Tessa Stripes is our newest animal keeper here at Carolina Tiger Rescue. She studied wildlife biology at Virginia Tech. Before coming to Carolina Tiger Rescue, she interned at Wildlife Safari. Her favorite animals to work with are tigers! She enjoys giving the animals at Carolina Tiger Rescue a safe and appropriate home for them. It’s a hard and dirty job, but she loves it! Her favorite time of year at the rescue is the fall, when all the animals get pumpkins for enrichment!
Keeper Tessa’s Blog 3/13/19
I have an exciting update for you today! Beau Cougar has been moved to an outdoor enclosure! The enclosure he is in now will not be his permanent enclosure; that is still being built. This enclosure will allow him to get used to being outside again and become more comfortable in the sanctuary. The sanctuary is a very different place than what he is familiar with. He has new smells, sounds, and sights to get used to! Never before has this little guy seen or heard tigers, smelled ocelots, or caught a glimpse of a serval. This transition will take some time and we are allowing him as much time as he needs to become comfortable. He is not allowed visitors as he settles in, in order to keep him calm and allow him to adjust to his new home.
The plan now is to keep the area around Beau as calm and quiet as possible. We want to be sure he continues to progress with learning to trust his caretakers. It will continue to take time, but we are confident he will learn to trust us. We are giving him lots of enrichment and things for him to do and are finding that he enjoys the enrichment when no one else is around. Throughout most of the day, he hangs out in his cabana and takes his cat naps. At night, he likes to hang out in his den box and explore his enclosure. We can tell he is becoming more and more comfortable with his surroundings because he is not hissing and growling as much. This is a great sign! More to come in the next couple weeks with Beau, I promise!