[FEL-L] PA - Tigers and cougars and gators, oh my

[BigCatSimba at aol.com]

Tigers and cougars and gators, oh my, and they'd all prefer to dine on dead 
deer 

By Kietryn Zychal 
November 13, 2007 
Pocono Record Writer 

Once upon a time, in a place called Pocono Lake, there lived a Siberian tiger 
named Reba. She and her siblings were born in a zoo, but their mother had no 
milk to feed them. The zookeepers thought the tiny tiger cubs were going to 
die. So, they called a veterinarian in Pocono Lake, Dr. Thomas Miller, and his 
wife Margie, and asked them if they would take care of the baby tigers. The 
Millers agreed. 

Soon, Reba's siblings were well enough to be transferred to a zoo. But, it 
seemed as though Reba was born blind, so the Millers continued to care for the 
frail blind tiger. 

Reba grew stronger day by day and soon the Millers realized that she had 
gained her sight. Reba continued to grow and grow and grow until she was the size 
of a living room sofa and weighed as much as a baby grand piano (500 pounds). 
Siberian tigers are an endangered species and are the largest tigers in the 
world. 

Tigers are carnivores, which means that Reba needed to eat a lot of meat. And 
so did the cougars and alligators who lived at the Miller's animal sanctuary. 
Then one day, a man in a red truck marked "Monroe County Deer Disposal" 
showed up with a dead deer in his pickup. 

"Do you think your tigers would eat this?" asked the man in the red truck. 

"Hell, yes," they said. 

So, the man in the red truck continued to pick up dead deer off the highways 
of Monroe County and bring them to the Miller's house, and all was well in the 
world. 

Then one day, the Millers decided to move their menagerie to a bigger 
facility in a place called Lackawanna County. There, they would have bigger cages and 
children could come to see the tigers and cougars and alligators and monkeys 
every day. They called their new home the Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary. 

But the man in the red truck was not allowed to bring dead deer to feed Reba 
and her friends because he was forbidden to cross an imaginary line called the 
county border. Now, he had to throw the dead deer in a landfill and spend the 
taxpayers' money to do it. 

Besides, the good people of Lackawanna County didn't want the tigers and 
cougars to eat dead deer anyway (which is called carcass feeding and is a growing 
trend in the best zoos.) 

"What would our children think if they saw a tiger eat a dead deer?" 

"They would probably think that these are wild animals and that's what they 
do." 

"Well, it's OK if they think that, but we don't want them to see it," said 
the good people of Lackawanna County. 

Reba and the cougars and the lynx and the alligators at the animal sanctuary 
eat about 200 pounds of meat per week. Some of it is paid for by the good 
people of Lackawanna County. Some of it comes from hunters who donate butchered 
deer to the animal sanctuary. Some of it comes from donations. But, the rest of 
it is purchased by Margie Miller with her own money. 

"It would be a wonderful thing if someone would let us use their property to 
butcher roadkill deer," said Jess Smallwood, floor manager at Genesis Wildlife 
Sanctuary. "I know how to cut up a deer myself, and it would save us a lot of 
money if we could use the meat," she said. 

"It would be a good thing if someone with exotic animals living in Monroe 
County would take some of our dead deer," said Jacqui Hakim, director of the deer 
disposal program. "That way we wouldn't have to pay to throw them in the 
landfill," she said. "What a waste." 

According to Jerry Feaser of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, it is legal to 
remove a dead deer from the highway. But, first the person who wants the deer 
must call 675-1143 to get a permit number over the phone. "We just want to 
know that you're taking it," Feaser said. "It's perfectly legal, as long as you 
ask first." 

Game Commission dispatchers are on the phone at this time of year from 6 a.m. 
to 1 a.m. 

If you have exotic animals in Monroe County and want to receive roadkill, 
call Jacqui Hakim, Monroe County Deer Disposal, at (570) 420-3525. 

If you would like to donate butchered deer (or space at a facility for 
preparing the meat), contact Margie Miller of the Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary at 
(570) 348-4137. 

_http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071113/NEWS/71113031
7_ 
(http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071113/NEWS/711130317) 



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