Are We There Yet?

Turpentine Creek refuge: Where 100 big cats roam

Aurora is a female white tiger living at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. The sanctuary south of Eureka Springs is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month.
Aurora is a female white tiger living at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. The sanctuary south of Eureka Springs is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month.

TURPENTINE CREEK WILDLIFE REFUGE -- Keeping a tiger or a lion as a household pet may sound like a loopy idea. But hundreds or more of these large carnivores belong to families across America.

That's just one intriguing fact that genial tour guide Becky Dharmpaul passed along to visitors taking a trolley tour of Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge on a recent afternoon. One of the nation's leading rescue sites for big cats, Turpentine Creek celebrated its 25th anniversary Sunday.

Dharmpaul, a British zoologist doing an internship at the facility south of Eureka Springs, says there are some 10,000 tigers in captivity in the United States. That's three times as many as the 3,500 or so wild tigers surviving as endangered species in India and elsewhere in Asia. And only 4 percent of those 10,000 U.S. tigers are being properly cared for in sanctuaries such as Turpentine Creek.

Having taken in 34 animals last fall from a privately owned Colorado zoo whose owner had fallen ill, Turpentine Creek now has well more than 100 residents -- mostly tigers, but also lions, leopards, cougars, bobcats, servals, bears and a coati. There are even tiger-lion crossbreeds, known as a "liger" if the sire was a lion and a "tigon" if the sire was a tiger.

The 459-acre refuge on hilly Northwest Arkansas terrain was founded in 1992 by Tanya Jackson Smith, who still serves as president of the nonprofit operation. One of its recent additions is a veterinary hospital so that the big cats' medical problems can be treated on location.

Dharmpaul pointed out four young white tigers -- Aurora, Joey, Khalessi and Lakota -- housed in a recently built enclosure of 10,000 square feet. They're among the animals who arrived from Colorado.

Turpentine Creek's current newsletter gives a sense of the loving care provided by the sanctuary to newcomers like these four, including the creation of adequate living conditions:

"Many big cats that are bought and sold within the exotic pet trade never have the opportunity to feel real grass under their feet. They are often forced into small cages that lack any form of enrichment, which often leads to unhappy and unhealthy cats. Our mission to provide lifetime refuge means having the space where they can run and play, and we could not have done it without our supporters."

After taking a guided tour, visitors are welcome to stroll past the enclosures for longer looks at the big cats and the bears. Photographic prospects include selfies with a white tiger in the immediate background -- but safely behind a barrier.

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge is eight miles south of Eureka Springs off Arkansas 23. The sanctuary is open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily, with hourly guided tours from 10 a.m. An all-day pass including a tour costs $20 for adults, $15 for teens, $10 for visitors ages 4-12 and 65 or older. A variety of overnight accommodations can be rented. For more information, visit turpentinecreek.org or call (479) 253-5841.

Style on 04/25/2017

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