The other day, Elijah and I went out to the National Tiger Sanctuary for our free tour. :) It’s a long story as to why we were having a free tour, but suffice to say I loved it so much I plan to go back soon and pay for another. This time we’ll take Steve and maybe some others.

First view of the tigers Our first glimpse of the tigers was through the fence which we parked by. A big, wooden thing, it’s just a perimeter fence and not a boundary that the tigers can come up to. The three orange boys (Vincent, Paul, and Max) were sunning themselves on the deck. They have the freedom to come up there, go to their stalls, or play around in their yard. The middle yard belongs to TJ, the white male, and the left yard belongs to Dee, the lone female.

From there we were able to go inside, then out on the deck to see the boys. They were sunning themselves and enjoyed our attention. Elijah took some photos with his camera of Paul and I took a few of Max and Vincent. I am sad that all the bars are in the shots, but I know it’s for my own safety. :P

Max & Vincent Max & Vincent Max


After that, we went down under the deck to see if we could find TJ and Dee. Once we were down there and the orange boys heard us talking and making noise, they came running down for some more attention. Bunch of hams, those tigers are. Dee was a little unsocial, but I think she was busy enjoying her yard. The four boys were just soaking it all up but I think they started to get stressed a bit because of Elijah. Elijah found the gate and kept trying to go through the first row (that would put him up against the cage wall) so I was getting a bit stressed at him, too.

TJ Paul and Max TJ Vincent Dee

It’s not that he didn’t enjoy the tigers, but he is the type of kid that… well, for him it was more of a, okay, I saw them, I took my pictures, I want to go play with the toys in the gift shop. That and the house cats that were around, he kept petting and loving on them. I guess when you’re four, it’s more fun to actually touch an animal that you can see every day rather than just look at one that might eat you. But he did have fun and made out with three souvenir toys. ;-)

(My friend also took some really good photos with my camera.) We went back up on the deck to see Dee and TJ from the top as they’d both headed out into their areas. I took a few photos from above:

Dee TJ Dee TJ

I really enjoyed going out to the sanctuary and I can’t wait to go again. Even with the bars, it’s so neat to be so close to the tigers and to hear them, too. Purring, chuffing… Even playing together and kinda fighting. Jumping on the bars when my friend turned her back and attention away from one of them. (Proves that by instinct they are wild even if they have been in captivity all their lives and that nothing can change the wild animal in them.) I mean, the tigers you see in the zoo… they always look like they’re… well… dead. :P

The National Tiger Sanctuary is located outside of Bloomsdale, Missouri. Take Highway Y West from I-55 and it’s a few miles or so, two or three, I think, on the right. There’s a yellow sign. Hours are 10am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday or during the week with reservations.

:)