And then there were the Manatees and the Tigers...

     In 2003, my nuclear family was living in Orange City, Florida; I was homeschooling. We lived within walking distance of Blue Springs State Park, winter home of the manatees. By January, the manatees would gather in the warm outflow of the spring because it has a year-round temperature of 73°F (22.7° C), and runs into the St. John’s River, which of course, runs into the Atlantic Ocean. The manatee would come inland with their young calves, in pods or pairs, singular or grouped to enjoy the warm and clear water. Each January, local residents hold a Manatee Festival, drawing people from all over the world to see the marvelous creatures and share in the celebration of them and the park that protects them. That is where we met the tigers for the first time.

People quite often swam in the warm waters even in January, although touching or harassing manatees was not allowed by park officials. Still, a walking path along the water was a great way to get up-close views of the manatee. At the very opening of the spring, no manatee would go because the water was not oxygenated enough for them to breath. The churning and the moving of the water made it breathable a bit further away.

In that area, we sometimes saw divers come to explore the spring’s well. It was very deep and was considered one of the more challenging springs to deep-dive.

We did not dive, but we did float over the opening of the spring. The water’s motion made us buoyant and the tiny bubbles on the surface of the skin was fun. Blue Springs’ water was very clear and pure. When we left at the end of 2003, there was a lot of talk about the chemical pollution to the ground water which could adversely impact the entire hydraulic cycle in the area. We wrote “Circle Stories” together at this park, using the beautiful and tranquil area as a writing inspiration for creativity.

For More Information about the Blue Springs Annual Manatee Festival: http://www.uptake.com/blog/family_vacations/blue-springs-state-park-central-florida_2283.html

           

This beautiful Siberian Tiger was less than 3 months old when I met him. His name is Hollywood, and he was as gentle and sweet as he could be. I did have the chance to feed him a bottle of formula and he napped for a big on my lap. I met an “inner-tiger-circle” of the area, and was able to bring my homeschooled children to a wonderful animal sanctuary Amazing Exotics, and to work with Adam Fishman, a brilliant exotic cat handler and trainer. He appeared on animal planet with his tigers.

Adam Fishman took us to the lake one day, with his then baby tiger Raja, a Bengal tiger, who was also less than 3 months old. He was training me to handle exotic cats in a training that would lead to licensing and handling but I could not give the time commitment to permanent care of tigers (who live for about 25 years in captivity). It was her first time going swimming at the lake and she loved it! She was playful and having the time of her life. It was pure joy!

I have often wondered how my life would have been different if I had elected to stay in the tiger conservation and education business instead of leaving the state. Hurricane Charley and the rest of the 2003 Florida Hurricane Season was enough for me to leave Florida. (Bonnie, Charley, Francis, Ivan, and Jeanne, and Ivan again.). Little did we know that the next year would show us Hurricane Katrina, and much worse devastation than Florida got the year before.

While Adam was out of town in August, one of his adult tigers gave birth. We were able to be there with the children and even film part of it. The film has not been transferred off of the VCR tape yet, but hopefully, I can post it to You Tube soon and provide a link to my viewers. However, we did get some photos a couple of days later with the babies, and I was very happy to have the intimate moments with some of the most beautiful creatures on earth!

One of the babies just as his eyes were opening. A RARE view of a tiger belly-button. I was told that no one ever really looks for (or can find) one on an adult tiger!

The off-shoot of this experience for my children, as homeschooled students, was for my son (then 10) to do a long-term research project about tigers. He wrote a 26-page paper about the various types of habitats available to tigers (as an endangered species). He ranked the type of things he thought a tiger would need to “be a tiger.” In the end, he argued, tigers do not belong with people at all! His argument was made that tigers in the wild are able to exercise more of their natural behaviors with less risk from humans, even despite the poaching (which should be a focus of preservation efforts, instead of captivity). I don’t think he will ever go to a circus again, and he definitely was not in favor of private ownership for anyone not certified and qualified to handle wild animals. Public interaction with tigers is definitely one he argued vehemently against because of the danger it poses to both tiger and human. We have supported tiger conservation and proper care, as a family, ever since. First-person-eye-witness education: Changed my children's views of tigers forever!

NOTE 1: Although my children did enjoy meeting and petting the baby tigers, they were NEVER allowed to go in close quarters with the adults. The one day I went in with the adult tiger, there were three handlers, and I had been interacting with the tiger for about 9 months. I spent about ten minutes in the cage and left intact. However, a picnic bench was set up for my children to study between the outer and inner enclosures of a titanium two-fence barrier. Inside the final fenced lived  the two adult tigers who were parents to the tigers born while we were there. We were invited by the tiger owner/handler to hold home school lessons with the tigers for several months. We left Florida in late October 2013, after several hurricanes, leaving the tigers behind. (I will be working with these pictures to improve the quality. My son declined publication of his image).

NOTE 2: The tigers survived all of the hurricanes in 2003. However, the owner was required, by law, to stay with the tigers, with a loaded gun, required to shoot any tiger that got out during the hurricane, to protect human life. The fences held, but hurricanes are a big deal in sanctuaries and other environments where tigers are housed.

NOTE 3: Adam Fishman was featured on an episode of Animal Planet. We have a VCR copy of the show but I am currently searching to see if I can find another copy online to post. He is truly remarkable with the Big Cats! Special thanks to he and Anne for the experience of a lifetime!

About the Author: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nancy-bell/30/231/855