Where are Kimba, Max and Simba Tigers?

 

Governments move slowly but we are pressing as hard as we can to get the circus tigers out of Guatemala and to their forever homes in the United States.  Our friends at ADI were able to negotiate the release of 9 tigers and 2 lions from a circus in Guatemala after the government had outlawed circuses that exploit wild animals the year before.  We helped make that possible by sending the funds necessary to build a temporary camp at Antiqua Exotic.  We have also been paying for the care of the tigers who will be coming to Big Cat Rescue and trying to get other sanctuaries to do the same.

 

On Sept 18 ADI was able to secure Health Certificates on Kimba, Max and Simba and have them translated into English so they can travel to the U.S.  Two days later the USFWS issued our request to bring them from Guatemala straight to the Tampa International Airport, instead of the usual Miami airport, which would require our people to be on the road for two days and the tigers to be subjected to unnecessary stress of travel via trucks for five more hours.  It may not sound like much to accomplish, but as Jan Creamer of ADI put it, “It would have been easier to pull our own teeth.”

 

Meanwhile, Howard has been doing his part to keep the import permit process moving forward by pointing out that the tigers are in temporary quarters which are not ideal and the greater urgency is that the government of Guatemala wants to rescue other tigers still in the illegal circuses but has no place to put them. The lives of those tigers are at risk because the circuses have no motivation to spend money on medical care or even food.  Our government agency says to check back in three weeks to see how it’s going, but from what we can tell, it’s likely to be the end of the year before Kimba, Max and Simba are on their way here.

 

ADI plans to take all of the lions to a new sanctuary they are building in S. Africa and they are frustrated that some of the circus cats were sent to a Guatemalan zoo where one has already died.  We were all very disappointed back in June when one circus held back 6 tigers, but now they are ready to give them up.  The problem is where to put them during this ridiculously long process of exporting them to sanctuaries outside of Guatemala.  The Guatemala government’s animal welfare division UBA and the wildlife department CONAP are prosecuting all circuses who have refused to hand over their big cats.

 

This is great, but we don’t want the government to halt prosecution for lack of a place to put the cats.  We would like to speed up the transfer of the cats at the temporary camp to S. Africa and the U.S. to free up cage space at Antigua Exotic, but as you can see, there isn’t much we can do other than keep the pressure on.

 

Meanwhile, we are part of the Big Cat Coalition which includes all of the big cat sanctuaries that are accredited or verified by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries and some that are working on that goal.  Between us we have the cage space in the U.S. for all of the Guatemala circus cats.  All of the sanctuaries feel they can raise the funds to get the cats from a U.S. airport to their facilities, but only one other, non accredited sanctuary, has actually sent money to Guatemala to build the temporary camp and provide food and medical care to the 11 lions and tigers currently waiting there.

 

We are encouraging other sanctuaries to reach out to their donors to fund operations on the ground.  We are helping them navigate the complex export / import process, even though we have limited experience.  We are doing that so that when governments do the right thing and ban cruel displays they are not left holding the bag.  The tigers who could go to the camp right now, if there were cage space and monthly allowances for their care are Itsa, Bimba, Sombra, Lupe and two cubs.  The faster we can get them away from the circuses, the sooner we can stop the breeding that re