Suzie's Pride

I finally found something interesting to do in my area.  It is funny because I always saw the "Tiger World" Sign but never thought they really had tigers there.  I thought it was some kind of gentlemen's bar or something...don't even ask why...  Once I found out they had real live cats I did some research and found out there was also another place next to it that had lions!!!  I love tigers and lions!  They are so beautiful.  So I did even more research.

The lion organization next to Tiger World is a nonprofit organization called "Suzie's Pride".  They rescue lions and tigers that people obtain and later can not take care of properly.  This is one of the coolest organizations I have been to because they modified their own land in order to create it.  This personal effect, in my opinion, demonstrates their personal dedication.  It is structured but still quite relaxed and homely.  The only time they have visitors is during their open house so I marked my calendar and anxiously waited for the date to arrive.

Soon as we drove down the driveways there is an Emu in a field.  It is so beautiful but Ostriches are my favorite.  They can be mean though.  Yeah, I like watching from the outside of the fence for sure, lol.  I do not have a problem with leaving the handling to skilled professionals in this arena.  We were one of the first to arrive and had a mini tour from one of the young ladies who worked there.

The first cat we went to was an 8 week old, female, tiger cub named Magie.  She was rescued as a cub from the incident in Ohio when a man let loose a bunch of wild animals.  There is a really interesting video on the Suzie's Pride website where they explain all the different sounds she will make and their meaning.  Just click this link and it is right on the home page!

She is so full of energy.  Hard to believe that she might eat you for dinner when she gets older.  Nah!  That is why they are safely tucked away behind the protective fences.  Also, the tour guide explained to us that when tigers grow up around people they become more friendly to those individuals.  So she will be very friendly by time she gets to  be a full grown adult.

The next three ladies were two lions and a tiger.  Since they grew up together, they are friendly with each other, however, if the organizers were to put another cat in the enclosure they might kill it.  Lions are social animals but tigers are more solitary.  This is probably the most interesting thing to me about these three because when the tiger got tired of socializing she would walk off and take a break.

I remember the tiger's name is Hobbes, named after the comic strip, but I do not recall the two lion's names. T_T  Here is a link to a small snippet of information about Hobbes.  Reading the descriptions on the website I want to say the lion in the front is Kia and the one hiding in the background is Sara.  Going by birth dates I believe I have it correct!!! ;D

The next enclosure had an almost one year old tiger cub named Laney.  I did not get a good picture of her because she was moving around.  Since Hobbes is a tiger next door they communicate in tiger language.  The main sound they make is called a chuff.  It is a friendly greeting that tells the other tiger that it is happy to see it.  When we were there she was chuffing a lot.  It was really cool so watch.  Here is a link to a youtube video of a tiger chuffing.  This is not at Suzie's Pride.  Also notice how the tiger in the video is rubbing against the fence and making other friendly type gestures.

The last, but not least, enclosure was a female lion named Jazz.  She, along with most of the cats here were photo cubs.  It is cruel because they overfeed and drug the animals so that they are sedated and calm for the picture.  They even get addicted to the drugs which is what they suspected was wrong with Jazz because when they got her she acted the same way as someone detoxing.  After they get a few months they cast them away because they are no good for pictures anymore.  This is very awful so think twice before you go and get that picture taken with the adorable lion your photographer has!

Overall I really enjoyed my visit.  I learned some interesting things about lions and tigers.  I never knew you could have them together in the same enclosure because I thought tigers wanted to be alone all the time.  I also learned that they use dog milk with added meat to feed the baby tiger.

This last picture is a tiger in heat but she looks so comfortable I just had to share it! lol.  Don't forget to visit Suzie's Pride website at http://www.suziespride.org/index.html and check out all the links I have attached! :)