Tiger Time

Go inside Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado, where you will meet a tiger named Kamal, one of 500 animals who has been rescued and now lives in safety. Includes full-color photos, graphics, and maps.

Meet Kamal! He’s a tiger, and a resident of Wild Animal Sanctuary (WAS) in Colorado, along with 500 other big animals. Most of these animals have never lived in the wild. They’ve come from roadside zoos, entertainment facilities, and even people’s homes! But even though a tiger can be super adorable as a baby, big (and little) tigers should never be pets. That’s where WAS steps in. Since 1980, WAS has rescued and cared for lions, tigers, bears, leopards, jaguars, mountain lions, and some smaller carnivores such as wolves, bobcats, lynxes, foxes, and coyotes. There are also alpacas and horses, a few emus, several ostriches, one porcupine, one raccoon, and one camel! While it may sound amazing to be surrounded by all these incredible animals of all shapes and sizes, the animals have often come from terrible situations, and lack instincts that would keep them alive if they were able to live where they belong. They have been malnourished, declawed, not properly vetted. They don’t know how to hunt, have never been able to mate (or have mated too much), and, most of all, have no trust in humans. The staff at WAS changes all of that, slowly but surely, getting animals like Kamal the tiger healthy, trusting, and safe again—and as close to wild as they can be. Tigers are very smart, loyal, and independent; Kamal was living in a dog crate with a man in a trailer, posing for pictures. It was no way for a tiger to live. Now Kamal has a habitat with tall prairie grass and a pond the size of a football field. It may not be the wild, but WAS is as close to perfect as it gets.