Ever since Zulu the tiger passed away, his buddy Blizzard has been increasingly uninviting to the two new tigers, Tony & Roy. One would think that in Zulu’s absence he would crave their friendship but the opposite seems to be the case. Tony & Roy have always been willing to show a positive attitude during introductions, but Blizzard simply doesn’t want new friends.
The best solution we can give these guys is to allow Blizzard to have his own personal space, away from the other tigers. That’s why we have just completed our big cat shell game.
Tony and Roy will have the largest area together, the big tiger habitat. Blizzard will be moved to about half as much space in the cougar habitat. The two cougars, Mahari & Noble will be moved into the habitat in the middle, where Tony and Roy were initially set up on their arrival over a year ago.
This moves Blizzard far enough from Tony & Roy that he will relax. Luckily, Mahari & Noble have grown accustomed to living close to tigers, so they don’t seem to mind at all.
The greatest success of the whole day is that we were able to shift and move all but one of the cats, Blizzard, without tranquilizing them. They cooperated beautifully, moving from one shift area to another without ever leaving safe confines of a wire enclosure. Blizzard made his move sound asleep on a stretcher.
Happily ever after!
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2 comments
omegaman66
November 18, 2011 at 9:24 am (UTC 0)
Cats are such loners by nature, I am not surprised by blizzards actions. Good luck with the sanctuary. I am also interested in cougars. Does your group have any interaction with the government on getting the florida cougars a new home. Been so looking forward to having a second established population of florida panthers somewhere.
Lisa Stoner
November 19, 2011 at 9:46 pm (UTC 0)
We attend many of the meetings and share our opinion, but of course the State of Florida will make their own decisions io the issue. When we hear about an opportunity for the public to get involved and write letters to impact an upcoming decision we will share it with everyone. The more voices, the better!