Dr. Wilde Blog 11/17/2021
Throughout the fall months we welcome students to the sanctuary once a week to learn all about the animals that call Carolina Tiger Rescue home. A four weeklong program for middle school aged students, we talk about a different aspect of the sanctuary every week and what it takes to care for all the animals at the sanctuary. We have talked about enrichment, enclosure design, veterinary care and how we can help wild cats both in captivity and living in the wild.
The students learned all about the different types of enrichment, how to identify enrichment, how to problem solve to create enrichment for large cats and how we as care givers can measure an animal’s interest levels in the enrichment items created. Students observed the behavior of tigers Saber and Shira and recorded the behaviors to make informed decisions about enrichment for the tigers. The following week, students learned all about enclosures and what is needed to build a suitable habitat for the animals that call Carolina Tiger Rescue home. The students then took everything they learned and built model enclosures for a tiger, a bear and a leopard using magnetic tiles, building blocks and small prop items. They did great job and learned a lot along the way!
During the third week, the students learned all about the veterinary care that is provided to the animals that live at the sanctuary, how we manage and treat animals with age related illnesses and preventative measures we take to ensure our animals stay healthy. The last and final week of the program focused on teaching the students the skill set to identify problems affecting wild cats and how to problem solve to come up with solutions to these problems. It was a fun and educational program, and we are sad to see the students go, but looking forward to feature programs in the new year!
