Websites

Check out these websites to see how you can help with big cat conservation:

http://carolinatigerrescue.org/  I work here! It's a pretty snazzy place.

http://www.cheetah.org/?nd=home  I want to work here! Cheetahs are like the greyhound of the big cats.

http://www.panthera.org/  This organization does some cool stuff.

http://twitter.com/imogenedavis  That's me again... I follow some cool conservation organizations. Check it out to learn about zoos and programs working to protect big cats.

http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/big-cats/  We click, big cat habitat it helped. It's free! Do this daily... can't hurt!

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/default.cfm?fonzref=index.htm  Have you visited our national zoo?

http://www.twrc-houston.org/  This is where I volunteer when I'm on holiday!

2010 is around the corner... what difference will you make?

Give the Cheetah a Chance!!!!

Please take a moment to check out this link to the Cheetah Conservation Fund and to explore the possibility of making a charitable donation to the organization dedicated to saving the cheetah. Unfortunately, without our help, the cheetah may be extinct in twenty five years. If CCF does not raise these funds before January 5th, many programs will be shut down and set back the progress this great organization has made.

http://www.cheetah.org/?nd=year_end_challenge_dec28&utm_source=streamsend&utm_medium=email&utm_content=8028281&utm_campaign=Please%20Give%20the%20Cheetah%20a%20Chance%20in%20the%20New%20Year%21

Please consider donating to this cause. Your contribution will allow the cheetah to run free in the wild for generations to come.

Happy Holidays!

Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noël, Frohe Weihnachten, Buon Natale, God jul, Nollaig shona, 즐거운 성탄절 되세요, С Рождеством and Merry Christmas!!!!!

Thank you for following my blog and thank you for caring about the animals at Carolina Tiger Rescue! Volunteers carry our organization and your compassion for big cat conservation can help preserve these amazing species.

Be safe and save your Christmas trees for the tigers!

Becoming a Fan...of Straw

If you haven't noticed the new gadget on the right side of the page... check it out! Carolina Tiger Rescue is on Facebook! Become a fan! Unfortunately Facebook is kind of crazy, so when our name changed we were unable to change the name of our page on Facebook. So, you can go to our old page via the little gadget to the right and find our new one, or you can search Carolina Tiger Rescue on Facebook and become a fan! You'll get all kinds of great updates and see the great photos and videos posted often. I will get our internet genius, Amanda, to help me fix the gadget so it's less confusing. Here is the new page URL:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=name&id=11818011#/pages/Carolina-Tiger-Rescue/180650068121?ref=ts


Speaking of becoming a fan, if you like my blog, please become a follower! I've been on hiatus recently only because the semester has been so intense (thanks, Physics), but now that that is over I can spend more time on updates. Also, follow me on Twitter! I do follow other conservationists focusing on big cats, so there is ample opportunity to learn what is going on in the cat world and how you can contribute to saving amazing species!
http://twitter.com/imogenedavis

The past few weeks have been very busy at Carolina Tiger Rescue. Kiowa, the caracal whose enclosure partner Tailessa passed away, was moved to live with Damien, a male caracal. Unfortunately this has not worked out, as the only interaction between these two has been entirely negative, and Kiowa has been moved back to her previous enclosure. Damien was alone before Kiowa moved in, but these two could not adjust and the fighting and hissing showed no signs of ceasing. Of course both parties are in good health; the keepers monitored the two for a few weeks and made sure no one was seriously harmed (cats do not fight to the death as often as other species. This is mostly true for domestic cats, but our tigers as well as our small cats do not suffer life-threatening injuries when they fight. However, the case could easily be different in the wild were an encounter over territory or protecting cubs. These issues do not truly present themselves at Carolina Tiger Rescue, so there is no primary over over one animal killing another).

Kiniki, one of our many caracals. He is not happy about the cold weather and prefers to stay inside his den box with his heat pad.

