Lion, tiger, bear are best friends at Georgia exotic animal sanctuary
Lion and tiger and bear, oh my! For 13 years, Baloo, Leo and Shere Khan have been best friends. The three animals, who live at Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Georgia, were rescued as cubs from a drug dealer who kept them as pets. In the wild, the three species hail from different continents and would have never met.
lion, a tiger and a bear can be friends, can’t we all just get along?
At a Georgia exotic animal rescue, Baloo the bear, Leo the lion and Shere Khan the tiger have been best pals for 13 years. They even live in the same enclosure.
Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Locust Grove calls the unlikely friends “the BLT.”
“They actually seek out each other’s affections,” Allison Hedgecoth, Noah’s Ark animal husbandry manager, told the “Today” show. “They nuzzle each other. They play together.”
The three were rescued 13 years ago from an Atlanta drug dealer, who kept the exotic pets as status symbols.
Confined to an apartment, the cubs were malnourished, riddled with parasites and terrified.
The BLT’s horrifying first months established an unbreakable bond. They were taken to the sanctuary, where they healed — together.
In fact, the only time the friends have ever been apart was when Baloo underwent surgery to remove an ingrown harness he was forced to wear at the apartment. The restraint was so tight, the poor brown bear’s skin had grown over it.
With Baloo gone for medical treatment, Shere Khan and Leo were upset, “pacing and vocalizing for the lost member of their family of three to return,” Noah’s Ark wrote on its website.