I had the privilege of working with the tigers in Colton, California yesterday, at the "tiger rescue" facility left by John Weinhart while he awaits his trial. (more info here: )

As you may know, Weinhart has been forbidden to have contact with any animals, however he still legally owns all of the animals that remain on his "Tiger Rescue" property. That place may have been many things - but a rescue it was not.

There are actually two locations where Weinhart kept the cats - his home in Glen Avon, where the baby tigers and leopards (and dozens of dead tiger carcasses) were found, and also the "rescue" in Colton (Riverside/San Bernadino).

The District Attorney that is prosecuting this case was smart in seeking a ruling disallowing Weinhart to care for the animals while he waits for his trial, since the fact that he was allowed to continue caring for them could be used against the prosecution during the actual trial. (For example, "If he was taking such poor care of the animals, why was he allowed to continue to care for them during the last few months?".) Although the move was wise on the DA's part, especially for the long-term prosecution that will see that Weinhart is put away for a long time, it's also left animals with no one to feed them.

The Fund for Animals has taken on the responsibility of coordinating a task-force of volunteers to care for the animals every day until a custodial hearing can happen, at which point it will be decided who ultimately ends up with them. The Fund for Animals has already taken the baby tigers and leopards found at Weinhart's house and they are giving them tons of care and love - click here for photos of the babies on the Fund for Animals website. What follows is my own experience while volunteering at the facility.

It was a long drive to Colton from San Diego - about an hour and 45 minutes each way. The facility itself was a mess, the cages falling apart and way too small for the cats. A few of the enclosures were so shoddy, the cats (specifically one lion) could stick their whole head out - and I'm about certain that the leopards could have escaped any time they pleased - it just hasn't occurred to them to do so yet. In exploring the place, it seems that the real estate had formerly been some kind of sewerage or water treatment facility. In the back, behind the small barn where the dogs were penned, there was the skin and skull of an animal - I'm not sure what animal it belonged to - it looked like it could have been a steer or buffalo. Next to the skin and skull were several packages of non iodized salt, often used in tanning or curing an animal hide.

The place had been effectively a petting zoo with a big-cat walk-through exhibit. The Fund for Animals (with the help of volunteers like myself) is caring for the farm animals as well as the cats. There were dozens of pigs, goats and emus, a few llamas, as well as a cow, a fallow deer, a camel, and 5 dogs. The goat enclosure had a shelter that looked like a small plastic shed with the doors removed - it took me about a half an hour to crack through the layer of feces that had been caked up on the floor of it.

We started the day off cleaning up the pens for the domestic/farm animals, and then moved on to the big cat pens. Part of our job was to clean and refill the big tubs of water for the tigers to soak in (since tigers love water) - and every time I would try to fill the tubs, a tiger would jump in. These tigers at times were less than a foot or two away, with only thin wire fencing between us. As I would spray the water into the tub, they would chase after the stream of water, biting it and trying to catch it with their paws like a kitten with a ball of yarn. Of course, that's about where the illusion stopped, since as they were biting and swatting at the water, I got a bird's eye view of their huge teeth and claws! Still -- to be able to *play* with a tiger! As I continue to work with these cats, I see their own personalities emerging. There is a lion we call Dr Jekyll, because he's nice as pie one moment, and a growling snarling beast the next. One of the Siberian tigers has been nicknamed "PMS Girl" because she is perpetually bitchy and crabby.

All in all, there were the domestic/farm animals, about 17 Siberian tigers (I lost count), 3 Sumatran tigers, 2 lions, 8 leopards (both black and spotted), and one cougar. Many of them have wounds - most of the wounds were caused by rival cats or by the enclosures themselves. Chuck from the Fund for Animals has busted his hump (no camel pun intended) trying to get the place to a state that is marginally safer for the animals, but its an uphill battle for sure. Many of the problems are structural, and the only thing that could fix them would be a complete tear-down and rebuild, which we do not have the time, resources, or legal ability to do. The wounds are not life threatening, but we simply don't have the ability to treat most of them - and even if we did, these cats won't get better until they are moved into a healthier environment. There is one tiger with a serious hip injury, which will be sedated and treated by a veterinary mobile unit.

Feeding time was fairly terrifying. Most tiger accommodations would have a feeding pit or some kind of provisions to get the food to the tigers without endangering the caretakers, but this place is so shabby, I still don't know how Weinhart actually fed these cats (though from what I hear of the conditions when this project started, it doesn't seem that he did very often.) Chuck and another volunteer brought back a truckload of chicken thighs for us to feed the cats. The process was frightening. We would basically grab a chicken leg by the muscular thigh part in a pair of BBQ tongs and quickly cram it through the bars of the cage. That doesn't sound so bad at first - until you realize that tigers are almost my height on *four* legs, and they tend to get up on *two* legs and lean against the fencing (their long claws wrapping around the fence wires) when they see that its dinner time. Feeding time brings out a lot of food aggression in the cats, and there is a cacophony of roaring and snarling until everyone is fed. Fights break out left and right as each cat tries to get the lions share (pun intended that time.) The work is dangerous. Most of the tiger enclosures are made of fencing where the spaces in between the wires is wide enough for them to put their paws through, so extreme caution must be used at all times.

It was back-breaking and exhaustive work, but at the end of the day, I couldn't have felt better. (I could sure have *smelled* better, though! Nothing like coming home smelling like tiger and emu poop!) Feeding time was by far the scariest, but I think some degree of fear is a good thing, as it will keep you cautious. The moment you get complacent around these cats is the moment that someone gets hurt.

All of the volunteers (4 including me, and not including Chuck) were wonderful. We were all deeply moved by the cats' presence, and deeply angered and frustrated at what Weinhart had done to them. Chuck is visibly exhausted and frustrated, and understandably so. This situation was supposed to be short-term, and at this point there is no real end in sight. There is no end to the amount of respect I have for Chuck and the Fund for Animals after yesterday.

I forgot the disk for my digital camera, but will bring it next time I am up there. I'm scheduled to be there from June 17 - June 30, so I should have plenty of time to take photos.

As for me, it felt so good to actually be able to *see* the positive work I was doing, as opposed to the more abstract work I do for animals every day.

- Alison Gianotto
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