Blog: The incredible story of rescuing tigers from traffickers

Peter de Haan of AAP Animal Advocacy and Protection shares the heartbreaking story of rescuing trafficked tigers...

The 9 tigers that survived a horror transport to Russia are the lucky ones.

At the end of October 2019, just months after I started as press officer at European animal welfare organization AAP, a call came through on a Wednesday afternoon. The drivers of a horse box trying to pass the border from Poland to Belarus failed to show the necessary paperwork to bring their cargo: 10 circus tigers travelling from Latina in Italy to Dagestan, Russia. Back on the Polish side, they had to wait for someone from the breeding facility in Italy that was sent to fix the issue. In the process, it turned out that one of the tigers died. The inexperienced drivers didn’t know how to keep the animals alive in their tiny, rusty cages and Polish customs decided to step up. They asked Poznan Zoo to bring the tigers to a safe place. After a police escort to the zoo’s quarantine facility in Poznan, the nine stressed out animals showed signs of extreme anxiety and exhaustion. That’s where we came in.

With a specialized rescue facility for big cats in a quiet valley in the south of Spain, AAP was the first choice for Poznan Zoo director Ewa Zgrabczyńska to call. Because of the bad state of the tigers, we decided to send our vet to Poznan first to check whether the animals were fit to travel. Two of them already found shelter in a nearby Polish zoo, two where in such a bad shape that they had to stay in Poznan, but the other five (Softi, Toph, Sanson, Aqua and Merida) soon recovered well enough to travel to Spain.

The tigers showed unusual high stress levels and needed a lot of time and patience to calm down. The heartbreaking fate of the animals was world news for a day, but they needed three years to gain enough confidence to take a next step in their lives. To this day, Aqua wants to hide when someone is around, attacking when he has a chance. Softi stays in the bushes for as long as people are close. Big boy Sanson is still grumpy and growls a lot, but the company of Merida finally calmed him down recently. I remember my visit to the tigers left me even more puzzled. Seeing them exploring their enclosure, sometimes chuffing to each other and then picking a shady spot to rest. How can anyone be okay with loading these huge, majestic animals in small and rusty cages on their way to.. probably death?

The Polish people were very concerned with them and TV station TVN even put together an outstanding documentary on their origin (Google: TVN Tigers on the border). They found answers to a lot of questions, but we will probably never know what exactly happened before they entered that horsebox. Nor what the real plans of the traders were. What we do know is that this is not an isolated case. These kinds of transports happen all the time, using routes that give the drivers no trouble. The truck driving next to you on your way home may contain wild animals on their way to a dark fate. (Some might say we do the very same to millions of farm animals every day and they are right, but that’s a different story.)

This kind of wildlife trade, especially when it’s concerning endangered species, is one of the most cruel, merciless acts humans can do. Stopping that deserves to be an international top priority.

We may feel for Softi, Merida and Aqua, but let’s realize that they are the lucky ones. They are saved. Softi and Toph are even ready to move to the Wildheart Animals Sanctuary on the Isle of Wight to spend the rest of their lives in peace. But let’s not forget that many, many more are or will never be discovered. Maybe they are forced to perform in Asian circuses. Maybe their body parts are for sale in traditional medicine shops. Maybe they are spending their days on a chain in someone’s backyard as a living statue or a photo prop.

So don’t feel bad for these tigers, cry for the trafficked animals that remain unseen. I hope that if you ever have the possibility to see Softi, Toph, Sanson, Aqua or Merida, they make you want to fight for those you will never see. So that their horrendous past will not be in vain.

By Peter de Haan, Press officer at AAP Animal Advocacy and Protection

All blogs reflect the views of their author and are not a reflection of BIAZA's positions.