Preserve takes in wild ones

Big animals facing unpleasant fates have a home in St. Lucie County thanks to a nonprofit started by a former zoo director.

FORT PIERCE - Towzer, a 100-pound Bengal tiger, spent the first several months of his life in a carnival act. People would pay to have their photo taken with him. But just three months later, it was clear that not just anyone should be allowed near Towzer. He was too big, too dangerous.

So he was placed inside a trailer for the next four months, rarely seeing sunlight or people.

Today he is almost a year old and kept at an animal preserve, called Tigers for Tomorrow, in northwest St. Lucie County. Towzer will live out his remaining years there.

More than a dozen other wild animals, mainly tigers, live on the 38-acre preserve, which opened to visitors for the first time during the weekend for a fundraising event.

All the animals, had they not ended up at the preserve, would have met unpleasant fates. Some would have been sold to unscrupulous breeders or as house pets to inexperienced or unlicensed owners. Others would have been sold at auctions for "canned hunts" in which hunters pay a fee to shoot the animals, which become stuffed trophies, said Susan Steffens, president of Tigers for Tomorrow.

Seeing the problems with exotic-pet owners and canned hunts, Steffens, a former director at the Palm Beach Zoo, started the nonprofit Tigers for Tomorrow in 1999. In 2002, the preserve got its first wild resident, an abused, malnourished black panther named Benny.

During last year's hurricanes, all the animals were packed into traveling cages and placed in a hurricane-proof warehouse. The animals survived, Steffens said, although the preserve was damaged.

While closed to the public, the preserve is open for private tours and groups of 10 or more.

Elena and Peter Elderbaum drove up from Port St. Lucie to visit the sanctuary. Their first stop was the three baby cougars. Their mother, also at the sanctuary, would have been euthanized. It was discovered she was pregnant after she arrived. She has since been spayed.

"I think it's wonderful that they're trying to save these animals," Elena Elderbaum said.

Volunteers help feed the tigers and clean cages, often getting attached to certain animals.

Karen Robinson, a volunteer for two years, comes in to chop raw meat for meals. Benny, the black panther, has become her favorite.

"He responds to all of the girls," she said. "He comes up to the cage and rubs his face against you."

Lynnea Kunkley, who hopes to become a veterinarian, is drawn to the two gray timber wolves, Bear and Lakota. "I have a fascination with dogs," said Kunkley, a Fort Pierce Westwood High School student.

At one point, Wilbur McCauley, a handler in charge of caring for the animals on the preserve, entered Towzer's cage and began flicking around a stick with two egg-shaped balloons tied to the end. Towzer chased after the balloons, paws each the size of a human face swinging within inches of McCauley.

They play only when Towzer feels like it. You don't force a tiger to do anything it doesn't want to, McCauley said.

[Last modified June 6, 2005, 01:34:12]