by Joe Conger / KENS 5
kens5.com
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 4:04 PM
Updated yesterday at 7:13 PM
SAN ANTONIO --16-year old Bali is napping—she’s got a 1,300 mile journey ahead, to a sanctuary in North Carolina. Sedated, she’s joined by two other elderly tigers, part of an exodus from the Wild Animal Orphanage.
“It is really, really hard for me to see them go,” said Michelle Reininger, a care technician for the animals for more than 15 years.
The remaining two dozen big cats could all be placed by Christmas, spread about the rest of the country.
Reininger said the goodbyes are hard.
“It’s a very sad day in a way, but it’s also bittersweet because I know they’re going to really good facilities and they’re going to get food, top veterinary care, and lots of love and attention,” she said.
The sanctuary was supposed to be a retirement for these exotics, who have outlived their lab experiments and carnival acts. Now, the facility is searching for shelters for the animals, getting help from groups across the country.
The tigers are being packed into a large, air-conditioned semi-trailer by volunteers with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). The tigers will travel in cages that are aligned “girl-boy-girl.” It will keep them happy on their day-long journey.
The group has been making trips for four months now, gathering up animals and placing them in other sanctuaries across the nation.
“As the word got out, the other sanctuaries stood up and said yeah, we’ll help you out here. Now, we’ve got a lot to go yet, but we’re making great progress,” said Dick Green with the IFAW.
The animal orphanage has seen its inhabitants shrink from more than 300 to about 180.
Primates like macaques and chimps are still around. Caretakers say they’re the hardest to place, especially the H-I-V monkeys.
The bears are gone. The guanacos are not.
The facility won’t be closing, until its last guest checks out.
Reininger added, “Some of them do have homes, some of them we’re still looking.”
If you'd like to help the Wild Animal Orphanage, contact them at http://www.wildanimalorphanage.org/
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Now before you start feeling for Michelle Reininger and her sister, M,ary, keep in mind these two ladies kept their mouths shut as to what was happening to the WAO for YEARS. Back in 2006, they said they would stand by me at the Emergency Board Meeting. They left me to hang out to dry that day as I was screamed at by Ron Asvestas, Carol Asvestas and the other board members.
If they had not submitted false statements to the government and had cooperated with investigators back in 2006 and 2007, this day could have been avoided.
As it stands, I am happy the animals are moving on to good homes -- at least they are getting away from animal caretakers that put their own interests ahead of the very animals they were supposed to protect.
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