The image of a success story: thanks to TFT, Blake is a handsome, healthy 2-year-old tiger with a life expectancy of 15-20 years.
If a census-taker were to visit 18905 Orange Avenue in Fort Pierce, he would sense immediately that the address is very different from other homes in the area. The compound is the headquarters of the Tigers For Tomorrow Exotic Animal Preserve (TFT), a non-profit organization founded in 1999 by Susan Steffens to provide a permanent, stable environment for captive-bred exotic creatures. Steffens’ motivation in founding TFT is a summary of her life-long attachment to animals: “As role models and caregivers we must seize every opportunity to act with kindness and compassion to any animal that finds itself in need. Anything else would be cruel.”
The current residents of TFT are five North American mountain lions, three Bengal tigers, one Siberian tiger, one juvenile African lion, one black leopard, one African serval cat, two timber wolves, three African spurred tortoises, three coatimundi, eight goats, four horses, seven dogs, two chickens and two humans.
Read the entire article in the November 2005 issue
True Tails is a series written by Amy Robinson for Vero Beach’s dog lovers. Ask Amy about your dog’s behavior by clicking below.
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