Feel-good for today

AdamSmith · May 16, 2013

Lion, Tiger and Bear Make for Odd, Yet Happy Family at Ga. Sanctuary

ABC News

Apr 10, 2013 6:50pm

See article for video: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/04/lion-tiger-and-bear-make-for-odd-yet-happy-family-at-ga-sanctuary/

At Noah’s Ark, a wild-animal rescue center in Georgia, the “BLT” are an unlikely trio that even “Oz’s” Dorothy would find hard to fear.

“It’s a lion, a tiger and a bear — oh my!” said Allison Hedgecoth of Noah’s Ark. “They live together and they don’t see their differences. They don’t see their color differences.”

In a small pen, Baloo (an American black bear), Leo (the lion) and Shere Kahn (a Bengal tiger) cuddle, play ball, chase each other around, eat cookies daily and seem to have forged a friendship for life.

Image credit: ABC News

“It’s kind of unusual because black bears and tigers would be solitary as adults,” said Rebecca Snyder, a curator of animals at Atlanta’s zoo.

The three predators were rescued as cubs 12 years ago from drug dealers who’d abused and neglected them.

“All of them had issues,” Hedgecoth said. “Leo, the lion, had a big raw spot on his nose. Baloo, the bear, had an ingrown harness where his owners hadn’t lengthened it as he grew, so it actually grew into the skin and it had to be surgically removed. … They have recovered more than 100 percent.”

But when trainers tried to separate the animals, they acted out. For years, trainers said they worried and waited for fights but had witnessed nothing but peace among the three.

Hedgecoth said she didn’t know how the trio had managed to get along together so well and for so long.

“I think that the ordeal they went through as youngsters really bonded them together,” she told ABC News. “That’s all that they had. They only had each other for comfort.”

She said separating them now, after more than a decade together, would be “cruel.”

“There definitely is something special going on between the three of them,” she said. “That is definitely a lesson.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/04/lion-tiger-and-bear-make-for-odd-yet-happy-family-at-ga-sanctuary/

May 16, 2013

Oh my AS, could be this be used to corroborate that the Noah's Ark existed? ^_^ You seem to be interested in theology more than what you think you do.. ^_^ For me the main theme of the Old Testament is having faith. ^_^

RA1 · May 16, 2013

I have had a tiger in my tank but I am not a bear (except early in the morning) so likely I will not have a relationship with a tiger such as this. :smile:

Interesting story. Not so sure about the "color" commentary. Animals only have human characteristics in our minds, no matter how cute, cuddly or otherwise engaging. You can step on my blue suede shoes but leave my dog alone. :smile:

Best regards,

RA1

AdamSmith · May 16, 2013

Oh my AS, could be this be used to corroborate that the Noah's Ark existed? You seem to be interested in theology more than what you think you do.. For me the main theme of the Old Testament is having faith.

These 3 animals bonded from growing up together, under mistreatment by their owner. I would hate to think Noah put his animals through all that.

RA1 · May 16, 2013

Noah had enough problems with all his family, in laws and outlaws on board without having to deal with mistreated animals. ^_^

Best regards,

RA1

AdamSmith · May 29, 2013

Another one...

Dachshund Dentist Cleans Lion’s Teeth Meet Milo (left), a 7-year-old dachshund, and his 5-year-old lion BFF, Bonedigger (center), described by their keepers at Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma as “inseparable”.