Many of us have memories of going to the circus when we were children. It was always exciting when it would come to town, with the big tent going up and all of the activities taking place inside of it. They gave us the opportunity to see animals that we wouldn’t likely be able to see otherwise, but not every circus is taking care of those animals properly. In recent years, we have learned a lot about circuses that treated animals cruelly and sometimes, it was necessary for the animal to be rescued.
That was the case with Aasha, a seven-month-old Bengal tiger that weighed only 37 pounds. A healthy cub should weigh much more, but she was sickly and was missing a lot of fur from her coat because of being neglected and abused. We don’t know much about her early life, although we do know that she belonged to a traveling circus and was likely kept with a larger tiger that was not happy to have her around.
Vicky Keahey is the woman responsible for her rescue. She founded a Texas animal rescue, In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Educational Center. When she first learned about Aasha in March 2011, it was through a US Department of Agriculture inspector. She had a hard time imagining the nine-month-old tiger that was so small and fragile.
It was a well-known fact among USDA inspectors that Aasha was sickly but aside from the neglect and abuse, they weren’t able to diagnose any other conditions. Fortunately, Keahey could determine immediately after seeing her that she was suffering from ringworm.
After the diagnosis, they moved Aasha to a private enclosure so that treatment could begin.
“Aasha’s bald spots covered almost her entire body, and her skin was dry [with] cracked, darkened areas and bleeding,” Keahey said.
It also became apparent that the little tiger would need some specialized care. Her new caretaker was willing to put in the hours necessary to give her an opportunity to live a happy and healthy life.
“Every day, twice a day, I would go in and give Aasha medications and spend time with her. I knew I was going to have to handle her in order to get her well.”
It takes a lot of commitment to get into an enclosure with a sick tiger. In addition, Aasha did not like her medicated baths, which needed to be taken every day. She would continue to run from Keahey but the treatment started working because of her persistence.
“After eight weeks of treatments you could see little bits of fuzz growing back to [what once] bald spots,” Keahey said.
After the Tiger regained some health, she started the love being in the water and would splash around joyfully. Keahey said that they eventually added her own tub to the enclosure so she could splash around any time she felt like it.
Aasha was growing so fast that Keahey would not fit with her in the enclosure any longer. They still enjoyed playing, so she would spray the tiger with a hose.
It took eight months of special treatment and human interaction but finally, Aasha was ready to meet other tigers.
Keahey worked along with her colleagues to move Aasha to a new cage next to a male tiger, named Smuggler. He was so named because they obtained him while his owners were attempting to smuggle him from Mexico. Before long, a beautiful friendship was born.
“He went crazy for her and was always showing off for her,” Keahey said.
Smuggler was three times larger than Aasha but it didn’t seem to matter to either of them.
Before long, some unsupervised play dates were arranged. Aasha could enjoy splashing in her tub with her new friend.
As time went by, they continued to grow closer and finally moved into the same enclosure as mates.
Four years after they met, in 2016, their relationship was still going strong. Aasha is smaller than many other tigers and much smaller than her mate but she is healthy and happy.
In-Sync Exotics did a wonderful job rescuing this tiger cub and helping her to grow into something beautiful.
You can see how far she has come in only four years.
Watch more in this video:
Source: Relieved
