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By Miriam Raftery
June 19, 2018 (Alpine) – Moka, a young rescued tiger, has arrived at the Lions, Tigers and Bears rescue facility in Alpine. The tiger was intercepted by Border Patrol agents when someone tired to smuggle him over the border and was temporarily cared for at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park before coming to the Alpine facility.
Lions, Tigers and Bears is now raising funds for a new enclosure to house Moka and a white tiger cub, Nola, rescued recently from New Orleans and taken in by the rescue facility. You can donate here: http://www.lionstigersandbears.org/
Bobbi Brinks, founder of Lions, Tigers and Bears, provides details, along with this video of Moka’s first day, meeting keepers and catching a glimpse of Nola:
It is a standard health practice for all new animals at LTB to be housed separately for a period of time before moving to one of the larger habitats. Moka is taking this time to settle in and get used to his new surroundings.
He will be living the rest of his life here with our white tiger cub Nola, who was also rescued from the illegal animal trade. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the decision to permanently transfer him to a sanctuary, since he is likely a hybrid of several tiger species, and therefore not a good candidate for the zoo's breeding program. Moka's story illustrates the importance of sanctuaries such as LTB, which are often an animal's last hope for safe refuge.
This news comes as we launch our "No Place Like Home" campaign, and start to raise the needed funds to build the next habitat at LTB. This new multi-acre, open-air habitat will be complete with big cat creature comforts such as rocks, trees, large watering holes, natural rolling terrain, and wide-open space for Moka and Nola to romp around and relax in.
We are grateful that Moka was one of the lucky ones to find his way to safety at a sanctuary. So many captive-bred animals are not this lucky, and that's why we work tirelessly to end the exotic animal trade and stop the unnecessary breeding, selling, suffering, and dumping of animals that come along with it.
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