Happy National Volunteer Month!

 

Get to know a few of our favorite animals along with their stories below: 

 A Lion's Story

Meet Louie the lion. Louie is short for Lufano, meaning ‘good to love’. Louie has been at LTB for about nine months now. He loves sunbathing in the grass and stretching out on his back with his paws up to the sky, rolling from side to side. As he ate his breakfast at his feeding post, everyone watched him gently take each bite he was fed. His purr echoed in our ears, but his happy sounds were a little intimidating as they revealed the capabilities of his powerful roar. When he finished his meal, he slowly stood, then strutted over to an oak tree for a big-cat-scratch. As he sharpened his claws against the tree-trunk, nature's kneading post, we could see his sores still healing from years of laying on concrete and cages his entire life. Because of LTB, Louie is now living in a natural environment the way a lion is supposed to be living. On the tour we learned, he shares the enclosure with his two ‘sister’ lions, Zulu and Arusha (no actual blood relation - all animals are considered ‘family’ at the sanctuary as there is a strict no breed policy). Louie and his sisters grew up in the circus and entertainment industry before being rescued. It took days to coax them out of their cages because they feared the unknown and wide open land; but when they finally touched the earth for the first time, they took off “...like their tails were on fire. They had never gotten to run free before. These animals can’t be domesticated. It’s just amazing how something so simple [as watching Louie stretched out on the grass] will make your heart swell and make your day" (LTB Tour). 

Nola is a white tiger cub. She’s about seven months old and is already so big and strong. Over the new year holiday, LTB rescued her in Louisiana from severe neglect, according to a report from KGTV. Over the past couple months, LTB has nursed Nola back to health and continued to care for her as they build a new enclosure just for her. White tigers like Nola are truly incredible to behold, but really they’re just orange tigers without the pigment pheomelanin. I’m told they’re white color isn’t easy to achieve. In the wild, only one in every 10,000 will be conceived. However, the $10 billion exotic animal industry found a way to make white tigers in captivity a bit more easily. The story is upsetting, but needs to be told. These white tigers are kept captive and inbred, then the cubs are taken sold or put down. (LTB Tour). Nola the white tiger; however, will live her life safe and free from harm. At LTB, she’ll have a home for a lifetime of care and warmth. 

A Bear’s Story 

Before telling us the inspiring but maddening story of Albert the Grizzly Bear, Michele Moberg, a longtime volunteer for LTB and the leader of our visit, reminded us about the introductory video we watched at the beginning of the tour. As she spoke, I hit record on my phone and watched Albert play with his sister grizzly bear, Cherry Bomb.

“...Remember in the introductory video when Bobbi asks you to please never pay for ‘cub petting’? If at any time you’re approached with ‘cub petting’, please, please think of Albert and what these animals go through, and what their future is..." Michele paused her own story briefly to look at Albert. "He’s going to try and get up, ...and he did! First try!” Our team and the rest of the visitors applauded Albert's great little triumph, and Michele continued Albert’s story.

“When we first got Albert four years ago, he couldn’t walk. He had no use of his back hips or back legs. He would try to walk; his version was to take two steps with his front paws and then scoot his body as much as he could. It would take him a full day sometomes to move maybe five steps. He’s 556 pounds, and his sister, Cherry Bomb, is 325. Because Albert is the size he is, he has to rock until he can use the momentum to pop up. Seeing Albert pop up like he just did, on his first try, is a huge triumph for him. Albert was once a ‘petting prop’ for ‘cub petting’. When people use cubs as petting props, they’re only allowed to use the cubs from 1 - 12 weeks old or once they reach 25 pounds. After they get to 25 pounds, they can’t use the cubs anymore, but because they make a lot of money off the cubs, they don’t want the cubs to get to 25 pounds. In order for it to take as long as possible to reach 25 pounds, they starve the cubs. In addition to that, they drug them, so that when they are being a part of the ‘petting experience’, they’re very docile. It was because of the starvation, actually, that caused neurological damage in Albert. It’s not necessarily physical damage; we can’t do a hip replacement or anything. It’s more neurological. It’s the way his brain is communicating to his limbs, so there’s nothing we can do. When he was finished being used as a ‘petting prop’, he was sold off to a roadside circus, so for the first two years of his life, which is the most aggressively growing and developing time in an animal's life, he was kept in one of those 4 x 6 rolling circus cages. Due to that extreme confinement and starvation and continued malnutrition, he couldn’t walk when we got him.” Everyone watched as Albert clumsily crossed the grass to play with his sister. "After four years in the sanctuary, he can walk - it may be clumsy and slow - but he can still play with this sister, Cherry Bomb." (LTB Tour)

Our entire team truly enjoyed our experience at Lions Tigers & Bears. Thank you so much to Jenny, Michele, Bobbi and the rest of the LTB staff for making our visit so memorable. We look forward to seeing you again when we volunteer!