Wakin could easily rip your face off. But given the chance, he probably wouldn't. He likes people.
Wakin (pronounced like Joaquin) is a 600-pound white Bengal tiger with 6-inch-long teeth. He lives at the Central Florida Animal Reserve sanctuary in Brevard County.
But he and his feline friends will soon be moving to Osceola County. If all goes to plan, Wakin, along with 32 more tigers, five lions, four cougars, three leopards and a handful of smaller mammals will have a new, larger home by next March. Construction on the cats' new enclosures already is under way at the site, which is adjacent to the Florida Forever eco-park south of Holopaw.
Kevin "Simba" Wiltz, 35, is the sanctuary's CEO. He and his colleagues have long wanted to move from their 2-acre spot near Cocoa to more spacious accommodations. And at 10 acres, the Osceola site fits the bill.
The need became more urgent when the Brevard County Commission ruled that the sanctuary no longer complied with zoning for the area, which has gone from agricultural to residential in recent years. "In order for us to provide what we want to provide for these guys, we need to expand," said Wiltz, whose day job is as a doctor of pharmacy in Lake Mary. "We can't take in any more animals, and we can't bring in the public."
With the added space, Wiltz foresees bringing in school groups and others on a regular basis. "The big idea will certainly be to provide the opportunity for close observation," he said. The sanctuary's mission is simple: Care for these animals, all of which have been rescued from bad situations.
Some were confiscated by state Fish and Wildlife officers. And others came to Florida via the Port of Miami, one of the main entry points into the country for smuggled wildlife, Wiltz said. Rajah the tiger was abandoned by an owner in South Florida who could no longer afford his home. Neighbors called Fish and Wildlife to let them know a tiger was on the loose on the property. Fish and Wildlife turned Rajah over to the sanctuary, where he charms the ladies but has no use for male keepers, perhaps still smarting over his treatment by his previous owner. Cheyenne the cougar was so underfed by her owner as a cub that she developed glaucoma from malnutrition. At 17 years old, her eyes remain cloudy, but she's "the feistiest thing here," says senior handler Phyllis Parks. "She likes her toys and she likes her food."
It's a no-breeding facility and many of the animals have been neutered. It's also an aging population, with many of the medical issues, such as arthritis and cancer, that an aging human population would face. Many of the animals now have steps to help them climb on top of their pens, an accommodation they didn't need in their younger years. They are grouped by species, living in enclosures singly or in groups of two or three. (Although one tiger does live with two lioness friends.)Some of their behaviors are familiar to anyone with house cats. A tiger hisses when a visitor gets too close, and a cougar purrs when her handler scratches her face through the chain-link fence. And cats of all sizes, it seems, love toys. Chewing on bowling balls is a popular hobby. One cougar likes to look at herself in a mirror. A lioness has a toy log.
But these animals are certainly not pets. They live in heavy duty padlocked enclosures, and the chain link fencing extends three feet underground so that they can't dig their way out. And any doubt about how deadly they can be disappears at feeding time. Faced with a tray of ribs and chicken quarters, Wakin, whose full name is Chuska Wakin Yan, calmly goes to work, effortlessly crunching through meat and bone. Mere minutes later, the tray is licked clean.
The cats' diet is simple: "meat, meat and more meat," as Wiltz puts it. They're fed five days a week, with two days off to help their digestive systems. They get two percent of body weight per day, meaning a 500 pound tiger will eat a 10 pound serving of raw chicken, beef, pork and sometimes horse meat. Area stores sometimes donate meat that's nearing its expiration date, but even with that help, the preserve spends about $12,000 a month to keep the animals fed.
The sanctuary is a nonprofit, and all staff members are volunteers. And the volunteer work is arduous. Just feeding the cats can take six hours for a crew of four. Different species have different behaviors and tendencies — for example, Parks says, leopards and lions hate water, but tigers love it.
During storms, the lions and leopards head for shelter, but for the tigers "it's playtime. They're out playing, wondering why we're not playing too."
As the animal reserve sanctuary's move draws closer, Wiltz is busy rounding up the money to make it happen. He estimates the cost at just under $1 million, and $500,000 still must be raised. To donate, go to cflar.org. Wiltz said sanctuaries like CFAR serve as a "social safety net" for the cats, which are increasingly threatened around the world. "Either we'll figure this conservation thing out and restore the lands these animals need, and we'll assist in repopulating the species," he said, "or we'll provide a repository for people to see these creatures before they go extinct."
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