Spokane Tiger Gets New Home 500-Pound Cat Transported To Man’s Private Zoo At Nampa

A 5-year-old, 500-pound tiger named Tigger has arrived at a local private zoo from an animal rehabilitation center in Spokane.

Jerry Korn, owner of For the Birds, said Tigger was placed in a 70-by-120-foot cage overlooking Interstate 84 on Monday.

Korn picked up the tiger Sunday, using a turkey leg to entice the big cat into a 3-by-7-foot metal transport box in the back of his truck.

“We loaded him in about five minutes,” Korn said. “We didn’t even have to tranquilize him.”

Getting him out of the pickup Monday took a little longer, but, using a forklift, Korn and his son, Leon, eventually got Tigger from the driveway to his new $40,000 pen.

Korn originally built the pen for Leonard the lion, but the lion died of liver disease at Zoo Boise last summer before he could be transferred to For the Birds.

Korn said he may go back to Spokane next weekend to pick up another tiger, but he wants to see how things go with Tigger first. A separate enclosure, adjacent to Tigger’s lair, awaits the second tiger.

So far, Tigger has been on his best behavior.

“He acts like a big old house cat,” Korn said.