https://www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin/archive/summer-2017-issue-iv-volume-cxiv/american-tiger.html
Tracy McManus from the Times came out to do a follow up story on the Dade City Wild Things debacle.
Later I emailed her with this:
I just came across this article, that may be of interest to you.
Bill and Kiz came to us in 2011 looking for the cubs they had known in 1996 (Andre, Arthur & Amanda and some others) The cats had been rescued from a backyard breeder in NJ in 2003 https://bigcatrescue.org/joan-byron-marasek-tigers-only-preservation-society/ and sent to a sanctuary in TX.
By 2011 the Texas facility was in bankruptcy and animal protection groups, including HSUS and IFAW were desperately trying to relocate 400 lions, tigers, bears, chimps, etc. They were down to the last 7 tigers when Bill Nimmo came to Big Cat Rescue and asked me to help him find the cats he used to know.
We were in the process of transporting a cougar from a woman who had died, leaving 20+ cats in a dilapidated horse barn in her back yard, to a good sanctuary out in Nevada called Wildlife Haven. The owner had the space, but not the staff to transport the cat. On the trip back, my daughter, Jamie Veronica, stopped by Wild Animal Orphanage in San Antonio, TX to take photos of the last remaining tigers and see if she could stripe match them against the photos Bill and Kiz had of the cubs from 1996.
Astonishingly, Arthur, Andre and Amanda were still alive and still together. Bill and Kiz paid all of the expenses to rescue those three and sent them to us where they continue to support the cats. They weren't going to leave 4 other tigers behind, so they rescued them and sent them to Carolina Tiger Rescue in N.C.
Kiz' story picks up from there about how finding those long lost cats changed their lives and the trajectory of their retirement. The Colorado rescue she speaks about is where the cats you met today, Gabrielle, Andy, Seth and Priya (who we passed but didn't visit) all came from.
http://bulletin.swarthmore.edu/summer-2017-issue-iv-volume-cxiv/american-tiger
American Tiger
In worn-out Levi’s, Kizmin Reeves ’72 ignored the bracing Colorado cold. As the wind struck in sharp, punchy gusts, she leaned closer to the chain-link fence, talking quietly with 4-year-old Waldo, a tiger pacing at the cage’s edge.
He lifted his chin and chuffed, a rush of throaty air. Reassuring the 500-pound animal, she eyed the cramped dirt yard behind him that was his home.
For now.
Not long ago, Reeves discovered the mysterious and largely unregulated world of privately owned tigers in the U.S. The rise in captive breeding and ramshackle roadside zoos tell of a sordid industry too abysmal—too dangerous—for her to turn a blind eye. Dragging this shadow world into the light, she and husband Bill Nimmo walked away from Wall Street careers to found Tigers in America, a nonprofit devoted to rescuing the magnificent, fierce—and, tragically, growing—American tiger population.
The decrepit conditions in Colorado where young Waldo was housed sum it all up. Scattered behind him were a metal beer keg, two empty bowls, and some blowing trash. Even with an injured shoulder, he relentlessly paced, like an -agitated colonel.
“A starving tiger is terrible to see,” says Reeves.
Stories like Waldo’s, although they sound rare, are becoming less so. According to the World Wildlife Fund, around 3,890 tigers are left in the wild—a drop of 97 percent over the last hundred years—living in 13 countries including India, Indonesia, and China. In the U.S., however, the estimated number of tigers kept in private captivity hovers around 7,000. Only about 400 are in accredited zoos, with the rest in roadside attractions, private menageries, or kept by backyard breeders. Seven states have no laws at all on owning wild animals.
“There’s no way of knowing the true extent of the problem, since no single agency tracks who keeps tigers,” says Debbie Leahy, manager
