Lion, Tiger, Bear — Oh my!

Shere Khan, Leo and Baloo at home in the Clubhouse

On July 27, 2001, the Depart­ment of Nat­ural Resources deliv­ered an unusual fam­ily to Noah’s Ark Ani­mal Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Cen­ter in Locust Grove, Georgia.

This “fam­ily” con­sisted of three male cubs (all about three months old) that had been con­fis­cated dur­ing a drug bust. What made it unusual was that they were not born of the same mother – or even the same species. The cubs were a lion named Leo, a tiger named Shere Khan, and an Amer­i­can black bear named Baloo. When they arrived, it was appar­ent they had already bonded with each other. They played together, as sib­lings do, and even inter­acted with the facility’s dogs as though they were all the same species. Since these ani­mals came as a fam­ily, Noah’s Ark founders Jama and Charles “Pop” Hedge­coth decided to raise them as one.

Through­out the years, they con­tin­ued to live in har­mony. They ate together, slept together and even dur­ing play­time, never crossed the line from rough and tum­ble play into some­thing more serious.

Eight years later, these mag­nif­i­cent ani­mals con­tinue to live together in the same habi­tat. Not only do they co-exist, they dis­play affec­tion for each other with head butts, rub­bing against each other, and con­tin­ued play­ful inter­ac­tion. They still eat together – and sleep together in their very large, very sturdy “club­house.” When staff explain to vis­i­tors that Noah’s Ark has a lion, tiger and bear liv­ing together, the response echoes Dorothy in the land of Oz — “Oh my!”

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