Posts tagged "national-tiger-sanctuary"

What animal lover hasn't daydreamed about ditching their desk job and applying for a job at the zoo? Or at doggy daycare? Or tracking gorillas in Africa? We sure have, but since most of us may never actually get to work with the animals we love, we thought we'd introduce you to a few people who do.

Name: Samantha Bueltmann
Age: 25
Job: Caretaker, Educational Coordinator, and Intern Advisor at the National Tiger Sanctuary in Bloomsdale, Missouri.

What is the National Tiger Sanctuary (NTS)?
Our motto is preservation through education. We currently house eight rescued tigers and one rescued mountain lion, along with 11 cats and four dogs. My job varies from leading tours and cleaning the enclosures to chopping meat to feed to the animals and just spending time with the animals, especially Sheena.

Sheena, the puppy mill tiger?
Yes. She really took to me, maybe because I wasn't there when she was taken away [from the puppy mill]. At first, she was aggressive and defensive -- especially around food -- and at the same time really clingy and needy. I had to visit her four or five times a day. It's great to see her now. She still likes to see me, but she's friendlier around other people, too.

Where did the sanctuary's resident tigers come from?
Our first five tigers were born to a pair of big cats rescued from a circus breeder. We got two others from a sanctuary that closed, and you know about Sheena. Our cougar was somebody's pet.

What is your educational background?
I worked at a vet for three and a half years while going to school. I got my degree in zoology.

How did you actually land a job at a tiger sanctuary?
I'd wanted to work with tigers since I was in second grade. I knew it wasn't likely, but I pursued it anyway. A professor told me about NTS, and I started volunteering while I was in school. The rest is history!

Back in February, a Bengal tiger named Sheena was found in a Missouri puppy mill. She weighed around 175 pounds (she should have been closer to 400) and was surviving in a small pen littered with feces, urine, and dog corpses. A small amount of dog food and a couple of possums were tossed into the cage as well.

Among Sheena's health problems were boils on her paws and tongue, unexplained wounds, poor posture due in some part to the fact that she was declawed, along with vision problems. When first brought to the National Tiger Sanctuary near Bloomsdale, Missouri, she was afraid to go outside. She was also eating 25 pounds of food a day and was very aggressive when eating.

Five months later, Sheena's a new tiger. For the first time in her nine years Sheena is experiencing life among other tigers. Her posture and vision issues are improving, and she's put on weight, now eating a healthy 7 lbs a day. Formerly afraid of humans, she now runs up to see her favorite people and rubs on the fence for attention. Naturally, Sheena has become the sanctuary's star attraction.

If you're in Missouri you can visit Sheena and her other sanctuary playmates. If you're not, consider "adopting" one of the sanctuary's many big cats.