Siberian Tiger at a Big Cat Shelter

Edit: A print of this photo is now available! All profits will you straight to the Sanctuary for Predators and Exotic Animals (SPEA). _{it actually is a big cat shelter - SPEA was too long for the title (;}

Yes, you read right: This is Boris a tiger in a big cat/cats of prey shelter.

Actually the only big cat sanctuary in Germany. Because what do you do when a circus doesn't want it's tigers anymore? Kill them? That's actually the way it usually goes. But since 1994 there has been a shelter for those cats in Wallersdorf (near Ansbach), Bavaria, Germany. All the animals there share a sad background story: Their owners couldn't care for them anymore or were criminals and imported their "pets" illegally. The authorities seized the animals and brought them here. They live a happy life with bigger cages than they were used to. Why not bring these animals to a zoo? Simple: Most of them (actually all who are there at the moment) are not pure bred. The zoos only want pure bred animals because they have the European Endangered Species Programme or EEP. Which is good program as such since they need pure breds to return them to the wild when (or even better before) they go extinct. So these animals find a new home at the Raubtier- und Exotenasyl Wallersdorf e.V. (Cats of prey and exotic animal shelter Wallersdorf). At the moment there are 6 tigers, 2 cougars, 1 Eurasian lynx, 1 Arctic fox, 1 red fox, 2 Japanese macaque [Macaca fuscata], 6 ferrets and some rabbits (nope they are usually not food for the tigers but animals which children can pet, unlike the tigers).
They are glad for any help they can get since they are a non-profit organization and finance themselves only through donations and sponsors. They even have open house every first Sunday a month - entry is free!

I did a 2-week internship there and was allowed to clean the cages, make food, feed the animals and do other stuff around the grounds. That's where I took the photos.

If you want to know more ask me or visit their website: [link] or their facebook page: [link]

Thank you!


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