Скачать или смотреть Former circus performer rescues neglected tigers

(22 Jan 2022) LEAD IN:
A former circus performer has switched from training big cats for entertainment to rescuing ones that have been neglected.
Dmitry Kim now runs an animal shelter in Russia where he takes care of tigers.

STORY-LINE:
This is Aston.
He's a resident of House of Tiger, a shelter for big cats in Novosibirsk, Russia founded by former animal trainer Dmitry Kim and his veterinarian wife Yana Oleynik.
They rescue animals from domestic zoos and circuses across Russia which have been poorly treated by their previous owners.
When they found Aston, he was sick and frightened.
"We were on tour in the Caucasus and since my wife is a veterinarian, people asked us to help them with animals that were dying, predators, tiger cubs. My wife could not stay indifferent," says Kim.
"She said, we must buy out these animals, help them. So, we handed over our car (to a pawnshop), and bought Aston, our very first cat."
Kim has found a lot of owners don't care for their animals properly, often treating them as simply a source of income or a toy.
Crossbreed animals are particularly vulnerable to mistreatment - and all the tigers in the shelter are this kind.
"(They are) hybrid or a cross, that is, they do not belong to any kind, like the Amur or Bengali tigers, that is, this is a cross, and they do not have a breeding value, so, they are not needed, for nature they are not returnable. Such animals most often find themselves in difficult situations, because no one protects them," says Kim.
Kim had to sell a vehicle again to buy his second tiger, Rolls-Royce, from the south of Russia.
Being a big lover of cars, the ex-trainer has named all his cats after car brands - perhaps to compensate for having to sell his own so often.
So the shelter is also home to tigers Honda, Infinity and Tesla.
The animals often need a lot of care to be brought back to good health.
"Royce was bought out of the photo zone by the guys, Dima and Yana. He arrived rickety, he was all covered with tetter (skin disease), after they treated the tetter, he faded all over, he was bald. Now he has hair grown all over again," says friend Aleksey Lyba.
Kim and his wife used to perform in a circus and then ran their own show.
The idea to open a shelter was a longtime dream but seemed difficult as it required investment and land.
It was the pandemic that pushed them to finally implement the plan because most performances were cancelled.  
As a professional circus trainer, Kim plays with tigers a lot but doesn't recommend anyone else does.
"You need to understand that tigers are the most dangerous large cats, the most dangerous in terms of weight, that is, our older males in winter are over 300 kilogrammes, in summer they are 270-260 kilogrammes. You need to understand that this is a predator. Super serious dangerous animal," says Kim.
Every month the creatures eat up to 1.5 tons of meat.  
Chicken, beef, horse meat – the family tries to source fresh produce from farmers.
Each tiger is different in character.
"Some of them love people, some are calm with people. Some maintain absolute neutrality, someone just likes to communicate with people, it is a big delusion that predators are fearless animals. In fact, these are the largest fearful cats that you can imagine, that is, something new always causes them fear," says Kim.
Currently House of Tigers hosts three adult tigers, two teenagers, and four adorable tiger cubs, whose birth was unplanned, but joyful since there are no plans to breed tigers.  
She says raising tigers requires careful strategies to shape their behaviour.

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