I have started cleaning Level 2 enclosures with keepers. Level 2 enclosures contain our small cats who are more aggressive than the moderately lazy binturongs but not so much that a pair of humans cannot enter the enclosure to clean it. As I have mentioned before, one person always guards while another cleans when inside a cat enclosure. I have only cleaned the caracals so far, and the enclosures have contained either one, two, or three animals. Only one enclosure at Carolina Tiger has three animals. Bandit, Electra, and Kiara are very mischevious caracals who truly enjoy stalking humans when they are in their territory. This is not a game as it is when I run along the fence with Lucky, a tiger, and trying to keep my eyes on three caracals who blend in effortlessly is trying. These three have not attacked anyone, which is why they remain a Level 2, but protecting both myself as well as another while inside the enclosure requires constant focus.

Another thing requiring constant focus is keeping these guys away from buckets. Kiniki, the caracal above, gave keeper Lauren and I a run for our money last week when we brought fresh straw into his enclosure for den boxes. One den box for each caracal, Kiniki and girlfriend Mary Stewart, desperately needed to be emptied. Of the small cats, ocelots are the only ones who urinate inside their den boxes, and for them we use pine shavings to absorb moisture better. The other cats receive straw. However, we discovered that these caracals have forgotten where the lavatory is and spent an excessive amount of time cleaning. The tricky thing about cage cleaning is that you are not only guarding yourself, but another person, or you are cleaning and guarding yourself as well as a few buckets (one for waste, another with straw). Kiniki became obsessed with our giant bin of straw and took to getting at it any way he could; every time Lauren or I turned around (not literally because you can never turn your back on a cat) he was knocking over the bin and stuffing his furry little body into the straw. When we finally finished, we decided to give Kiniki his very own bin of straw so he could do with it whatever he wanted:

Mary Stewart is on the right, while Kiniki is in the process of dumping the bin of straw over. Fun stuff!

Enrichment is brought into an enclosure any time we enter it as well as old enrichment removed. In addition to Kiniki's straw, Lauren and I took raw chicken chunks and stuffed them into cake ice cream cones. Everyone loves chicken ice cream!

I also finished my intern project! Interns at Carolina Tiger Rescue must complete a certai number of hours in different areas in addition to writing papers and completing some sort of project. The project ideally has a lasting impact. I chose to build some contraptions for ocelot enclosures. Ocelots love to climb and jump and I would like to maximize enclosure area by installing hanging platforms or stands for the ocelots to jump on. Actually, I'm not done doing this... I just got Round 1 finished and installed yesterday. I created two hanging platofrms for Julio and PJ's respective enclosures by simply screwing pieces of wood together in a sturdy fashion. I purchased chains and links that are adjustable so these pieces can be moved around the enclosure as enrichement. I wrapped the chain in firehose so the cats won't bite down on the metal links. Each platform hangs around two feet from the ceiling and the ocelots can access them with ease:

I am rather proud of this... it is the first of it's kind at Carolina Tiger Rescue.

Julio investigates. Chicken was placed atop the platform to coerce him to climb up.

Once these guys adjust to the new piece and (hopefully) use it, I will then move it to different and higher-reaching areas within the enclosure. This will require adding some 'bridges' from tree to tree so the hangin platform is easily accessible.

I am very excited that I will be staying on through next semester as an intern! I will continue with everything I am currently doing, and I will begin new intern projects. After Christmas I will be installing a new ground stand into servals Marua and Gianna's enclosure. It is partially built already, but needs more tiers added to it. Curious? Come see it! Want to help? Please!

If you are interested in becoming an intern with Carolina Tiger Rescue, visit our website's page for information:

http://carolinatigerrescue.org/education/internships.asp

Videos

Tex hears a tour coming

It's finals week at NC State University, which means I am one of 30,000 students with heightened cortisol levels. So, once I get through this week I will be posting more in addition to getting some videos up. Robin Thomson, one of the dedicated volunteers at Carolina Tiger Rescue, has been filming a lot of great stuff lately and has allowed me to use them for this blog. However, I can't get the darn things to upload right now, but as soon as I figure out how I will post them!

