SANDSTONE, Minn. — It's a long way to retirement - longer if you're a 16-year-old tiger from Argentina looking to spend "the golden years" in Minnesota.
Lucy, a 16-year-old tiger, is now basking in the natural habitat of the Minnesota Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, but the journey to her new home wasn't easy. She traveled 7,200 miles from a barren zoo in Mendoza, Argentina, flying on planes, passing through customs, and eventually embarking on an old fashioned road trip from New York.
So how did it happen? Turn back the clock to 2018, when the Wildcat Sanctuary agreed to take in seven lions after being contacted by animal advocates who wanted to rescue them from the Mendoza Zoo. All survived a grueling trip to settle into their new home in central Minnesota.
Those same advocates reached out again in 2021, asking sanctuary officials if they could take Lucy, the last big cat living at the zoo, which had been closed.
“I remember being asked if it was the right thing to try and move a geriatric tiger literally across the world," recalled Wildcat Sanctuary executive director Tammy Theis. "But not helping meant she might never know what it was like to have grass under her feet or freedom to roam."
It took years, but earlier this week Lucy was driven more than 12 hours from the Mendoza Zoo complex to the airport in Buenos Aires. From there she flew to New York, where a crew from the Wildcat Sanctuary picked her up and made the 1,200-mile journey to her forever home in Sandstone.
“The Wildcat Sanctuary will provide her with better living conditions, satisfying her needs and requirements for this stage of her life, in which old age begins to manifest daily challenges," said officials with the Mendoza Zoo.
Lucy is now adjusting to life in Minnesota, basking in the sun, roaming her natural grassy habitat, cuddling up in soft, straw-filled beds and enjoying more freedom than she’s ever experienced.
For more on the tiger's journey and her new life in Minnesota, check out the Wildcat Sanctuary's Facebook page.
