I had been volunteering at the zoo for a few years when one day I came to see Holly as one of the zookeepers responsible for the care and feeding of two Siberian tiger cubs. She told me about them in our morning routine at the mammal house.
“Where did they come from?” I recall zoos sometimes selling their baby animals and wondering if that’s how our zoo got them.
“Black market,” Holly almost whispered. “Apparently, a private owner has them and they are trying to sell them. They were seized by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and they asked us if we could take care of them.”
“What happened to their mother?” I wondered aloud.
“We do not know. They don’t have her, just the chicks,” she sounded as worried about what might happen to her as I was.
“How old are they?” I’m trying to imagine what they look like.
“They are young, about four weeks old. Monica has been bringing them home for about a week now,” she explained. I recall how Lisa had told me that zookeepers would sometimes bring small animals home to care for them around the clock.
“We are going to meet them in the middle of the morning. We need to feed them,” she said excitedly.
* * *
The cubs are being kept in the same administrative building where I went to attend my volunteer orientation. I haven’t had a reason to visit it since but now I have a better idea of what must be going on there. I’m working at a non-profit and I imagine zoos have a lot of similar administrative duties. . . marketing, human resources, accounting and membership. In addition, they have a veterinary clinic.
We entered through the back door, down a corridor and passed several offices before reaching our destination. Holly is petite but strong, and even though we’re different in height, I almost had to run to keep up with her. I think, someone is excited to see the cubs again!
When we walked into their room, I could see why. They were so adorable, and we were booing and booing all over the place right away. I was surprised by their size. I envisioned kittens, but a four-week-old tiger cub is much larger than an adult domestic cat.
Holly asked me to play with them while she prepared the bottles for them. Does not matter. I was up there.
“Very pleased,” I said. I went down to the floor to greet them and was immediately grabbed by both of them. I started laughing as I tried to get their attention. They weren’t large enough for their stripes to have that distinctly bold look; they are all fuzzy and feet. Very large feet. Although their size is not like that of a typical kitten, their behavior is almost the same, except for their much larger teeth and longer claws.
Holly sat down with us on the floor, handing me one of the bottles as she sat down. I smiled brightly at her.
“Yes, you can feed one,” she replied with a smile. “Hold it like this,” she reached out and grabbed one of the cubs and held it upright, then pointed the bottle toward its mouth. The cub clung to the bottle fiercely. I grabbed the other one and followed suit. What a precious moment.
“Do they have names?” I asked while trying to keep both the bottle and the baby steady and burst out laughing at my baby’s enthusiasm.
“Yes, let me see…” Holly stared at my cubs, then at her. “You have Cleopatra.”
“How can you tell?” I was amazed by her quick identification.
“See the color of the collar?” she pointed to my cubs, then hers. “And I have Anubis.”
After the cubs were fed, they suddenly fell asleep, and we left, heading back to the mammal house to finish our morning chores.
* * *
Feeding and playing with the cubs was a ritual I would enjoy until a week when I showed up and Holly told me the cubs were no longer allowed to interact with humans. Cleopatra and Anubis are older now and they need to regain some of their wildness. I understand this on an intellectual level but emotionally, I’m sad about it.
The slave cats were sold to another zoo, and the kittens took their place in that exhibit, exceeding the enslaved cats’ appeal and ability to draw crowds.
Here is an excerpt from the book, The Age of Spider Monkeys: And Other Revelations From Behind the Zoo.
Image of katerinavulcova from Pixabay