Jellybean and volunteer Sue Register have a chat

Millhouse hoping for more breakfast

Update

I have been immensely busy with both school as well as work and have only now managed to squeeze in a blog update.

Foremost, the CCF cheetah bushblok project was not selected as a finalist in the World Challenge competition. Thanks to those who voted! Be sure to listen for the success of the program in the future.

I am sad to report that in the weeks since my last posting that one of the animals in my areas has died. Ralph was the oldest binturong at Carolina Tiger Rescue. Necropsy results yielded heart failure as the cause of death, which is to be expected with a nineteen year old binturong. The keepers were going to take him to the vet the morning he died becuase he had been acting unusually lethargic and was not eating. Longevity of binturongs is not known in the wild because these animals have not been well-studied, but nineteen is the expected age in captivity. Consequently, Ralph lived the longest life possible for a binturong in captivity, which speaks for the quality of care at Carolina Tiger Rescue. For an animal to die of nothing but old age leads me to believe that the life of the animal was ideal. Ralph never had much to say, but that is characteristic of an old man.

To learn more about binturongs, please read a previous posting. You can also learn more about Ralph, who will be missed by staff and volunteers at Carolina Tiger Rescue.

Cheetahs and the BBC World Challenge

I stole this picture from Ryan

My friend Ryan Richards is a graduate student at the University of Maryland. We met when I attended the Cheetah Conservation Fund benefit in September (see blog). Ryan spent the summer in Namibia, Africa working with CCF on the Bush Project, the focus of his graduate research. His project is one of 12 finalists in the BBC/World Challenge 2009. The winner is decided by popular vote and I am asking that you help Ryan as well as the cheetahs win this thing!

The Bush Project aims to reduce bush encroachment caused by overgrazing, restore habitat for cheetahs and other wildlife and produce a renewable energy source for a country that is largely dependent on coal and charcoal. At the moment most of the acacia bush that is cleared is turned into Bushblok, a chipped, compressed wood product that looks a bit like a Duraflame log (without any waxy additives). It's marketed in South Africa and Europe as an alternative to charcoal. Our ultimate goal is to develop biomass as a viable electricity source in Namibia, and the World Challenge award would help us pursue that goal (the publicity in the EU and US certainly won't hurt either).

The website for voters is http://www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/ . Click on the pushpin in southern Africa to find out more about the project. Then VOTE!

If you'd like a better idea of the work CCF does, check out their website: http://www.cheetah.org/

Please vote for the Bush Project!

Oh Deer

It's deer season in North Carolina. Although I am not a hunter, Carolina Tiger Rescue is fortunate to have a good network of hunters that bring fresh meat for the cats. I personally think that hunting is only validated if the hunter uses the animal in its entirety. Otherwise, I find it a waste of a precious life. I have come across many hunters who will kill multiple deer for one cut of meat when one doe would have delivered the meat of those six single cuts. The elimination of population surplus or choosing to not take down an animal for one cut is not an issue for the hunters that come to Carolina Tiger. During the season we get multiple deer brought in each week that go out to feed our cats. Tigers will get an entire torso or a deer leg (hoof to hip) in place of one chicken, and small cats will get small portions of one leg or the pelt of the animal. Preparation to feed usually takes about an hour, but once the truck is loaded up it usually looks like this:

Yesterday someone brought in a deer that had been hit on the road. Yes, it may sound strange, but if a person witnesses a deer getting killed on the road we will take it just like one taken down in a hunt. It makes sense to not waste the meat, and we are committed to taking care of our animals. Of course, we always remove the bullet(s) and ensure the meat is good prior to giving it to any animal. It is just another facet of the circle of life at Carolina Tiger Rescue.

