Mitra and Manda

We've had some requests for updated Mitra and Manda pictures, so here they are. They are doing very well and are still the best of friends.

Say hello to my little friends

This is Bali, the standard Bengal tiger, and Balavan, the Golden Tabby Bengal tiger. They are brothers and are Krishna and Tabitha's cubs. They're cute little buggers and about as sweet as two baby tigers can be! These little boys are 6 weeks old and growing an astounding 2 lbs a week!

Cub update

Savitri the blind Golden Tabby Bengal Tiger, Mitra the Bengal Tiger, and Manda the African Lioness all went for a stroll and a quick dip in Horseshoe Creek while the water is still warm enough to do so. The top photo is Savitri, who, despite being blind, loves going for walks and does amazingly well with new experiences. The bottom photo is a soggy Mitra scratching on a tree that had fallen into the creek. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

VA and Cubby time

We want to thank all of you who came out and met Tiahna in Virginia. It was great to get such an overwhelmingly positive reception. We are continuing to move forward with our plans and we will be seeing more of you all as things proceed.

The first picture below is of Athena, Tiahna, and Darryl downtown and the second picture is of Tiahna enjoying some much deserved downtime playing after a very busy weekend. The last photo is just a nice little photo of Mitra, Savitri, and Manda taking Athena, Mike, and Darryl for a walk and a swim, fun was had by all.

Virginia

Here are couple of photos from a recent trip to Virginia. The top photos are of Mitra enjoying a day on the lake including his first experience with a jet ski. The lowest photo is of Tiahna, our newest addition, who will be visiting VA this coming weekend!

A couple more

Here are a couple pictures of Darryl and Athena visiting some furry and feathered friends on the way home from a fundraiser. The top photo is Surya the orangutan and the lower is an Eagle Owl.

Swim Lessons

Recently we were able to take Mitra(standard Bengal) and Savitri(blind Golden Tabby Bengal) for some swim time. They both enjoyed the water and the swimming, but as you can see in the photos they also enjoyed being ferried around. Manda the African Lioness was with us as well, but she adamantly refused to set foot in the water. As always if you would like pictures of any particular animal posted, just let us know!

Savitri in Horseshoe Creek

Sorry it's been so long between posts we've been having a very busy summer. We want to say thank you to all our New York helpers Jeff, Carrie, Debbie, Denny, Kieth, Trish, and everyone else who helps and supports us up there. We always have a great time and it's always a great benefit to the animals because of you all. Thank you.

Below are some pictures of Savitri the golden tabby Bengal tiger on her first trip down to Horseshoe Creek to swim. Savitri is blind, so raising her has been a whole new experience for us. Tigers, like humans, are very sight based creatures, so she is amazing to watch as she has grown up using her sense of smell, hearing, and touch to do everything. Once you spend some time around her you realize that her lack of sight is more a difference from other tigers than it is a handicap as it certainly doesn't keep her from doing anything. We are still hopeful that we will be able have her eyes repaired enough that she will have at least limited sight, but we don't know yet if that will be possible. If you're in our area come see her some Sunday when we are open 12-4.

BJ on Location

Here are a couple pictures of BJ the Asian leopard on set on a local independent film. Bj had to play in the yard and walk next to the star of the movie. BJ performed wonderfully despite this being his first movie.

School Cubs

We've had several requests for photos of the new cubs so here they are giving a presentation at an elementary school. On top is Buckles the Black Asian Leopard and below is Savitri the Golden Tabby Bengal Tiger.

LIGERS

We've gotten a request for some liger pictures, so first here is Gobi the Liger, who lives at Horseshoe Creek. She is currently 16 and as far as we know is the oldest liger around. A Liger is a mix of Lion and Tiger. If the father is a lion its a liger if the father is a tiger its a tigon. Cross breeding is possible because many of the big cats have only one chromosome different from one another. In the wild lions and tigers wouldn't cross breed. Currently there is only one small forest in India where lions and tigers coexist, but lions live in groups and tigers live alone so a solitary tiger is never going to walk into a pride of lions.




The 3 pictures after Gobi are of Hercules the Liger. As you can see from the pictures male ligers are enormous! Gobi's brother weighed in at close to 1000lbs and stood about 12 feet tall on his hind legs. These pictures were taken in Miami where Hercules lives at Parrot Jungle Island.

Tiger yard

Took a few photos today while we were in cleaning one of the tiger yards, thought I might share a few.

The top photo is Krishna the Royal White Bengal Tiger who just turned 4 in February. Next down is Botelho the Golden Tabby tiger who has gotten huge his sholders are now about waist high on me! And the last picture is of Tabitha taking her morning bath.

Panther Head

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and new year! Above is a picture of "little" Mya the Florida Panther spending some quality time with Darryl.

Happy New Years!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Chandra hard at work

Here you can see Chandra hard at work at an event in Lake Wales. All she needs is a blanket and a teddy bear.

The girls on the road

We wanted to say a quick thank you to the Wuests, Jay Rosenberg and his Family, and the Washington family for a wonderful trip up North and we look forward to seeing you all again soon!

Above is Chanda hording the toys away from her sister and below is a picture of Chanda and Chandra enjoying the comforts of a nice warm soft sister.

