Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge

By Alia Pappas

Published: August 28, 2014

Padma, a female Bengal tiger, lives with male Bengal tiger, Skanda, at Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge. Both cats are originally from Florida. After their sanctuary was devastated by a hurricane and was forced to shut down, Padma and Skanda were moved to Tiger Creek. When the two tigers arrived in 2008, they were obese and were put on strict diets to bring them down to healthy weights. Now, they enjoy playing in the pool provided for them, as well as running about in their yards

 Pepe, an African lion, was rescued from Mexico. As a cub, his former owners took him to the beach to pose for tourist photo opportunities. Pepe was then given to a lady who could not properly feed him or the other lion cubs she owned. In March of 2002, Pepe was rescued and brought to Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge. Pepe can be aggressive during feedings, but otherwise spends his time placidly lounging in his yard.

Tara is a Bengal Tiger from San Antonio, Texas. Her owners were breeders who owned several tigers, but were forced to give them up when they moved. When Tara arrived at Tiger Creek in 2003, she had a metabolic bone disease that made her bones brittle. Although she was given calcium to correct the disease, she has never reached her full size. This petite little tiger can be skittish and is very quiet.

Hidden amongst a dense pine forest, exotic big cats pad across red clay. Regal Siberian tigers and lithe leopards dazzle the eyes with their slinking silhouettes and glossy coats. The Pineywoods might seem like an odd locale to find these creatures, but the cats residing at Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge have happily called Tyler, Texas, their home since 1997. Tigers, lions, bobcats, and many other feline species have been rescued from grievous situations by Tiger Creek employees, and the cats are on display at the sanctuary to educate all animal lovers.

“The way Tiger Creek got started was that I was raising exotic waterfowl and I would take them at the end of the year to surplus to the exotic auctions,” Tiger Creek executive director and cofounder Brian Werner said. “I saw these tigers going across the auction block and people would pass them over. I would inquire about the animal and I realized that these people were just trying to get rid of them. There was a big influx of, ‘Where do we put these cats?’”

Brian began helping displaced, abused, and neglected tigers by creating Tiger Missing Link Foundation. Originally, Brian documented captive tigers so they could be placed into managed breeding programs to increase their populations before releasing them into the wild. Brian and his ex-wife, Terri Werner, who is the director of operations at Tiger Creek and jointly manages the conservatorship with Brian, became more involved with tiger protection as time progressed.
“I had no idea we would be doing this,” Brian said. “We started out getting calls from people that wanted us to take the tigers in. So, then we started taking in tigers and Terri joined me. Then I started building Tiger Creek itself with Terri. We started out as just a small compound and now we’ve expanded.”

Tiger Creek used to contain only a few pens and a cabin in which Brian and Terri lived. However, Tiger Creek presently consists of small cat enclosures, large cat yards with stone houses, animal care facilities, and a Visitors Center that contains a gift shop. Here, visitors may view rare cats enjoying comfortable, healthy lives.

“We rescue from the pet industry,” Chelsea Harris, who has been a Tiger Creek keeper since 2007, said. “We rescue from other sanctuaries that shut down because they just don’t have funding, and we also rescue from the entertainment industry. These animals are all animals that wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild. Like our cougar, Tin Cup, he’s actually wild-born. His family found him in their backyard when their pet dog ran out into the woods and brought him back as a small kitten. Tin Cup imprinted on people pretty quickly once those folks took him in. They raised him for about a month, but they couldn’t keep him longer, so they brought him out to us.”

Most of the cats living at Tiger Creek have lived in captivity and would not know how to care for themselves in their natural habitats, have been sickened by malnutrition or unkempt pens due to neglectful owners, or have been given to the refuge because they could not be cared for properly at their previous homes. According to Brian, Tiger Creek is like a Club Med for tigers. It is a retirement home where the cats do not perform or have to struggle for resources.

“Every cat that comes in stays the rest of its life unless we are intentionally bringing it in to pass it down the road,” Brian said. “Any cats that we permanently take on, they stay. This becomes their home.”

To keep the cats entertained and exercised in their homes, keepers practice target training. Target training teaches the cats to perform acts such as raising their paws, opening their mouths, or standing on their hind legs for pieces of meat, which provides amusement for the felines and helps keepers when they need to do medical procedures on the animals. Sometimes, visitors may get the unexpected treat of watching a target training session in progress while on their guided tour.

“It’s for enrichment,” Chelsea said. “We teach them different commands and cues, and they get treats. They’re not always willing to do it, but we still try to work with them every day just so they stay consistent.”

The felines at Tiger Creek are retired, so they do not perform in shows. Generally, the cats prefer sleeping 18 to 20 hours out of the day, mostly staying still for photographers and onlookers.
“They’re very lazy,” Chelsea said. “People come out here and they ask, ‘Can’t you make them do something like get up and run around?’ We say, ‘No. They’re cats. They’re going to do what they want.’ It never gets old working around these cats.”

