The tale of two tigers continues

Albion, Ind. (WANE) - It's been nearly a week since Delilah and Sammie moved to their new home.

Black Pine Animal Sanctuary staff say the tigers are adjusting well despite the completely new environment.

"I think we made a lot of progress in the first week," said Lori Gagen, the Executive Director at Black Pine. "Both of these cats are entering new house, new faces, new smells, new sight, sounds, everything, so so far so good."

Delilah and Sammie are two tigers that were rescued from Ohio and brought to Albion last Sunday. NewsChannel 15 was the only news crew to make the trip to give you an exclusive look at that rescue.
Now a week later, staff say the tigers are doing well despite their completely new environment.

"We're excited to be able to take these tigers in that needed a home," said Renee Runkle, Black Pine's board president. "It's been exciting to see them adjust and be comfortable here."

Sammie is an endangered species. There's only around 500 of his kind left in the world. His transition is going smoothly. Delilah, a different breed, is still a bit fussy, but staff say with time, she will become more relaxed.

"It's to be expected the way she's behaving," Runkle said. "Hopefully, when we get these other two tigers, she will have more of the smells she's used to and more of the animals she's used to being around, and that will just help her in her adjustment."

Black Pine staff are going back to Ashland, Ohio this Sunday to get the other two tigers from Tiger Paw Rescue Center, Taz and Ticha. Once those tigers come, there will be nine tigers in total at the sanctuary.

"We've been doing this for a long time with a lot of the same people, so we expect everything to go very safely, and plan accordingly, looking forward to getting them all here," Gagen said.

Black Pine is moving towards their goal, but they are still in need of donations in order to build the $50,000 permanent habitat for the four new tigers.