Photo by Hailey Buck.
Finalist in the 2026 Tigers in America-Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries annual photo and video contest to celebrate International Tiger Day.
“Laredo Border Control contacted us in April of 2022 saying that they had found a tiger cub and needed to find a home for her. This was the same agency that asked us to take in Smuggler, Assad, and Zahra. We accepted and drove down to Laredo to pick her up. We were originally told that she was about three months old, but by her size, she was probably closer to two months old. She had been found in a house when the police went in for an unrelated reason. It was obvious that this little girl was familiar with and comfortable around humans, as she was constantly wanting attention. We drove little Minnie home and settled her into our vet clinic for a quarantine period.”