these creatures were. Ilka placed her hand against Munchie’s cage, and the tiger licked it, 10 years after they had first touched.

Kay invited us into her home. We sat down and talked. In addition to her shows, she said, she presented educational programs about the great cats. Because of their perceived value in far Eastern medicines, tigers have been hunted mercilessly. Some breeds were extinct, and others nearing extinction, including Siberian tigers, Munchie’s breed. At that time, more tigers lived in captivity than in the wild, and they lived twice as long as in the wild. Kay’s tigers, and others in captivity, had been bred in that environment for at least 10 generations.

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t wild. Kay was never alone with her animals. Whenever she entered their...

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