Joseph

JOSEPH  Lion

DOB 8/19/98

Joseph may be the youngest cat in his pride, but he is the strongest and the most fearless.  He fiercely protects both male and females in his family.  He is the only one that was not defanged by his former owner, but he hangs his tongue out, like the defanged cats cannot help but do, just to be like them. 

Siberian Tiger Foundation Rescue:

It took the combined efforts of USDA, undercover agents and concerned citizens seven years to shut down Diana McCourt and the Siberian Tiger Foundation. It wasn’t until her landlords were able to evict her from the property that Knox County was able to seize the six cats that had been used for years as props in a "tiger training" scheme. Even though McCourt lost her USDA license to operate the tiger-tamer camp in 2000, and permanently in 2006, she continued to charge people to come into her back yard in Gambier, OH and pet the adult lions and tigers. The cats would often be chained down so that people could touch them or have their photos made with the cats. To make the cats more pliable McCourt had their teeth and claws removed. Despite the abusive violations to their bodies and mobility, the USDA investigation included eight allegations of attacks on visitors in an 8 month period.

In August 2007 McCourt had been evicted and Knox County was awarded custody of the four tigers and two lions. Dean Vickers, the State Director for the Ohio branch of the HSUS contacted Big Cat Rescue and asked if we could take the cats, but six more big cats would increase our annual budget by $45,000.00. We agreed and took two tigers, Nik & Sim and two lions, Joseph and Sasha. The remaining two tigers were placed with another sanctuary in Texas with the help of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.