Tigers rescued in Argentina find a home in South Africa

BETHLEHEM, South Africa (AP) — Four Bengal tigers rescued after years spent in captivity in a train car in Argentina were released in outdoor enclosures in South Africa.

After a 70-hour trip from Argentina, the tigers left their cages to outdoor enclosures at the Lionsrock Big Cats Sanctuary in the Free State State, central South Africa.

The tigers, clearly curious about their new homes, quickly checked their enclosures of about 80 square meters (yards) square and chewed prepared pieces of meat as a welcome treat.

The arrival of the animals in South Africa last Saturday completed years of planning for the international animal welfare organization Four Paws, said Dr. Amir Khalil, veterinarian and head of the mission.

“I was more excited than tigers”, adding that tigers were expected to be reluctant to get out of their containers. “But they came out right away. They want to discover the place, smell the grass, taste it.”

The activity of the tigers, he said, showed that they want to “defend, secure a new space. So now they need time to calm down, and they still have a long way to go to learn about the area and the new territory.”

The tigers have stayed in pairs in two separate enclosures, a plan that seemed to be going without incident at the moment.

In the coming weeks and months the tigers will be supervised and will receive whatever veterinary care they need, Khalil said.

“We'll start coming here often and feeding them, getting used to all our staff and our caregivers so they can learn what our routine is and start to relax,” he said.

The next step will be to release the tigers into wider multi-acre enclosures, explained Hildegard Pirker, manager of the Lionsrock Shrine, where more than 100 lions, tigers, leopards and a cheetah live.

All enclosures have pasture areas with shrubs and trees and protected natural spaces where animals can rest and shelter from the elements, according to Lionsrock. The enclosures are circular and follow the natural shape of the terrain so that the felines do not feel cornered.

The local animals have been rescued from circuses, zoos, the entertainment industry and private property in places as diverse as Austria, Bulgaria, Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Iraq, Syria, Holland or Great Britain. Four Paws has created the reserve in South Africa for big cats, which can be visited to see the animals in their new environments.