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The Dallas Morning News

anuary 21, 1999

LUCKY STRIPESCougar trouble leads w oman to t iger in need of home

Roy Appleton Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News

One of her pet cougars had bitten a friend's child on the leg. Animal-control officers had the big cat inuarantine and wanted her other cougar. Reporters were prowling around her house for the story.May was no frolic forVicky M arshall .

ut here she is, eight months later, romping with a tiger - laughing, cooing and cuddling with her latestove. Here they are, the cougars, lounging in their cage nearby.

And here it is, a new day on Skyview Drive near Wylie, another round of play at Mrs. Marshall's fledglingwildlife rescue and education center.

What is that? I love you, baby," she tells Kenya, as the 8-month-old Bengal tiger tugs at her blue jackeEnough. Enough. Good girl. No bite," she says, freeing herself with a tap on the animal's nose.

enya and the cougars, Tahoe and Ranger, are available for public viewing by calling (972) 822-9821. Aequired by Collin County, Mrs. Marshall secured a federal license last month to exhibit the cats and hopo expand her operation in the months ahead.

enya and her 800-square-foot cage weren't around May 5, when SPCA of Texas employees showed upMrs. Marshall's home looking for Tahoe. Neither was Ranger.

hree days earlier, Ranger had bitten a 4-year-old Garland boy on the leg. The SPCA, which handles animontrol for Collin County, had the cat in a 30-day rabies quarantine. And fearing the animals may have hose-to-nose contact, the agency wanted to isolate Tahoe as well.

nstead, Mrs. Marshall took the cat away. And she has come to see the defiant move and the accident its the start of a better and bigger life caring for discarded animals.

Ranger cleared the quarantine and was returned to Mrs. Marshall after she paid a $100 fine. But she's stngry, "will always be angry," at the SPCA for its handling of the situation.

he said agency employees initially wouldn't talk to her veterinarian and declined to let Dr. Michelle Glovuarantine Ranger, taking him to the Grapevine animal shelter instead. And she felt "treated like a crimiecause she didn't have a license to keep the exotic pets and wouldn't turn over Tahoe.

Warren Cox, SPCA of Texas executive director, said the agency simply did its job for animal and rabiesontrol.

As far as I'm concerned, she was treated like anybody else with all the respect we could offer," he said

ow that Mrs. Marshall has a license, "we wish her well" and hope she provides the cats a humane andecure environment, Mr. Cox said.

These are wild animals. They are not pets," he said.

ittle choice

Wild animals belong in the wild, said Mrs. Marshall, a 43-year-old dog groomer. But her three cats haveeen dealt a domestic life, unwanted by their previous owners and probably incapable of surviving on thwn, she said.


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nyway, last year's hubbub didn't have to happen, she said. She regrets letting so many people crowdround her cougars the night Ranger bit Uriel Neri.

he boy healed long ago, his father said, after a $5,800 hospital stay paid for by Mrs. Marshall. Herperation is recovering as well.

My momma always said, "Things work out for the best,' " she said.

uch positive thoughts weren't on Mrs. Marshall's mind when the SPCA asked her to turn over Tahoe. Shmoved the cougar to a friend's home in Leon County, fearing the cat wouldn't eat or be properly cared furing the quarantine.

When the agency learned of Tahoe's whereabouts, Mrs. Marshall's friend told her to move the animal. Shound a temporary home for her at a small zoo near Bastrop in central Texas. And there she came acrosea-ridden, 5-week-old tiger that had been bred at the zoo.

new what to do

Mrs. Marshall paid $1,200 for the animal, spent about $700 to treat a bowel disorder and vitamineficiencies and late last year brought Kenya home.

he cat's straw-lined cage, with covered rest area, water-filled tank and stuffed animals, is part of the neook outside Mrs. Marshall's A-frame house.

n her run-in with the SPCA, she learned that her permit to keep the cougars was void, because the stato longer regulates private ownership of certain exotic animals, such as lions, tigers and bears. To keep ets, Collin County required her to get an animal exhibitor's license from the U.S. Department ofgriculture.

he license requires that Mrs. Marshall make her animals available for public display and education. Sheopes to attract school, church and Scout groups - anyone with an interest in wildlife.

I'm looking forward to it," she said. "It will be fun to share my knowledge and share Kenya" and the

ougars.

During the day, Ranger and Tahoe often have to be coaxed out of the rooms where they rest. But Kenyakes to play, likes to run around the perimeter of her cage, roll in the straw with her stuffed tiger, and pide-and-seek, jumping in and out of her tub.

Whether in a Collin County cage or the woods of India, this reddish-orange, black-striped cat is a rareight.

he Bengal, like the other four tiger subspecies, is one of the world's most threatened and protectednimals. Tigers in the wild number 5,000 to 7,500 with approximately the same number in captivity, said

Ginette Hemley, the World Wildlife Fund's vice president for species conservation.

With her license in place, Mrs. Marshall hopes to expand her rescue operation and "give a home towhoever needs a home."

ow it started

he brought Tahoe home eight years ago, after the cat had been left at the veterinary clinic where sheworked. A game warden asked her to give Ranger a temporary home in 1994, and a judge later awardeer custody of the animal.

Ranger is 5 years old and weighs 110 pounds. Tahoe, age 8, weighs 73 pounds. Kenya, who is spoon-fepecial mix for exotic cats, is gaining 5 pounds a week and weighs more than 90 pounds. In time she co


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ack 400 to 600 pounds.

ood for the three cats costs about $380 a month, and doctor bills are an ongoing expense.

Vicky takes such good care of them. If they just look like they're depressed, we're out there," said Dr.Glover, her veterinarian.

And Mrs. Marshall says she is out there among the cages five to six hours a day, feeding, cleaning, talkio and admiring her pets, which include six house cats, five dogs and nine sugar gliders - small marsupiabout the size of a hamster.

he spends the time and money simply because "they need me."

his is no hobby. "It's a have-to," Mrs. Marshall said. "There's all kinds of people that have animals andon't know how to take care of them.

This is the path God gave me to take, and it's up to me to make something happen."

Copyright Dallas Morning News. All Rights Reserved.

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