We "dress" a deer in similar fashion to a hunter... we skin the animal, remove the internal organs (in the wild cats do not usually consume the intestines of prey, though they will eat some of the larger organs such as the heart and liver and drink the blood for hydration), then remove the limbs. After helping Lauren, head keeper, dress the deer, I decided that Tex needed the deer for breakfast. The legs were given in place of one chicken to other tigers (so instead of receiving two whole, raw chickens one tiger received one chicken and one whole leg). Any tiger on the compound that lives with another tiger is shifted during meal times to prevent fighting. This simply means the tigers are separated in different parts of the enclosures by shift gates. However, I forgot to shift tigers Lucky and Carmelita yesterday morning... they are used to being on a certain side and I thought the gate was down. Lauren and I were about to drive away leaving the two to their respective meals when we realized that in fact I had not shifted them. This could have been a major problem had one tiger finished early and decided to steal the other's meal. A fight would have broken out... probably not to the death, but separating two 400 pound cats with claws that are three inches long is not an easy as separating two young boys in a school yard.

After the shift gate mishap, we shifted tigers Jellybean and Tex with difficulty, as Jelly is a bit jealous and took a swing at Tex when he saw the deer. We pulled the deer into the enclosure (with no tigers in that part) and lifted the deer torso onto a platform. Tex came into the enclosure once we were out surveyed the place first. Tex can be aggressive at times and I expected him to charge me, but he didn't.

The deer carcas is on the platform and Tex surveys the area

Tex immediately pulled the meat off the platform and dragged it around for no apparent reason. He was either showing off to a snarling Jellybean or searching for just the right spot to eat. Like most cats, tigers can pull their own body weight with their jaws. Tex took the meat in his jaws and walked around, heaving his weight on his front legs with the torso in between. Tigers carry the majority of their weight in their forepaws. If you look at tiger you will notice that their front legs are more powerful than their back legs, which differs from cats like the bobcat, whose back legs are much larger for jumping.

Making sure the kill is... killed

Preparing to drag meat to a secure location

We never feed live game to our animals. Although the predator-prey relationship is only natural, it goes against our values as a wildlife sanctuary. The deer we receive at Carolina Tiger Rescue allows the tigers to eat a complete as well as diverse diet. Nothing goes to waste on the compound... no bones, no parts, and as some put it, it keeps us humble.

Special Thanks

I'd like to take a moment to thank one of Carolina Tiger Rescue's tour guides, Pat. I met Pat today and he informed me that he has been reading my blogs! I'm really excited about sharing the lives of these animals with others, and today Pat spread the word about my blog to our visitors on his tour today. Thanks a lot! I was also able to take a moment and listen to how well both Pat and Ruth, another guide, discuss what we do at Carolina Tiger... which is a lot! It is my hope that through this blog I am able to promote the support of these amazing cats in North Carolina while documenting the Days of Their Lives. I learn every day from talented, intelligent individuals who work tirelessly as staff and volunteers and I think it is pretty much the coolest thing ever that I have this opportunity to work with exotic cats. Please keep reading and don't hesitate to let me know what you want to know! Come out for a tour. And, more importantly, visit Carolina Tiger Rescue's website to see how you can get involved with the wildlife sanctuary and get to know our stars!

http://www.carolinatigerrescue.org/default.asp

My favorite picture of Julio.

Wooo For Kinkajous!

Every heard of the honey bear? Some people are under the misconception that this "primate" is related to bears (which doesn't make sense seeing how bears and chimps are not related). The kinkajou, Potus flavus, is a small mammal native to Central and South America with coarse, red fur and a fully prehensile tail. As one of two mammals with prehensile tails (the other is the binturong), "kinks" as we call them are related to raccoons and have long, thin tongues. They use their tail as a fifth limb and often hang upside down. Kinkajous can also turn their feet entirely backwards for ease in coming down trees.   

