A Surprise for Sarah

My cousin is here this week to see Susannah in

Bye Bye Birdie! 

Sarah is an outdoorsy type of girl and

an animal lover extraordinaire. 

We went to Fossil Rim on one of her previous trips.

What do we do this time?

Totally unlike blabby me,

I kept our destination a complete surprise as we traveled to...

 Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge near Tyler!

There are many beautiful tigers,
pumas, bobcats, and lions

who come to Tiger Creek to retire.

They are from circuses, zoos, other sanctuaries
which do not succeed,
and owners who can no longer handle them.
Some have been injured in accidents or traps.

Michael Jackson's tiger, Thriller, came here after
her trainer was killed in an automobile accident.
She is now called Sierra and is not on display
at the present time.

These animals seem very well cared for and content.
Everything here is about them.

They lie on beds of concrete because that surface
is cooler in our hot summers.

There is no physical touching of these
 animals by the trainers and employees.
("But they look so lovable!!")
They are too dangerous.
Here is a very thick plastic barrel after a
 short time as a play toy for one of the tigers.

Our guide told us the tigers pick these up and
carry them around as though they were light.


Here I am with our excellent guide, Parth.

He is an intern from New Jersey and attended the
 same high school there as Sarah's husband!
(Several years apart!)
We could tell how much he loves his job and
the animals.

Here's Safari Sarah!!

 It was Grrrreat!!!

And the ant bed in which Sarah was standing:

But that was our only mishap of the day!
Pretty good, we thought!