Border patrol agent finds black bag – opens it to discover tiger cub close to death

Far too many animals are treated as if they are just an object that can be thrown away when they become an inconvenience.

Thankfully there are people who dedicate their lives to helping these needy animals and work hard to give them the second chance they deserve.

Border patrol agent Marshall Maynard was working in Brownsville, Texas, close to the Rio Grande border, in April 2018 when he spotted three people trying to enter the country illegally.

As he pursued them the three fled back to Mexico but in doing so dropped a black duffel bag

I’m in no doubt that border patrol agents see their fair share of weird and wonderful sights but nothing could have prepared Marshall for what he saw when he opened the bag.

Found tiger cubs

He discovered a tiger, aged three to four months, laying motionless in the bag.

According to senior vetinary staff at Gladys Porter Zoo, where the tiger was first taken, the animal was at death’s door with a temperature of 107 degrees.

“It’s safe to say that had this ordeal gone on for even 30 minutes longer, if he’d been in that duffle bag for another 30 minutes, we would not be having this conversation today; he would’ve been dead,” said Gladys Porter Zoo senior veterinarian Thomas DeMaar.

Put with a playmate

From the zoo, the tiger was ransported to In-Sync Exotics, a wildlife sanctuary in Wiley where the 70-pound tiger was due to be put with another tiger of the same age, according to the Brownsville Herald.

While at the zoo chief veterinarian Thomas DeMaar said as there was a lot of interest in the tiger, they took it as an opportunity to create an exhibit to teach its visitors about wildlife trafficking.

“Sometimes, people don’t even know that these things are prohibited or that they have a serious effect on wildlife conservation. These animals are being extracted from their natural habitat and put in as commercial entity.” Thomas told the Brownsville Herald.