                                                                        

We have two kinkajous at Carolina Tiger Rescue: Albert and Wednesday. Wednesday used to be someone's pet and was defanged and declawed (an unethical practice in my opinion). Albert was never someone's pet. Both were surrendered to Carolina Tiger years ago. Although they look cute and cuddly, the kinks are a Level 4 on aggression... the same as the tigers. They have very sharp teeth and they are extremely quick. Their little fingers are amazingly human but they emit the most unnatural hissing sound when irritated... which is often. These nocturnal creatures stay inside during the winter since they are not adapted for cold weather. We keep them in the vet room in separate cages next to eachother. They are arboreal so we keep branches and rope in the enclosures for them to climb on.

Albert likes to sleep in newspaper and Wednesday holds on to her tail like a security blanket when she sleeps. I really enjoy spending time with Wednesday because although she hisses and acts unfriendly some of the time, she always pushes her head against the fence so I can use a stick to scratch her head. Since Carolina Tiger is a no touch facility no one can touch the animals, but Wednesday does enjoy being cooed at regardless. Albert... kind of dislikes most people. 

Since they are inside for the winter, the kink enclosures are cleaned each day and enrichment is provided each day as well. Kinkajous love peanut butter and ours will do almost anything for it. They are fed one pound of fruit and vegetables each day.

When kinkajous are waking up, their bodies shake as if they are cold. It is a muscle response and entirely natural.

Here Wednesday is working to figure out how to get the peanut butter inside a plastic cone. Their little hands and long tongues make access much easier.

Kinks do not make good pets. They may weigh a mere five pounds and eat mostly fruit, but they would try to take a bite out of my peanut butter-covered fingers any day. And I'm not sure if it's the peanut butter.

Photos

It's easy to get behind in these blogs because I like to take my time in relaying an event or sort through photos. However, I still have tons of photos that don't make it on here. Here are a few:

Julio after I raked all the leaves out of one side of his enclosure, moved around one of his platforms, and built a low-level platform in a tree for him to climb on. One of the volunteers carved this pumpkin and put chicken inside of it as enrichment for Julio. The carving is of the character Puss in Boots, who has been rumored to look like Julio. Here, he investigates. Pumpkins are always a good toy for enrichment, as the cats (both big and small) can tear into them.

Oliver the ocelot is very shy and rarely comes out of his den box. He loves to smell flavored water (I've never seen him drink it).

Kiowa playing with her scented paper roll. The caracals don't respond to scents the same way ocelots do. Kiowa is very playful and this past week was moved to a new enclosure with Damien caracal. Damien has been alone for some time and Kiowa's enclosure partner, Tailessa, passed recently. Kiowa and Damien are currently working on getting used to eachother but have been successful thus far.

Rajah and Kaela sunning themselves. Most of the tigers at Carolina Tiger Rescue can be found doing exactly the same thing on a regular basis. The tigers also call to eachother during the day using low-level roars or to tell everyone that the territory is theirs. We still call these guys "the cubs" because when they came to Carolina Tiger they were very young. A police officer found them walking down the highway in Wake Forest, NC and we were able to give them a home.

Jellybean came from the Nashville zoo as a surplus cub in a litter of white tigers. White tigers are often irresponsibly bred for the entertainment industry. The white gene is genetically recessive and both parents must have the allele in order for a cub to be white. Only two white tigers have been found in the wild, and this was in the 1950's. Based on the gene being recessive, all white tigers in existence today are related to the original white tiger found in India and are as a result extremely inbred. Oftentimes in the breeding industry extra cubs in a litter of white tigers, or cubs that aren't pretty enough, are euthanized. If an orange cub is born in a litter bred for white tigers, that cub may also be euthanized. Although some of our tigers are clicker trained and enjoy the enrichment, we never ask them to perform. I am very strongly opposed to the idea of using live animals as entertainment and I think that the breeding industry for this market is morally corrupt, particularly when it comes to white tigers.

