Caring for White Tigers - Photos after the White Tiger Fight

Caring for WHITE TIGERS or any other large feline for that matter has it fair share of risks for both Zookeeper and animal. As many of you are aware from reading the “FORUM”, Tundra, the Sanctuary’s adult female WHITE TIGER (Panthera tigris) recently had a minor skirmish (tiger fight) with her habitat mate Loki. These things happen and David and I both have seen all kinds of animal politics end up with someone getting hurt. In this case we, or should I say, Tundra were very lucky.

Click thumbnails below to see white tiger photos

CLICK HERE TO SEE ANIMAL WEBCAMS

Loki, the WHITE TIGER housed with Tundra is an exceptionally mellow and relaxed individual. In our experience, it always seems that the big male Tigers (especially male BENGAL TIGERS) are always calmer, mellower and seem to have more predictable behaviors. Not like any tiger or even any WILD ANIMAL have truly predictable behaviors! They DON’T! It is just that, David and I have interacted extensively with so many different species of wildlife for so many years that one becomes adept at reading body postures, looks, ear and pupil reactions, etc.

In any case, a few days ago, Tundra was acting in her typical mischievous, tormenting way towards Loki. She is one of those sneaky “Bitchy” tigresses. One of her favorite things to do is to sneak up on Loki (a much larger male WHITE TIGER), and nip at his ankles and thighs. She would often nip the smallest piece of Loki’s skin and tug on it to tease him. This never resulted in any damage or harm to Loki, but rest assured it looked annoying. Loki was always a good sport, tolerating almost anything Tundra could dish out, until today. Today was much different. Today, Loki bursted out at Tundra with a lightning quick pounce and bite to her head and neck area. Tundra also received a few minor cuts from his claws. Over all, this was an extremely mellow White Tiger fight. In actuality, Tundra’s wounds could have been a lot worse. She was very lucky, as it ended almost as fast as it started. David actually called Loki off of Tundra, where we immediately separated the two White Tigers. Tundra appeared more startled than hurt. Once she calmed down, we visually examined her wounds. As you can imagine, the fur of a White Tiger is very thick around their head and neck areas. This made it very hard to fully examine the extensiveness of her injuries. After consulting with our Veterinary team, we decided to knock her down to fully examine her.

More Photos - Chemical Immobilization - Tranquilizing - White Tigers >>

<< Back To Behind the Scenes | Article Continues on page 2 >>