re: Happy Birthday Mike VI!

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no shite... they could make him get in the cage but choose not to

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They will never do anything to this Mike to cause him to be skittish. He's a rescue Tiger, not one they raised from a cub. If anyone knows anything about cats you know you aren't going to make them do anything they don't want to do without sedation. They're not interested in making Mike a circus act. He gets treated like any animal at the finest zoo. They let him be as natural as they can be considering his surroundings. We got lucky with Mike V because he hated the costumed mascot. Every time it came around Mike would roar and get all pissy. This Mike still acts like a kitten in many ways. If you go out to his cage during the week you can see Dr. Baker out there with Mike and he will answer your questions and talk to you for hours about Mike's care. My wife and I have taken the kids up there to see him and spent hours talking to him. They've tried everything to get him in the cage. They practice with him all off-season. They tried putting big slabs of meat in the trailer to coax him. It all works when no one is around. When the Fall rolls around and all of those people gather around to watch him get in the trailer he just refuses to go in.