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 3/9/20
Carolina Tiger Rescue has welcomed another animal home! Last Wednesday, a serval named Mama arrived at her forever home at Carolina Tiger Rescue. Servals are African cats with a paw strike faster than a human can blink and large ears that allow them to hear rodents six inches underground and up to a mile away. They are incredible predators who successfully catch about half of the prey they hunt in the wild. Mama, however, was kept as a pet in an apartment in New York. She reminded others that she was a wild cat by not using her litter box and showing aggression when she was upset. Because of her wild cat instincts and behavior, her owners could not properly care for her.
Luckily for Mama, her owners realized that she would be better off living someplace where she could be happy, healthy, and wild. Mama was a bit hissy on her trip with keepers from New York to North Carolina, but the trip went smoothly and she arrived here late Wednesday night. She settled into quarantine with a comfy bed and delicious meal. Mama will spend a bit of time in quarantine and receive a physical from the veterinarian before she will be released into her new outdoor enclosure in the sanctuary. Join us in welcoming Mama to her forever home!