Aasha was forced to undergo some of the most horrific treatment that you could ever imagine. While most of us would not expect a tiger to experience this type of abuse, she suffered through horrifying neglect and her life did not have a very rosy outlook. She was underweight and had lost several patches of fur. Her skin was cracking as well.
By the time she was found, she was bleeding all over. An inspector from the United States Department of Agriculture eventually caught wind of the situation. They asked some of the helpful personnel at Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Educational Centre if they would be willing to assist Aasha with her care. Vicky Keahey is the founder of the center and she was baffled by the situation.
When she first met Aasha, the cub was the size of a three month old. This is almost unheard of for a nine month old tiger. It takes a great deal of neglect and horrific living conditions for a tiger’s size to dwindle like this. The poor tiger had been forced to live with a traveling circus. One of the other tigers would regularly nip at her.
The inspectors knew that she was not going to be in good shape but they had no idea how deplorable her living conditions were. Once she was taken in, she was diagnosed with ringworm. Upon arrival, Aasha was spending her time in an enclosed environment so that she can heal. In order for her body to heal, she would also need to take medicated baths.
As you may have expected, Aasha was not a fan of those at first. Who would be? Eventually, she would become accustomed to the medicated baths and started to splash around in the water just like any other animal would. Aasha also befriended a larger tiger by the name of Smuggler. Smuggler was definitely attracted to her and the handlers decided to let them have a courting period.
It did not take long for them to move in together. Fast forward four years and their love is still going strong. If you would like to take a closer look at their love connection, please be sure to check out the video below. We are swooning over these two already. Aasha may have had a rough start to her life but she is definitely sitting pretty now.