Meet Aasha, a 9-month-old Bengal tiger, who weighed 30 pounds and is severely underweight for her age.
She was rescued by In-Sync founder Vicky Keahey, who first heard about the poor tiger cub from an animal wildlife trade inspector working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA.
Aasha had bald fur patches, itchy skin and even ring worms when she was rescued from her poor living conditions, caused by her owners who owned a travelling circus.
It was illegal to mistreat and house wildlife, so she was confiscated from them.
The poor cub was not even fed properly back in the circus – they just trained her solely for tricks.
She would get physically attacked by an older tiger – tigers are solitary creatures and notoriously hard to socialize or accept new play mates.
At first, Aasha was so shy she barely played outside.
Aasha started to play like a normal tiger cub would.
Aasha’s fur is now back to normal.
Aasha was a greatly mistreated tiger – by circus personnel and an older tiger living in the same enclosure as her.
Aasha was soon relocated to the In-Sync wildlife facility, so that she could grow up under expert wildlife care.
Aasha desperately needed to improve her socialization skills, so her handlers organized trial-and-error play dates with other tigers living in the facility every now and then.
They even had playful water fights – tiger style.
Smuggler and Aasha got along especially well the first time round, thus her handlers matched her up with him once again!
The subsequent play dates were also a huge success!
Aasha found a playmate and love interest in fellow tiger Smuggler.
Image Credit: In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Educational Center
She’s so comfortable in water tubs, she’d nap in them!
Aasha’s favorite time of the day – bath time.
Thanks to Smuggler by her side, Aasha has fully adapted to her new life.
Aasha is now one happy tiger!
Check out Aasha and Smuggler in action below!
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