Photos by Gabrielle Strickland
Lauren Humphries is a senior keeper at the Carolina Tiger Rescue located in Pittsboro, North Carolina. She takes us behind the scenes during her morning rounds to show the animals’ daily routine and what it’s like to be a keeper at a no-contact facility. Her daily routine is to feed and check on the animals, making sure they receive their medications and are alive and well.
MAR. 19, 2021- Lauren Humphries, Senior Animal Keeper at NC Tiger Rescue, is stalked by an impatient Riley pacing in the background. Humphries is in the process of doing her morning rounds which requires her to feed the animals their breakfast and hand out their morning medications. NC Tiger Rescue is located in Pittsboro, NC and is a GFAS-accredited sanctuary with lions, tigers, servals, kinkajous, and more.
MAR.19, 2021- Mila (left) and Riley (right) had to be temporarily separated. Riley is recovering from a UTI that requires her to take certain medications. The keepers make sure to separate the tigers because Mila is quite playful whereas Riley gets grumpy when she’s not feeling well.
MAR.19, 2021- Humphries prepares the pills by cutting a little pocket in the raw chicken and storing them in there for them to eat. She explains that some animals are more picky and may only take their medicine through horse (red) meat or rats. Many of the food items are donated by local farmers and stores.
MAR.19, 2021- “Don’t take my stick, I need it!” keeper Lauren Humphries cries as she tries to pull her back from Tio. After she successfully feeds Tio, she turns around and explains that this is why they use a wooden stick. If Tio happened to take it, Tio could safely play with it. Whereas, if it was metal, she would have to retrieve it.
MAR.19, 2021- In this image, it captures a tiger named Tio. His toe on his front right paw had to be amputated by a poorly done declawing procedure from his previous home. The act of declawing a tiger forces it to walk on its wrist rather than their toes, and can cause arthritis, what Tio suffers from. Many of the animals are donated to the rescue by people or organizations who find them or exotic pet owners who had to relinquish control or give them up.
MAR.19, 2021- Humphries feeds a cougar.
MAR. 19, 2021- Saber (left) and Shira (right) live together in an enclosure. Saber’s teeth were filed down to his gums by his previous owners to make him seem less wild or dangerous. He was exploited for a magic show and then put on display in a roadside zoo when he got too big. Humphries says its misleading to advertise big cats as not dangerous or less wild. They cannot fight their instincts.
MAR. 19, 2021- Humphries tries to lure Shira to eat, using a stick to hand feed the animals. NC Tiger Rescue is a no-contact sanctuary, so they never come in physical contact with the animals, preaching that they are wild animals and should be treated as such. They advocate for not owning exotic pets as they belong in the wild. “Our goal is to go out of business,” Humphries explains. She says that it would be nice if they weren’t needed to rescue these animals, but they will stay as long as needed to protect them.
MAR.19, 2021-A serval watches Humphries very closely as she prepares their food. The servals are very vocal and impatient as they wait.
MAR. 19, 2021- Humphries explains that one of the sevals has a problem with eating too fast. She has to specifically mash the bones in the chicken so the bones don’t get stuck in the seval’s mouth. She pounds it against the trunk, the blood and juice of the chicken splattering everywhere. They’ve had to remove it twice already. Humphries knows all the animal’s names and needs off the top of her head.
MAR. 19, 2021- Since the cats look adorable or aesthetic, many exotic owners look to own them. Humphries strictly warns against that notion, and that wild animals cannot and are not meant to be tamed.
MAR. 19, 2021- One of Humpries’ jobs is to check that the electrical circuit is working as she goes to feed the animals every morning. The electrical circuit is needed to warm the little shelters the animals can sleep in and stay in during the colder months. Here, she radios the site manager since one of the circuits isn’t working. He takes care of it immediately, coming to the site to help.
MAR. 19, 2021- Humphries works with the site manager to get the electrical circuit up and running again for this section of the enclosure. She uses a small rod that when in contact with an electrical cord can show whether it is on or not.
MAR. 19, 2021- Humphries sorts through the meat bucket, preparing the specific medicine and meat preferences of each animal that she has down by memory. In the bucket, there are dead white rats, chicken, and horse (red) meat.
MAR. 19, 2021- Humphries feeds a kinkajou a banana with peanut butter in the winter house. It’s a heated house for the smaller animals that prefer the warmer weather. This kinkajou was given as a gift to an older couple who tried their best to take care of it. However, when kinkajous reach sexual maturity at around two years old, they become more aggressive and bite. They had to surrender the animal.
MAR.19, 2021- A guided tour is seen in the background, receiving education on servals on the main path while behind the scenes Humphries feeds the servals their food and medicine.
MAR.19, 2021- Humphries feeds some chicken to an excited serval.
MAR. 19, 2021- Humphries struggled to coax Yanaba out of her warm shelter. Yanaba stays off the main path and away from the tours as she’s anxious and scared of crowds. Humphries had to start the buggy and pretend to drive away before the tiger could be coaxed out to eat her food.
MAR.19, 2021- Humphries is about to put the chicken down the shute for the serval, but the impatient serval climbs up the fence. She pulls away and waits, talking to it. “You have to sit down, you know how it goes.” For safety, she waits until the smaller cats are all seated and waiting before she hands them the food through the shute.
MAR.19, 2021- At the end of her morning rounds, coming up to near lunchtime, Humphries puts any leftover meat back in the outdoor fridge.
MAR.19, 2021- A tour is seen wrapping up, heading to the education center and gift shop.
Stories from the UNC Media Hub are written by senior students from various concentrations in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media working together to find, produce and market unique stories — all designed to capture multiple angles and perspectives from across North Carolina.
