PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: John Bergmann, General Manager
July 29, 2011
609-693-1900
Big Cats Have New Home at AHS/Popcorn Park
WHO KNOWS HOW LONG THEY LANGUISHED IN A POORLY MANAGED Texas farm with a neglectful owner, some in small stalls, others emprisoned in outdoor cages, and all of them in horrid conditions, before being discovered by a nearby exotic sanctuary and eventually rescued by Associated Humane Societies/Popcorn Park, where they are now blissfully living.
Porthos after tasting sap from a pine branch.
Porthos, a male lion with severe dental problems; Taj, a tailless tiger who lived her life in squalor after a raccoon was said to have bit her tail off when she was juvenile; four female cougars and one male cougar are now receiving the care they have always deserved at Popcorn Park.
Lance and Gwen resting inside a safe, comfortable haven.
“We'll learn more about them as the days go by but from now on they will never want for clean water, proper diet, a clean den and big yards to play in,” said Popcorn Park General Manager John Bergmann. Bergmann learned of the wild cats, from Vickey Keahey, owner of InSync Exotics, an exotic cat sanctuary in Texas. She said she heard of some 20 big cats about 40 miles from her sanctuary whose owner had passed away. Their neglect had gone on long before the owner’s death.
They were living in horse stalls that appeared they had not been cleaned in years. Water was given to the animals in dirty buckets through a fence and food looked like it was just thrown in to the stalls.
InSync staff cared for the animals everyday until they were able to be transported to safe havens, like Popcorn Park.
Once Associated Humane Societies learned of the situation, room was made for seven of the cats at Popcorn Park. The cats were transported in a climate-controlled tractor trailer from Texas.
“We waited on the edge of our seats and finally saw the transport pull in,” Bergmann said. “We couldn’t wait to open the doors and see our new family.”
