A Lion and a Tiger at a Rescue Facility Become Firm Friends Smithsonian Channel
Category
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 When an animal finds the right companion,
00:04 as one exotic cat is about to discover,
00:08 the bond can be life-changing.
00:10 Noah's Ark is a sanctuary in the United States
00:16 for all sorts of animals rescued from private owners
00:20 and the illegal pet trade.
00:21 - Okay.
00:24 - The team here is always looking for ways
00:26 to keep the inhabitants stimulated.
00:29 It goes around here.
00:31 Today, they're building a swing bed
00:35 for one of their biggest residents.
00:37 - Yeah.
00:38 - Animal manager, Allison Hedgecoth, is in charge.
00:41 - Thank you guys.
00:43 Ready?
00:47 Here you go.
00:48 - This is Liberty, a six-year-old lioness
00:51 who came here when she was one.
00:53 Liberty was rescued from a private facility
00:58 where visitors paid to pose for photos with her.
01:01 Her arrival brought a host of new challenges for Allison.
01:06 - She really did need a forever home
01:11 where she would be safe and not exploited,
01:14 but we didn't have any other lions for her to live with.
01:17 And so we were faced with a problem
01:19 because lions are very social animals.
01:21 Liberty.
01:23 - But Liberty was all alone.
01:26 At first, the team tried to keep her engaged with toys,
01:30 but to thrive in captivity,
01:33 this lonely lion needed a companion.
01:36 One day, Allison noticed that Liberty
01:41 was paying a lot of attention
01:43 to her older next door neighbor,
01:45 a 16-year-old Bengal tiger named Tiger Lily.
01:51 - Tiger Lily and Liberty lived in separate enclosures
01:54 right next to each other
01:55 so they could see each other, smell each other,
01:58 kind of get used to each other.
01:59 - Pretty soon, the two cats
02:02 were setting up their own playdates.
02:05 - They would play through the fence.
02:09 They would rub up against the fence
02:10 and try and snuggle with each other and touch each other.
02:15 - Allison wondered,
02:16 could Tiger Lily be the right companion for Liberty?
02:19 (upbeat music)
02:24 (upbeat music)