Jelly got his name because when he came to Carolina Tiger his little pink paws looked like Jellybeans. He is a very vocal cat (lots of moaning and chuffling) and loves to visit on the tours. He has also taught his enclosure buddy, Tex, to be extra talkative. Jelly and Tex spar like housecats sometimes, slapping eachother in the face and sprinting around like maniacs. It is not usually seriously aggressive, but rather playful or agitated. The other day I was working in their enclosure (a part they were not in) and the whole time Jelly sat along the fence and chuffled.

As you can see, Jelly loves attention. Not all of the tigers at Carolina Tiger are this friendly, and when interacting with wild cats one must never let his or her guard down. Please note that these are not the kind of cat you bring home and play with.

Nitro is the blind tiger at Carolina Tiger Rescue. The sand on the perimeter of his enclosure helps him identify where he is in relation to the fence. He can count his steps and navigates the enclosure very well. His enclosure buddy, Apache, is very protective of him and the two are very friendly. Last week we sprayed the perimter of the enclosure with vanilla and the den boxes, water areas, and shift doors with peppermint to help Nitro use his senses to navigate. Nitro decided recently that he absolutely loves me and jumped on the fence and attempted to scent mark me. The boys are being moved to a new enclosure soon and volunteers have been working to get everything just right. Gererous donations have also allowed the purchase of materials such as sand to make paths throughout the enclosure for Nitro. I am appreciate to each of the volunteers and donors who give to Carolina Tiger Rescue. It gives me hope for the future and protection of exotic cats and I am excited to build a career where I can work with people like the family at Carolina Tiger Rescue.

I'm never sure who is Becky and who is Coda when it comes to the bints in this enclosure (that is, if I am looking at their faces). One of them charges me constantly and yowls and growls, but here either Becky or Coda was being friendly because I had bananas with me. I have to admit that since becoming an intern I have started to eat more fruit. Any career that promotes personal health must be a good choice!

I think I've made a good choice.

Bananas and Muscle

The animals at Carolina Tiger Rescue enjoy a variety of strange and crazy enrichment activities that often elicit strange and crazy responses. Only recently did I begin working with the binturongs to provide them enrichment. I always run into the same problem at work when it comes to enrichment: I want to deliver enrichment to everyone in a day, and I want to create or introduce items that the animals don't see every other week. Both can be challenging as well as time consuming. Rajah is pictured above because although the goal of the day was to deliver enrichment to binturongs, I spent some time making scent enrichment for my small cats. I don't have any tigers in my assigned areas, but I decided to visit Rajah and Kaela. As always I had perfume and cologne all over me, so Kaela and Rajah were very eager when I stopped by. Rajah took a whiff and immediately began rolling around in the grass like your average family dog. Kaela, normally sweet, became possessive over me and refused to let Rajah come back over as she rubbed on the fence and moaned. If only the perfume and cologne companies knew what the cats thought of their products! I think you could make an excellent commercial using this. Every man wants a cougar to want him, you know, and all women enjoy the hunt... though I digress with my amazing ad ideas.

Back to bints. As I've mentioned, binturongs are primarily fruit eaters, and they live for bananas. I recalled my mother's sneaky tactics in making fruit fun when I was a kid and decided to redesign her banana and honey on wheat sandwiches. I took about ten bananas and sliced them, added warm honey and mixed it together in a bowl. Then I used toilet paper rolls (the cardboard provides lots of fiber I'm sure... like those wheat sandwiches) and smeared jam on the inside. We use natural jams, jellies, and peanut butter to avoid addition of unnecessary and unnatural chemicals to the animals. I poured the banana mixture into the rolls and folded the ends.

Rotten was suspicious of me and showed his distaste by growling low in his throat (never take it personally... he's always like this). After some sweet talking and gesturing I think we communicated that I had a present for him... either that or I told him his hair looked good, I don't know...  but he calmed down and I put the roll into his food bowl.

"Bananas? Bananas!" was the thought process illustrated on his gnarly little face as he grabbed the roll with competence and began chewing on it. He reminded me of a raccoon in the way he held the roll in his hands. He only turned his lip up at me once.

