Carolina Tiger Rescue

We went to the Carolina Tiger Rescue several days ago.  A conversation about lions had been sparked prior to it.  If I were asked which animal do I admire the most, a favorite, it is lions.  I love lions.  I have no choice.  I have lion eye in me.  It started in Washington D.C.  I had gone on a trip to visit a close friend of mine.  I spent several days with him and his girlfriend, and then I spent several days on my own touring the capitol.  The three of us had gone to the zoo, where among other animals we saw a lion.  It was enormous and the definition of awesome.  It lived in a huge sunken pit with a concrete moat as its border.  In the center was a tree and grass and large rocks and what looked like a cave.  There was a ball the size of a human being in the moat that the lion played with as he paced the edge of the moat and balanced on it like a tight rope walker.  He would belt out huge bellowing roars that you felt in your stomach that could be heard anywhere in the zoo.  It was deep thunderous sounding and it commanded the realization that you were witnessing a creature who would dominate in its natural setting.  It was seeing this lion that made me realize I had never seen a lion before, ever.  I knew because I would have remembered it.  Never had I ever been so hypnotized by another creature like I had by the lion.  It was remarkably unforgettable  I joke that the lion looked right at me, that its lion eye went into my soul.  I think what really happened was that I was deeply moved by this animal, although I will never fully admit I don’t have the lion eye in me.  The lion had an everlasting affect on me, and since that day I’ve made an effort to see one any chance that I get.  I saw one for the third time in my life recently at the Carolina Tiger Rescue.  The ‘Rescue’ is a place that gives animals (cats) that have been bred, or captured in the wild and forced to live in a domestic setting, a home.  Typically those captive environments that the animals are rescued from involve carnivals, private zoos, and shows like the ones in Las Vegas.  Sometimes it is by private owners who think having a large animal would be cool, only to have it grow to 900 lbs. and scare the crap out of them.  Some of the organisations that rescue these animals go bankrupt, and if the Rescue can provide a home for them they will.  The Rescue  only takes in as many animals as they can financially support for the remainder of that animals lifetime.  They do turn some away.  That is so they don’t end up having the same problem with bankruptcy as other organisations have had.  For fifteen dollars Joe and I went for a visit.  Joe is my friend that I’ve known for years.  I’m staying with him during my visit to North Carolina.  He’s practically my brother from another mother.  Visiting the tigers was fascinating.  The real reason I went though was for the lions.  They have three.  Three large playful things who were sunbathing on their backs with their paws in the air.  Not a care in the world and spectacularly awesome.  There were two males and one female, but they all looked the same.  I asked the guide why the male lions didn’t have manes.  She told me that a lions mane is directly related to its testosterone, and that since these males were neutered they didn’t have manes.  Later I found out the same is true with men and their beards.  Bam, you just learned something today.  The Carolina Tiger Rescue is one of two not-for-profit organisations of its kind on the east coast (“that they know about” the guide is quick to add).  The other rescue is ironically, in Tampa, Florida; two hours from where I will soon be staying over the next few months.  I visited their website just two days ago and saw a picture of a male lion with a mane.  The organisation is called Big Cat Rescue and a few months from now I will be able to say that I’ve seen lions yet again!   Oh, and if you would like to see a highly regarded documentary on lions, give The Last Lions a view.  It is by National Geographic and it is phenomenal.  It visits the life of lions in Africa, their vanishing numbers over the last 50 years (scary), and the surprising psychology behind how lions behave.