Mama Shakira, or Shakira II, is by far one of the most recognizable cats at Turpentine Creek. Referred to as a pure white tiger, you’ll notice she is not, in fact, pure white. She has faint stripes all over her body. But she’s about as pure white as any leucistic (white) tiger will get, and she was exploited heavily before she was rescued and brought to this sanctuary. As her story is retold, remember, it is never our intention to upset people, or make them sad. Our intention is to give the animals a voice, and tell you where they came from. While it might be sad, Mama Shakira’s story is one that needs to be read, and just might leave you feeling hopeful.
Early Life
It’s important to know how much of the beginning of Mama’s story is guess work. There was not enough regulation for big cats when she was born, so we don’t know many details about her early life. But we can guess that, when Shakira was born, she was immediately taken from her mother and was raised until she could go into the cub petting industry. It was there that people would pay to play with and pet a pure white tiger, and they paid extra for her coat color. The facility owners used her for as long as they could for hands on interactions, and with her unique coloration, she was surely regularly interacted with. This process is devastating for a developing cub, and can lead to something called metabolic bone disease, which is a life altering illness. Luckily, she did not obtain severe metabolic bone disease, from what we could tell, but she did not escape cub petting without lifelong ailments. And, unfortunately, when she outgrew this industry, she moved into an equally horrible one.
As she grew, she became too large and dangerous to be handled by the public, so the facility owners decided to sell her to a magician in Las Vegas. This is documented, though we don’t know at what age she was sold. At some point in her upbringing she was declawed, we speculate it was this magician that had this done so he could feel safer working with her – declawing big cats does not make them any safer. During her time in Las Vegas she was forced to perform in magic shows in noisy, smoky casinos, then crammed into a small transport cage between shows. In this environment, she was forced to work constantly, and when she wasn’t working she was in a small cage. This was her life for a few years, as she continued to reach maturity. Around three years old was when she fully matured, and it was then that she was either sold back to, or just sold to for the first time, the Colorado cub petting facility.
Colorado
This Colorado facility bought Shakira with the sole purpose of breeding her to create more cubs for their pay to play franchise. The facility introduced her to a male white tiger named Bosco and had them breed as many times as possible. They participated in speed breeding with Mama Shakira, having her get pregnant, give birth, and then they’d take her cubs immediately. This made her believe they passed away, resulting in a very natural reaction where she went back into heat to try again. The facility exploited this, though. Taking her cubs immediately after each birth, Mama Shakira ended up having four litters in two years. That’s more than any animal can handle, and this process squashed any motherly instincts she might’ve developed. So, when the TCWR team arrived for her rescue and saw she gave birth to one last litter, two female white tigers, we swiftly removed them. Every litter before them had died in her mind, so we worried for the safety of these two, as she had already rejected them. Luckily, though, her other litters had not passed. All four of her litters were rescued alongside her and her mate Bosco.
Now Mama Shakira can live the rest of her life in peace at a sanctuary where nobody will touch her, or force her to do anything, and the only thing we ask is that she remains as healthy and happy as she can for as long as she can. She truly has an inspiring story of heartbreak and hope, that touches visitors of the refuge every day. And we are pleased to mention, that nothing like this can easily happen again. Thanks to The Big Cat Public Safety Act, exploitation like what Mama, her cubs, and Bosco went through is federally illegal. And it’s thanks to visitors of the refuge, and people like you, reading this article, that changes like that can be made.