Each binturong savored the treat and worked to tear into the roll once they smelled the banana. However, Ralph is very picky and apparently does not like honey. Shroom and Coda were kind of adorable, though Coda charged me when I approached his enclosure.

I have mentioned that the small cats, the ocelots in particular, enjoy chasing string like house cats. Like scary, hormone-injected house cats. Petee, Julio, and Magoo, the ocelot on the public tour route (and not in my assigned areas), love the string. I was lucky enough to have someone snap a few shots of my experience with Petee. He may weigh only thirty pounds, but this cat was stronger than me:

Petee sees the string and he wants it.

Petee sees the string and he needs it.

Petee sees the string and tries to kill it.

Petee sees me try another angle and is not fooled (this is just before he launched upward).

I see Petee is stronger than me.

You see we are both putting all of our weight into this vicious tug-of-war.

Some of the small cats wouldn't be able to play this game because a few of them get grabby with their food or with visitors and we do not want to promote bad behavior, especially since these animals can be dangerous. Petee used to be aggressive around his water dish, but he has not shown signs of this behavior in a while so I am allowed to engage in this kind of activity. I'm not sure who won... I had the string, but I wanted to fall down in the grass. Petee got some needed exercise. As I said, enrichment elicits some crazy responses.

Clicker Training

The tigers at Carolina Tiger Rescue are very smart! I dare say they are smarter than my dogs at home. The reason I make this claim is because some of the tigers are clicker trained. Emerson, pictured above and featuring his adorable snaggle tooth, is clicker trained with Lenore, one of the keepers. She called me over the other day to show me another form of enrichment provided to these animals. We don't make them perform or ask them to do anything in return for a meal; clicker training provides human-animal interaction and gives the animal something to be good at. The clicker method is positive reinforcement; the clicker is auditory recognition that the animal does something desirable, and a treat follows the activity as motivation to continue. Emerson is very motivated by chicken ( I personally am more motivated by steak), and he is eager to please when Lenore breaks out the clicker. The clicker she uses is one of those really annoying seat belt clickers children get at the State Fair, the same ones they obnoxiously run around with clicking every chance they get. Lenore only clicks when Emerson does something she wants him to, however, whether it is to sit, to lay down, to go to his station, or to jump up.

Lenore explained to me how simple the commands must be in order for the tiger to understand and follow them. Simple variations such as body language, tone, and inflection from the person can confuse the animal. Emerson is so quick and so tolerant. He followed every command with little distraction even though I was standing right next to him (he has not had an audience before). The goal is for Emerson to not only follow his training, but to introduce commands that will allow the keeper more access to the animal through the fence to observe and treat an animal if necessary. For example, Emerson has learned to show his paw to Lenore, which is useful if he were to be limping. He can also bow his head for bug repellent to be sprayed on his ears. Unfortunately, Emerson hates men with beards, so the clicker training is also a way to begin introducing other people to him.

Emerson is following Lenore's commands in these photos, and the commands are one-world requests such as "stand," "paw," or "station." He knows what to do and follows through immediately, never taking his eyes off of Lenore. She immediately clicks when he has done something right, and the treat follows. These training sessions provide alleviation from boredom and strengthen the bonds between man and animal. When Emerson has eaten all the chicken, Lenore lets him lick the bowl clean:

The keepers at Carolina Tiger Rescue do clicker training almost every day with their animals (even some of the small cats), though not all of the animals are clicker trained. Rajaji is one of the tigers that has recently begun his clicker training, and he will definitely benefit from it. He is the first tiger visitors see on the tours, and he is usually very friendly. However, in the mornings during feeding time he gets quite agitated if you look at him too long once he's got his chicken (I'm like that with my steak). Rajaji can go from a sweet chuffle and a hello moan to a menacing roar, as was perfectly captured by my camera:

Had I been one of those annoying kids at the State Fair with a clicker, I would NOT have clicked it at him. And yes, I jumped.