Teisha Tiger Euthanized

Even with the steroid therapy, recommended after seeing the results of her MRI, Teisha Tiger continued to worsen.  On May 24 she nearly choked to death because she wasn’t mobile enough to cough up small chunk of meat.

 

We began cutting her food into even smaller pieces, and feeding her on a stick to make it easier on her, but on Friday, the 27th she took her last walk.  She walked out to her pool, where she could lay in the misting breeze of her fan, and look out over the lake.  She continued to eat and took her meds but her body was failing and she could no longer walk.

 

When I saw that she was unable to get our of her own waste, I asked Dr. Wynn to come ease her to the other side. Her transition was peaceful and her suffering has ended, but I will miss her gentle spirit.

 

Final Report on Teisha Tiger

My hands were shaking, all the way up my arms and vibrating my torso.  It was the emotional tension of what was going to happen next and the physical tension of holding the Y pole in such a way to ensure that the vet wouldn't take a bite to her face and making sure that the touch against Teisha's neck was only feather light.

 

She had been sedated twenty minutes earlier and appeared to be completely unconscious but you just never know when a big cat will wake with no warning or if some muscle spasm might cause them to chomp at the air. Usually this was Jamie's roll, but she was inbound on a flight from St. Kitts, where she and Dr. Justin Boorstein, her husband and our other volunteer vet, had been lecturing to the 200 vet students there.  Gale is much more experienced as a vet tech, and was assisting by holding off a vein to cause it to bulge enough so that Dr. Wynn could inject the pink liquid that would ease Teisha to whatever comes next.

 

The needle was thin, so I could see Dr. Wynn successfully struggling against the thick fluid.  She was trying desperately to make this last moment that Teisha had on this planet one that was filled with peace and a feeling of being surrounded by souls who loved her.  As usual, when cats are sedated, I was breathing in rhythm with her and watching every heart beat, in its tiniest movement of her thick fur and whiskers.  If you have ever had to euthanize a beloved pet, or sat by the bedside of a loved one who was dying, you know that mere seconds feel like an eternity.  A wash of memories flooded over me.

 

Years ago when Ohio finally outlawed the private possession of lions, tigers and other big cats, in the wake of the Zanesville massacre, there were a couple of loud mouths who vowed they would never comply with the law.  The reasons they gave, in the ensuing legal battles, was that there was no where for their cats to go.  I always assume these big cat breeders and exploiters are lying, but give them the benefit of the doubt and contact them to let them know that there are accredited sanctuaries who will make sure the cats will find permanent homes.  I contacted Stapleton but he didn't return my emails or posts to his social pages.

 

When the Ohio Department of Agriculture enforced the law in 2015 I let them know that we and other sanctuaries, who are accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, were standing by and willing to help.  Having dealt with us before, ODA knew that we were the best equipped to deal with the health issues they were seeing in one of Stapleton's five tigers.  At the time of confiscation they noticed that she did not stand, even when darted.  When they asked if she was suffering some sort of disability, it's reported that her owner casually said that she couldn't walk because her cage mates beat her up all the time.

 

Once back at the state holding facility they treated her for deep punctures to her neck and back that appeared to have been from the other tigers biting her.  They noticed that she couldn't walk and would lay in her own waste.  Because their temporary enclosures were cement floored, ODA asked if we w