Skanda

Here, finally, are updated pictures of "little" Skanda he will be 8 months old on the 19th and lives very happily with Padma his roomie since he was a month old. The other picture is of Hitch the year and a half old Rottweiler who has grown up playing with tigers.

Florida Flywheelers Association

This is Chanda a 3 month Bengal tiger who along with her sister Chandra, Mya the Florida Panther, and Damien the black leopard went with us to the Florida Flywheelers Association's November show. We had a nice turn out and appreciate everyone who donated and spent some time meeting our furry friends. Special thanks go to Jim Briggs and the Flywheelers!

Sorry we haven't posted any new photos lately, we've been pretty busy around here. Should have some new photos up next week including some updated photos of Skanda as requested by Debbie Tilison :) If anyone else would like photos of any specific animal just post a comment and I'll make sure they get posted.

Lola Book

This is Lola the Diana monkey. She lived with us at Horseshoe Creek from the time she was 6 months until just under 5 years old. Unfortunately she passed away this past spring and is missed greatly. On top of being an extremely clever and inquisitive little girl, Lola was also a professional artist having sold several paintings at our annual benefit art auction. She also posed for Jill Greenberg, a professional photographer who has recently compiled her primate photos into a book called Monkey Portraits which includes 3 pictures of our beautiful little girl. Some pictures from the book can be viewed here. Also the book can be purchased through the Amazon.com link on our website. It is nice to know that Lola lives on!!!

Mya in Central Park

photo courtesy Stephen Shadrach

Mya also decided to visit some of the landmarks while she was in New York City, this is her in Central Park.

Mya and Michelle Rodriguez

Mya the Florida Panther made friends this weekend with actress Michelle Rodriguez (Lost, Swat, the Fast and the Furious) in New York City at an event for Fashion Week.

MONKEYS!

We have some new friends at Horseshoe Creek Wildlife! As of Monday afternoon we are home to 2 ring tailed lemurs Amarit(Am-merit) and Khundhi(Coon-dee). I hope you will all get a chance to come by and see these handsome young men!

Damiens Movie

Just added a link to the trailer for Damiens movie to the right for any of those interested

Website/Consumers for Conservation

We are finally updating our website! www.horseshoecreekwildlife.org
As part of the website we are now starting our "Consumers for Conservation" program. We have agreements with several major retailers like Amazon, Cingular, and Petsmart to donate a percentage of all sales made through the links on our website to Horseshoe Creek Wildlife. So if you shop through our website you will spend $0 more than you would spend normally but a percentage of your total purchase will go to the animals. You can see all the retailers at: http://www.horseshoecreekwildlife.org/merchandise.html Please tell everyone you know who might shop online as this could be a huge fundraiser for us especially coming into the Holiday season.

Western MD

Here are a couple pictures from our trip. Skanda with his new "gang" and Mya being to cute for words.

traveling

We are leaving tomorrow for a 4 day job in Western Maryland. Skanda, Padma, and Mya are going with us. We should have some pictures from the trip to post middle of next week. Have a great week!

Finally a non-tiger

This is Damien the Black Asian Leopard fresh out of the water enjoying a moment in the sun.

more creek pictures

Padma prowls in the water while Skanda plays in the grass.

Here are Mitrayi and Mahatma playing in the water. The fun part of bringing them down to play in the water is trying to keep from being pulled into the water ourselves.

Creek

This is Ganesh the Bengal tiger enjoying the water on a hot summer day. The tigers love LOVE LOVE the water so the majority of the pictures are of them.

Horseshoe Creek

This is Horseshoe Creek from which we derive our name. The creek runs along the eastern edge of our property. We've seen mama alligators with babies, otters, water snakes, and a plethora of other types of water creatures in these waters.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I can, Blogger is having some technical difficulties today.

Blog

Just a quick note for everyone the way I have this setup when you add a comment it comes to me for approval before it is published online. This is so we don't end up with anything inappropriate posted. What this means is that your comment won't be posted immediately, but as long as I am near a PC with internet access I should be able to get all comments up within 24 hours. Hope everyone enjoys this weeks pictures!

New tiger yard

Here Jack is preparing to pounce on one of the other tigers. With this yard completed we will soon be breaking ground for another yard next to it for Mahatma, Kirte, Loka, and Mitrayi. Our goal is to have yard access for all our 38 big cats within the next 1-2 years depending on funding.

New tiger yard

Here are Jack, Doc, and Shiva enjoying some quality chase time. This new yard will be accessible to the three above as well as to Brooke and Bulba. Unfortunately due to a slight personality conflict between Jack, Brooke, and Bulba (Jack tries to bite them whenever they aren't looking) we won't be able to get them all out there together. But at least three of the five should have access at any given time.

New tiger yard

We have just completed our new tiger yard!!! Above is Jack the Siberian tiger enjoying some time in the grass. We couldn't have gotten this yard done without the assistance of Jim Briggs and Michael Hanson. Both are fine gentleman who make so many things around here possible.

First attempt

This is the first try at a Horseshoe Creek Wildlife blog. We hope to post several times a week with posts of the animals as well as information about up coming events. Please feel free to comment we would love to hear from you all!!!