National Geographic Kids - Tiger in trouble and more true stories of amazing animal rescues

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eISBN: 978-1-4263-1080-5

v3.1

NITRO:
TIGER IN TROUBLE

)

Chapter 1
Junkyard JUNGLE

Nitros Kansas home was a tiny cage in a junkyard. ()

Ten-year-old Nitro paced in his cage. It was the evening of February 21, 2009. The sun was setting quickly. Nitros owner, Jeffrey Harsh, was late with the tigers dinner.

Hungry big cats get restless, but Nitro couldnt pace far. His chain-link cage was only 20 feet wide and 30 feet longone-third the size of a school gym. Nitro was eight feet long. He could only take a few steps. Then he had to turn and walk the other way. Back and forth. Back and forth.

He stepped over bones in the dust. They were left over from earlier meals. He brushed against Apache, the other tiger in his cage. His empty belly grumbled. He growled and roared.

Nitro and Apache were not alone. There were three female lions in other cages nearby. All of these big cats were living at the Prairie Cat Animal Refuge near Oakley, Kansasand they were all hungry.

A man wandered to the main gate. The cats eyes locked on him. He opened the gate and slowly came inside.

The man passed piles of junk. He looked into each animals cage. Nitro listened, while the other cats studied the stranger.

Then the man walked toward a lioness. He slipped his hand inside the metal bars of her gate.

It was a very bad choice.

To the hungry lion, his arm looked like dinner. Her instinct told her to catch her meal, and she listened. She bit down on the strangers arm. He screamed and screamed.

Just then Jeffrey drove up with a truck full of meat. He could tell right away things were not right. The entry gate was unlocked and open. Screams were coming from the big cats cages. Jeffrey jumped out of his truck and ran toward the sound.

Jeffrey saw the stranger. He ran past Nitro, toward the lion cage. Jeffrey grabbed the man and tried to pull him free. But he wasnt as strong as the lion, and she would not let go. He never hit the animals, but he didnt know what else to do. The man was in serious danger.

Jeffrey picked up a metal pipe and swung at the lioness. At last, she opened her jaws, and the frightened man fell back. Jeffrey rushed the stranger to the hospital. As he drove, he called the police on his cell phone.

Nitro would have to wait a little longer for his dinner. His owner was under arrest. He had not protected the stranger from the dangerous big cats.

Until that night, Jeffrey Harsh had broken no laws. Almost half of the states in the U.S. have passed laws to make it illegal to own wild animals like Nitro. Thirteen other states have some rules that say who can keep them and who cannot. The rest of the states have almost no laws at all. There, almost anyone can buy a wild animal.

Kansas is one of the 13 states with some rules. But the rules are not strong enough, said Sheriff Rod Taylor, the officer who arrested Jeffrey. Owners do not even need to take a class to learn how to care for a wild animal. If people like Jeffrey Harsh follow a few rules, they can buy big cats and raise them. And terrible things can happen.