Satchmo

South Texas, June 1998: Satchmo was just 3.5 months old when he arrived at the WAO. His owner had bought him from a roadside zoo to be his pet. However, he did not know how to feed him properly and by the time Satchmo was only 14 weeks old, his bones were already paper thin. He "fell down some stairs" and broke both of his front legs.

The owner took him to his vet to have him euthanized because he didn't want to spend anymore money on him! The vet contacted the WAO and that same day, staff from the WAO drove a total of four hours to pick him up and bring him to the WAO.

Satch was examined by one of our veterinarians and she found several hairline fractures in all of his limbs in addition to the two major breaks in his forelegs. Satch was immediately put on calcium supplements and had to be confined to a covered crib for the first 8 weeks after his arrival. Confinement was necessary to avoid further breaks.

After 8 weeks, Satch was finally able to go outside for short supervised playtime. He was quite happy about that!

(Click photos to enlarge)

Left: Satchmo, confined to a "crib" upon arrival. Right: After just 2 months of intensive care, he was able to have short supervised playtime.

2004: It took until Satchmo was roughly 1 year old for him to be considered recovered from his ordeal. Then he was slowly introduced to two other tigers who were near his age (Zena and Sebastian). (The boys are both neutered.) 

The three of them now live in a spacious (1/2 acre) enclosure where they have a large pool, plently of shade trees and room to run and play.

Left: Satchmo at age 3. Right: Satchmo and Sebastian (behind Satch).