Tiger Creek’s cats have their own enclosures with extras to spare and more under construction at the back of the property. Felines in the newest yards are not on exhibit but will be shortly. A momentarily off-exhibit cat to look for in the future is Sierra, a Bengal tiger who lived at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. Sierra came to Tiger Creek after Neverland Ranch’s tiger trainer was in a car accident, did not return to work due to his injuries, and was not replaced. As a result, Sierra had to be moved out of the ranch to live at Tiger Creek. “Probably the cat I get asked most about is Michael Jackson’s,” Chelsea said. “Unfortunately, she’s off exhibit right now. We just don’t have the public area open all the way to her enclosure, so people are sometimes disappointed that they don’t get to see her.”

Another visitor favorite is the tiger duo of Sargent and Tiger Lily. These Siberian tigers were featured on the Animal Planet documentary, “Growing Up Tiger,” that was filmed at Tiger Creek when they first came to live there as cubs. Sarge and Lily were born at Great Cats of Indiana, but had to come to Tiger Creek because Great Cats did not have enough space for them and their other two siblings to live together comfortably. Unlike Sierra, these two television stars are on display to the public.
“Visitors ask about Sarge and Lily because they were on Animal Planet and they’ve seen the show,” Chelsea said. “They’re 12 years old now, but it was filmed back when they were born until they were a year old here at Tiger Creek.”

While all tiger species are endangered, Tiger Creek is home to three especially rare tabby Bengal tigers. These notable felines are not a separate breed from Bengal tigers, but are cats that possess a color variation that only occurs in that particular species. Tabby tigers sport a distinctive coloration of a pale orange and white coat with red-orange stripes. It is estimated that only 100 of these cats exist in the world. “They’re my favorite cat because I just love that color variation,” Brian said. “That color variation is found in the Bengal tiger. We’re not sure why that occurs in just the Bengal tigers, but that’s where it’s located. We have some of them here represented that were donated to us from a facility out of Myrtle Beach.”

A guided tour with a knowledgeable keeper enables visitors to see and become informed on Sarge, Lily, tabby tigers, and any of the other 37 big cats at the refuge. All tours begin beneath the green metal roof of the Visitors Center. “When visitors show up, they’re going to get pretty royal treatment,” Brian said. “We give them a personalized guided tour. There’s no free-roaming access until after they’ve had a guided tour. I think, after visitors leave, they’ll have an appreciation and understanding of what we’re doing and why, where these cats come from, how they get here, and what we do with them once they’re here.”

Tiger Creek is open throughout the year, bringing in 20,000 guests. Chelsea advised that cooler months are ideal for visiting the refuge because the cats are more animated during those times.
“Any time other than the summer is the best time to come,” Chelsea said. “We still get a lot of visitors during the summer and people still have a great time, but the cats are pretty much sleeping the whole time. The best time is when it’s cool out during fall and the cool months of spring. Even when it’s wintertime, the cats are still really active because they have their nice, thick winter coat.”
As of late July, new cat yards were completed at Tiger Creek. To accommodate even more cats and visitors, plans are underway to further expand the refuge. Updates such as new yards, more land acquisitions to create extra habitat space, and a new Visitors Center are just a few renovations to be made.

 “We’re going to move the cabin in which Terri and I lived and make it part of the main attraction,” Brian said. “It’s kind of like a landmark. We’re going to put all of our old news articles up in there, where people can come in and walk around and see them, and they’ll see what we started out as.”
The entire park is being built with a theme inspired by Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada. Large yards that mimic the Garden’s will be put in place, and landscaping will be done on the entire property. Further renovations will follow these changes.

“Our goal is to build big enclosures, gets the cats moved, and then as we raise more money, come back and retrofit water facilities into them so that they’ll be able to swim, play, and cool off,” Brian said. “Eventually, we’ll have all paved walkways for the public. We’ll open the whole place up once we finish the right side out. We keep working and building, adding on and growing this.” Tiger Creek takes donations from the public, which speeds the renovations that are constantly taking place at the refuge. Brian has devised several ways the public can support the refuge, such as giving money or sponsoring a cat.

“A real big deal is that when people are doing their estate planning, a lot of people leave us in their wills,” Brian said. “We’re also working on a project right now that I haven’t launched. We could offer an insurance policy that they would have, and they could assign the cash benefit to the charity and it would still build cash value, too. It will eventually pay for itself, so they’re not out of pocket money. We’re looking at all kinds of alternatives for people.”

Ultimately, Brian feels that there is a single, best way to help Tiger Creek continue its mission. “One of the biggest factors is coming out and seeing it,” Brian said.

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