When I was about seven years old, my grandma “adopted” a Siberian Tiger for me for my birthday. The tiger has always been my favorite animal. And today, we actually pet a tiger. No joke. A 207 kg (455 pound), 19-year old tiger. I still feel giddy like a kid on Christmas morning after the whole thing. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Last night, at our friend Marina’s house, we met Rodrigo and Dami – a married, Brazilian couple, both of whom are veterinarians. They recently returned from Dallas after two years practicing at a private zoo as Rodrigo accepted a position as the Director of Zoológico de São Paulo, the largest zoo in South America. As we were talking, Dami was telling us about how she had done a root canal on a lion yesterday. After saying how incredibly cool I thought this was, I made an off-hand comment about how I hoped to pet a tiger one day.  The response: well, we’re actually doing a blood transfusion on a tiger in the morning – want to join? No brainer.

So, this morning we arrived at the zoo at 9am. Rodrigo was busy prepping for the occasion while Dami gave us a tour of the animal hospital/care center. After getting a close up look at a lion and various species of monkeys among other animals, we took a drive through the park to deliver some antibiotics to another tiger (the zoo has 12 total). The antibiotics were delivered via pressurized syringes through a blow tube. There were five syringes to be delivered in total, and unsurprisingly, the tiger didn’t react with joy upon being stuck. Having a tiger roar and leap at the cage wall just a few feet away from us was the perfect way to really get into the spirit of the day.

By the time we returned, the tiger was being sedated. It took four to five people to move the tiger out of its holding pen onto the operating table.  Then, it was intubated, which required Dr. Rodrigo putting his entire arm into the tiger’s mouth, and the blood line was inserted into its jugular. Over the next hour or so, about 2.5 liters of blood were drawn. The blood was being taken for a sick tiger from another zoo about two hours from SP. Once the transfusion was underway, we were essentially free to pet him and snap some photos. The paws alone were as big as my head…and heavy!  When the process was finished, I even got to help them move the tiger from the operating table back to the holding pen. From that point, they gave him some more drugs to wake him up.  Within about 10 minutes or so, he was back up and making all kinds of noise to let us know he was perfectly fine though perhaps not thrilled about the situation.

What an experience…still can’t believe it. It is definitely among the cooler things I’ve done in my life. Many thanks to Rodrigo and Dami for an incredible day!

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