Hm, I've done more jobs that didn't pay at all then I had jobs that did. But the jobs that didn't pay were kinda fun to even extremely great! So for one I worked at a dog pound for a bit, which was kinda fun because (as everyone knows) I love animals and it's great fun playing with them. But dogs arn't realy my thing, I found out after a bit. Nah... Tiger's are my thing, so thats why I went to work with tigers instead.

First off, I can not believe I never posted this here, but it turns out I in fact never did as far as I recall. So here it goes.
I worked as a caretaker at a big cat sanctuary once, which was absolutely great to do for me! Even tho it only envolved mostly shitty work as cleaning cages, being in the constant smell of urine (which was actualy so strong in the morning that it was tearing my eyes, god bless the ventilation in that place... <_<) and cleaning out disgusting meat remains, just the fact that I could pet and scritch and play with the tigers over there made it all worth while ^_^.
It was all fun and all untill a black panther over their nearly took my freaking arm off! Yea I was being just a tad uncarefull ^^;. No worries tho, I still have all my limbs and fingers, but that could have ended very wrong.
Anyhoo, I'm ranting about tigers and big cats again... someone give me my injection and a cookie and I will be quiet....

How did he almost bite your arm off? What did you do to get him so angry?

Well, that particular panther happend to be the most agresive one at the center, completely by nature, I think. Either that or by years of abuse from the circus she grew up. She was send to us because she had attacked a stage girl during the act, which I can't remember if she died or not. During transport, they put her in the back of a truck, without sadating her and by the time they got there the entire interiour of the truck was shred to pieces.
But ay, to the story of my arm almost being torn off: I had been warned that she was rahter agresive, and not pettable like many of the tigers I could pet. So I was already extra carefull when working in the cages next to hers, so that I wouldn't be in her reach. The holes in the fence were big enough to put her paw trough, so then she would have been able to grab me. When I was almost done, I had to poor some water in the cat's baskets with a (thing you water the plants with, can't think of what it's called >.<). But I was stupid enough to actualy stick the tip of it trough the bars, and before I knew it she had her tooth dug into it, and gave it a firm pull, slamming me right into the other side of the bars. Then she lunged a claw at me, which I just managed to avoid, otherwise I prolly would have been a lot worse off. Those animals can inflict serious damage, even when they grab you from behind a fence. So yea. I ended up in a tug-o-war with her to get the thing back from her grasp, and eventualy it actualy broke in half! :|. So I was completely exausted, as she seemed to just have a good time. I've never been that exausted in my life, I was about to pass out! Never play tug-o-war with a Panther!

Jeeze, sounds............ well dangerous.

Well Im glad youve got 2 arms still Havoc! By the way you want to work with tigers right?
Well what exactly do you wish to do?

Well right now I'm in the process of planning on setting up a big cat sanctuary pretty much as the one I worked at earlier. Just taking care of them, train them, interact with them. I've got everything already planned out in my head, just need to put it all on paper and get the money sorted. Then I can start on putting it into practice.

Thats cool. Maybe someday you will have the new "sigfried and roy" (I have no idea if I spelt that right!) act! Who knows.


Do you live close to the cat santuary that you worked at?

It's Siegfried and Roy ;). Me and the guys I'm planning this with are actualy planning on training tigers and lions once we have cubs, as we can't train already adult animals. So who knows what will happen. Anything is possible I guess, although I have no intention of making it some comercial zoo/circus thing. I'm merely doing it because I want to dedicate my life to these awsome creatures.

And no, actualy. I lived a huge end away from it. I worked there 3 days a week, spend the nights there in the time I had to work there.
It was a 3 hour train/bus ride to get there, and a 2.5 hour train/bus ride to get back home. Needless to say I didn't cope with it very long. Not just that, there were like 50 cats at that sanctuary and only 3 people at the most to take care of them. And even though they managed to do it every day again, taking care of that many cats is almost imposible to with so little people. So eventualy it just wore me out and I had to quit, also in the best interest of the animals.

Yeah I can see how that would be hard on you! And being away from your family and all, I wouldnt be able to do that even if I stayed overnight.

Well thats cool that you and your friends are doing all that. It sounds like you have a great passion for the tigers. You got it made!
Hey maybe you could do something with that sanctuary that you worked in?
You could tell them what up and possibly get a donation or something.
So you guys can train the adults easily but not the kids? why is that, I thought it was the longer you wait , the harder they get to train?

Yup, my passion for tigers is very VERY big... hehe. I doubt I'l get a donation from that sanctuary tho. Their low on money as it is ;).

I did say, when we have cubs, we will start training them because we can't train adult animals. Training an animal, especialy a dangerous and strong animal such as a tiger, takes a strong personal bond with it. And you can only realy get an extremely strong bond with it if you start interacting it from day one. And that's what we plan on doing.

