Janice: I am their mother as far as they're
concerned. I am mummy. They rub me in the face, they'll let me kiss them on the nose.
COMM: Having pet cats may sound run of the
mill, but Janice Haley has taken her love of felines to the extreme, keeping two huge
tigers in her back garden.
COMM: Sabre, a 600lb male white bengal and
Janda, a 400lb bengal female, have lived with Janice since they were cubs.
COMM: Despite tigers having a fearsome reputation,
Janice has never been short of people wanting to help out.
Janice: Here we go! Laughs
Janice: Pretty much everyone that comes here to
interact with them. My volunteers are all basically part of their family.
COMM: Like most young males, Sabre can get
a little boisterous, but that's not enough to keep Carrie Ates from helping out.
Carrie: I don't get scared when the tigers
are dragging me around the cage. They're doing it in play and it's a relationship that we have,
especially Sabre, I've been there with him since he was two weeks old and have gone through
all the raising and the training and just growing up with him.
Carrie: You're not biting my nose!
Carrie: The playtime is good for them and
they don't make it scary. He's not aggressive when he's dragging me around, he's doing it
out of our relationship and it continues the bond I guess.
COMM: 57-year-old Janice and her husband David
work around the clock to care for 6-year-old Sabre and 12-year-old Janda.
Janice: Hi, are you going to let mummy in?
COMM: But only happened upon their extraordinary
life when she decided to quit her boring day job.
Janice: This adventure began back in 1995
when I was working behind a desk doing tedious work and I really wanted to get back outside
and my husband came up with this idea of working with these wild exotic animals.
COMM: Janice understands people may disagree
with her decision to raise the cats in captivity, but says Sabre and Janda have a good quality of life.
Janice: People who consider it cruel to keep
them in captivity have a point to a point. It is not the ideal place for a tiger to be in a cage, but
at this point in the wild there isn't a lot of hope for them out there anymore.
Janice: And if there aren't some of them still
left in cages, there aren't any going to be left at all in a couple of years from now.
Janice: We hand feed them three times a day
every single day and they are provided for and loved here.
Janice: In my opinion I wouldn't mind being
a tiger in my backyard.
COMM: After spending more than 12 hours caring
for Janda and Sabre, Janice can finally try to get some rest herself, before it all
starts again tomorrow.
Janice: Nighty-night guys, see you in the
morning. Have a good night, love you!