[FEL-L] Exploreum sponsors June visit by big cats from Florida preserve 4-21-08

[BigCatSimba at aol.com]

Exploreum sponsors June visit by big cats from Florida  preserve

 


Monday, April 21, 2008  
 
By DAN MURTAUGH

Staff Reporter 
Seven Bengal tigers will call downtown Mobile home for nine days this summer  
as part of a Gulf Coast Exploreum exhibit.  
Abra, Nina, Madras, Tamara, Lazarus, Kanpur and Bhutan will be in Mobile from 
 June 7 through June 15 from the Marcan Tiger Preserve in Ponce De Leon, Fla. 
 
Handlers will lead the tigers through three educational demonstrations a day  
in a facility that will be set up on the open field at the corner of 
Government  and Royal streets.  
"It's going to be a good thing for downtown," said Brett Berg, marketing and  
public relations director for the Exploreum. "Not too many people can walk 
out  of their office and see live tigers."  
Berg said the tigers fit into a conservation theme that the Exploreum is  
pushing this summer. The museum will be opening a frog exhibit June 13, he said.  
The Exploreum will pay $16,000 for the nine-day tiger exhibit, Berg said.  
Museum officials have not set details on how much the exhibit will cost to  
visitors or what times the demonstrations will take place, he said.  
Mike Inks, a handler at the preserve, said the demonstrations are nothing  
like a circus act.  
"They're not going to jump through fire hoops," he said. "We play with the  
animals, we hang out, we talk about why they're endangered and what we can do  
about it."  
Dr. Josip Marcan started a breeding program in the 1980s and founded the  
80-acre preserve about 10 years ago, Inks said.  
The preserve's mission is twofold: to breed healthy tigers so the species can 
 eventually be reintroduced into the environment; and to raise awareness of 
the  problems the species is facing.  
"Nothing is stronger than seeing the animals in person," Inks said. "We've  
been all around the country, and it always creates an impact on people. They're 
 blown away."  
The tigers at the preserve are born and raised in captivity and are  
comfortable and trusting around their handlers, Inks said.  
"They're like house cats," he said. "If they're interested, they'll show  
interest. Otherwise they ignore you completely."  
The Exploreum just barely beat the clock in being able to use the land across 
 the street.  
Starting in July, Mobile County officials expect to use the open field to  
stage construction equipment for a renovation project on the adjacent Probate  
Court building, county spokesman Peter Albrecht said.  
_http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1208807236241180.x
ml&coll=3_ 
(http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1208807236241180.xml&coll=3) 





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