Oh ok. I must have read your reply wrong then. Where are you planning to get the tigers?

Currently plans are for the U.K. Cuz they have realy smooth laws when it comes to owning exotic animals ;).

Yeah makes sence. How are you supposed to train them, with what commands?

You can train big cats pretty much in two ways. Either by force, or by trust. The force kind is/was often used in circuses, where the animals usualy did their tricks in fear of pain from a whip or a stick.
But you can also train them based on trust, and reward them for doing something good instead of hurting them when doing something wrong. The commands you give can kinda vary. They can range anywhere from hand signals, to facial expressions to vocal commands. That depends on the animal. Some respond better to vocal while other take a better understanding in hand signals.
Rewards are given in the form of tiny pieces of meat.
Training a big cat takes years tho, you need to spend hours and hours with it from the day it was born, every single day. You can't just take a break for a week or two, cuz then you will lose the bond with the animal.

I HATE my job. I am a grocery store cashier. Well, I just took my biology final, so if I pass it, which is the last class I need from community college, I will be working as an intern funeral director soon! Can't wait! (I'm perdy sure I passed bio.)

So yeah, I can't wait to get outta the house and move on with my life and get a REAL job! ...a job where the customers don't complain! hehe

Havoc, have you read Life of Pi? There's a really interesting bit in there about training big cats.

I can't believe you actually got to touch the tigers! *swoons* Do they really just let you poke your hand through the fence and touch them? I'd be crapping my pants doing that.

And, in answer to Ambi's question: yes, I'm travelling and having fun but that takes quite a bit of dough, especially considering I'm now staying three months longer than I was originally going to. Remember, I'm studying at a university here now so I'm based in one place for a while so a job is not a problem.

WOW facial expresions, they must be very smart creatures!
I absolutley HATE animal abuse! It sucks. I would much rather start a good bond with it then beat it.

Me gidda jawb too!

I had interviews today at Starbucks and Barnes & Noble. Starbucks were nice but told me they didn't want me because I'm only going to be here for another three months and it's not worth it to them to train me.

The interview with B&N was really chilled and relaxed and at the end he just said "Do you want to come in at 9am tomorrow?". To which my answer was a resounding "YES, thankyou sir, let me get on my knees and show you how much I appreciate this..."

Or something similar.

Hehe, Congrats Nate! Good luck with your job. What is kind of shop is B&N? Sounds like some bookstore or something. And now that we're talking about reading, I'l give that Life of Pi thing a search sometimes. Thanks!

Oh yes, well it depends on the animal in question ofcourse, I couldn't do it with every tiger there. If I did that I WOULD have lost an arm. But we had three younger (2 year old, almost fully grown) tigers there who had grown up there and were used to people being around them. The owners actualy took them for walks around the sanctuary just before I got there.
I think I could even have gotten away to just stepping into the cage and giving it a big hug, but instead I just spend minutes at the bars, earscritching, chinscritching, petting and poking :P.

Nate! Congrats! Good Luck! Gimme half of your pay!(I hope this works)

Well I wish you the best of all the luck, even though you probably wont read this until its over.

Yeah, not a chance Cullen.

Havoc I have to say I'm green with envy right now. Tigers are damn high on my list of favourite animals too. I can't believe you haven't heard of Life of Pi though. It's a story about a boy who is shipwrecked and has to stay alive on a lifeboat with a huge Bengal tiger. I personally thought it was great until the last few chapters but most people I've talked to say it's the most amazing book they've ever read and completely changed their perspectives on life and spirituality.

Oh! That story! Yea I've heard of that, just didn't know the title. I realy wanted to read it when I first heard about it but I forgot it. Thanks for reminding me!

*Does Google Search*

I have'nt read that book, but I've seen a movie where a kid is shipwrecked and sails out to an island. There he finds a bunch of tigers and learns to really love them.

Hey hey hey... what movie was that? :P

Cant remember the name. Sorry. Why?

Me + Tiger = Intrest!

I'm interested in everything that is related or remotely related to them. So I hoped you had some background on it :(.

Ill try and find out and when I do ill post it.

i like tigers, hell i like all felines, but i'm more of a canine person

I'm underaged so I really can't get a job, but I draw for my local newspaper. (some kind of "youngsters' column", or how should I translate it, appears in the paper every saturday.
It's some kind of "freelancer" stuff :goof:
But noticing how drawing the pictures takes so little time (and it's easy to please the newspaper blokes), the pay is huge; 17 euros per picture.
Just something to match the season or
some earlier informed theme.

and you are how old??? 'sides u can always find a job anywhere, just not a well paying Job.


anywayz, i'm a hitman.YEAH!!! nah i sometimes work at McDonalds.

I don't like you.