ridge, that was in a densely populated neighborhood.  When I came to the address, it was obvious that the house had been left unattended for a long time.  There was a six foot, wooden fence around the property, which looked to be about a half acre.

 

I opened the gate, and thought instantly that maybe I shouldn’t have.  I had no idea what lay on the other side of the fence.  I only had the expectation that there would be some very hungry 500 pound carnivores somewhere inside.  At that instant there was a loud bang to my left.  I jumped out of my skin, and strained against the darkening sky to see what it was.  Cookie Tiger had leapt against the chain link wall of her cage and had her paws over the top of her fence.  It was clear that with just the slightest effort she could scale the fence, so I backed out quickly and latched the gate.  I called the rescue team at Big Cat Rescue and told them we needed to find a larger transport trailer than what we owned, three rolling wagons, and sedation equipment because this was going to be a difficult mission.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

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Music (if any) from Ep