Three tigers find home at Big Cat Rescue in Citrus Park

Amanda, Andre and Arthur were delivered to their new home Wednesday morning, fresh off a 28-hour caged ride from Texas. They were more than a bit skittish from the experience.

"These have been the hardest three tigers we have ever dealt with," said Carole Baskin, founder of Big Cat Rescue in Citrus Park, which accepted delivery of the three golden tigers. "They are so scared."

She said the 15-year-old tigers were born in a New Jersey facility that kept them in tight quarters, and "we think the transport trailers were kind of a reminder of that. They are just terrified."

Full-grown tigers don't stay scared long, though, and one by one, as they became accustomed to their new roomy enclosures, the cats began to loosen up.

"It's taking a very long time," she said about noon Wednesday as the second tiger was taken from the trailer to its new enclosure. "We're going slow. We don't want to scare the cats."

Amanda, Andre and Arthur were rescued from their rescuers, who had gone bankrupt last year.

In 2003, Wild Animal Orphanage, a sanctuary in San Antonio, adopted 24 tigers from a New Jersey facility that had been shut down by the state.

Over the next seven years, Wild Animal Orphanage spent more than it took in and declared bankruptcy last year. The sanctuary put out a call for help to the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, but it wasn't easy getting takers for the beasts, which cost about $10,000 a year to keep healthy and well fed.

That's when an anonymous donor, who had known the three tigers since they were cubs, stepped forward with needed cash, securing their trip to Big Cat Rescue.

The donation will pay for food and veterinary care for the three cats for the rest of their lives, which could be about five more years.

Over that time, the cats will live together, said sanctuary spokeswoman Susan Bass.

"We joined four enclosures together," she said. "Since they've been together their whole lives, we wanted to keep them together."

She said above-ground tunnels connect five pods in which the tigers will roam. "There is plenty of room for them to run around."

Big Cat Rescue currently houses more than 100 big cats and is the largest accredited sanctuary in the world dedicated solely to abused and abandoned exotic cats.