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 4/12/21

Queen, Cher, and Stevie Serval have a new enclosure to call home! These ladies and four other servals came to us from Canada in November of 2019. They were rescued from a backyard breeder who kept them in very dirty conditions in RVs with no ventilation and no sunlight. After coming to Carolina Tiger Rescue, they spent time in quarantine to get physicals and make sure they were healthy and up-to-date on vaccinations. Once they were done with quarantine, they were released into their first outdoor enclosure, complete with sunlight, grass, trees, and fresh air. After all they had been through, we wanted to give them plenty of time and space to settle in, so this enclosure was off tour. Soon, they adjusted to sanctuary life and gained more confidence around staff and volunteers.

We like to move the animals to new enclosures every once in a while as a form of enrichment. A new enclosure in a different part of the sanctuary provides many new scents, sights, and sounds to explore. The girls did so well with the occasional visitors off tour that the keepers and myself decided to see how they would like an on tour enclosure for their next home. They are now in Elvis Serval’s old enclosure in Pine Forest. Elvis recently moved to Pear Orchard. The girls have loved checking out their new space. Here you can see how curious Queen, Cher, and Stevie were about their new neighbor, Tio Tiger!