Scottsdale’s Southwest Wildlife rescue sending tiger cub to Minnesota

It’s always our hope and goal to get the animal re-introduce and released back into the wild but in Indy’s case she will be headed to a Wildlife Sanctuary where they specialize in caring for big cats and she can live out many years ahead.”

Jamie Haas Oliver, Southwest Wildlife development manager

Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale will bid farewell to “Indy” the tiger cub today as she heads thousands of miles away to her new permanent home.

The five-month-old cub, weighing 90 pounds, will be transferred at 10:30 a.m. from the north Scottsdale sanctuary to The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, Minnesota, according to a press release.

Southwest Wildlife representatives are proud to have taken care of the animal for the last few months and are excited for Indy’s next chapter, said the release, offering detais on the non-profit SWCC, which relies on 100-percent donations and grants to rehabilitate and care for animals.

“This is what we do here at Southwest Wildlife. We take in animals that have been injured or inadequately cared for so we can get them rehabilitated and healthy until we find their new forever home,” said Jamie Haas Oliver, Southwest Wildlife development manager, in the release.

“It’s always our hope and goal to get the animal re-introduce and released back into the wild but in Indy’s case she will be headed to a Wildlife Sanctuary where they specialize in caring for big cats and she can live out many years ahead.”

The tiger cub made local/national news after a Valley man was reported to have illegally listed the cub for sale on social media and tried to sell her earlier this year. Police arrested and charged the man with owning and trying to sell her, noted the release.

Indy was temporarily cared for at the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale while the case gets resolved.

“Our sanctuary provides transport and proper lifetime care, all at our own expense, to ensure tigers like Indy grow up in a proper and safe environment,” said The Wildcat Sanctuary Founder Tammy Thies in the release.

“We’re so grateful for the care Southwest Wildlife gave Indy during the court case. She’s a healthy, happy tiger because of them. As an accredited sanctuary, we commonly assist the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and other authorities on cases like these. Tigers and other big cats are still being sold and trafficked illegally in the United States.”

The Wildcat Sanctuary - TWS - staff will drive 3,400 miles round-trip to pick up Indy who will live with 130 other rescued big cats at the setting. She will enjoy a large, free-roaming habitat with a heated indoor bedroom, pools, caves and plenty of enrichment to keep her happy and her senses challenged.

The sanctuary plans to introduce Indy to other tigers when she is big enough, the release stated. of where Indy is going. In 2021, TWS took in four big cats, made famous by the Netflix series seized by the Department of Justice from Tiger King Park.

TWS is the only accredited, non-profit sanctuary in the Midwest that provides a natural sanctuary to wild cats in need and inspires change to end the captive wildlife crisis. You can watch Indy grow up on the TWS’s social media pages.

Accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, TWS combines natural and spacious habitats with a life free of exhibition, allowing residents to “live wild at heart at the sanctuary,” which does not buy, breed, sell or exhibit animals.

See WildcatSanctuary.org and southwestwildlife.org.