TERA International: Tiger Exotic Animal Ranger Awareness

10/13/2026

10/13/2026

10/13/2026

10/13/2026

Team TERA is shocked and saddened by the news of the deadly risk to Altai the tiger. We extend our condolences to the family of the man who died at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Branton England this past Saturday.

Yorkshire Police have confirmed, that at the family's request, they will not release the name of the man who unlawfully entered Altai's enclosure. The City of Doncaster Council has opened a routine health and safety investigation. Team TERA has found no record of violations or safety hazards at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. The park operates under Britain's 1981 Zoo Licensing Act and has clearly published safety procedures addressing dangerous animals, visitor separation, emergencies, and evacuations.

The decedent was reportedly in his 20s and had been admitted to the wildlife park alone. For now, this puts to rest any rumors about him being developmentally disabled, special needs or having carers who were not looking after him properly.

The most significant development is that officials at Yorkshire Wildlife Park have explicitly ruled out euthanizing Altai, rather than merely saying his “fate remains undecided.” This is the best possible outcome. Despite the sympathies that one has for the decedent and his family, and the horrendous videos circulating on the Internet, this was a 100% preventable tragedy. There’s absolutely no reason to destroy Altai due to human behavior. Tigers, both in captivity and in the wild, have had enough of that for millennia.

Altai, the male Amur (Siberian) tiger, arrived at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in March 2025, having been transferred from Dyreparken Zoo in Kristiansand, Norway.

Amur tiger refers to the Amur River region of the Russian Far East and Northeastern China. Siberian tiger is the traditional, commonly used Soviet-era name. Currently, most of the remaining wild populations are in the Far East rather than Siberia proper. The two tiger subspecies names are interchangeable.

Altai is part of the European-based endangered-species breeding program, Amur Tiger EAZA Ex-situ Programme (EEP), administered by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). The program was previously known as the European Endangered Species Programme, which is the terminology Yorkshire Wildlife Park used when announcing Altai's arrival in 2025.

The intention of the program is to pair him with the resident female Amur tiger, Tschuna. Altai had been at Yorkshire Wildlife Park for approximately 19 months without incident. What occurred on October 10, 2026, almost cost him his life.

The man who breached his enclosure and broke the law made a terrible choice.

As with the tragic 2021 incident that occurred at the zoo in Naples, Florida, our statement still stands that when human beings trespass, aggress, and break the law by entering an endangered animal’s enclosure, they then forfeit their right to be protected at the expense of another life. Saving an adult trespasser's life should never come at the expense of an endangered captive animal’s existence.

And unlike the incident at the Naples Zoo, where officials were mind-numbingly stupid, refusing to press charges, and authorities allowed the criminal behavior of River Rosenquest to take the life of Eko the Sumatran tiger, what occurred at Yorkshire Wildlife Park is the best possible outcome.

If you illegally enter a tiger’s cage, or that of a lion or polar bear, you then have to assume individual responsibility. Without individual responsibility, society doesn't function and cannot move forward.

09/19/2026

What could have ended in tragedy today became a fascinating and important lesson for the San Francisco, Bay Area in human and apex animal co-existence. At approximately 2:30 Pacific Standard Time the Sunset mountain lion was released into the Santa Cruz Mountains. A research team from the Santa Cruz Puma Project fitted him with a satellite GPS collar. Video of his spectacular release to freedom in the comment section! 😻🦁

Before release, California Department of Fish and Wildlife determined that he was very healthy. Approximately 2 to 3 years old and 78 pounds. And did not require an overnight stay at a wildlife hospital or any medical care. They determined the mountain lion is what's known as a "dispersing young male." Basically a young mountain lion who no longer hunts alongside his mother and is now looking for a territory of his own with no other alpha males. The shrinking amount of wilderness alongside over a decade of historical and devastating fires in California are the primary reasons we are seeing more mountain lions in heavily populated urban areas. Non lethal methods like tranquilizing and relocation are the way forward.

TERA International extends our gratitude to the different agencies which facilitated the safe tranquilization and relocation of the young adult male mountain lion roaming San Francisco's Outer Sunset District. Though there is no official confirmation we are convinced this was the same fellow spotted in Golden Gate Park ten days ago.

And while authorities assumed the lion left the area, TERA advised that San Francisco residents and vistors not walk their dogs or be out at night for safety reasons, for the next month. Needless to say, we are relieved that no one, especially the mountain lion, was hurt.

09/07/2026

Many people have been asking about the mountain lion that was spotted in Golden Gate Park this weekend. Before we update it’s important to note that you should never have a dog off leash at dawn or dusk and a domestic cats should not be outdoors unattended. This safety rule applies when there’s a mountain lion sighting or not. Urban areas not only contain the potential for mountain lions, but coyotes and foxes- all potentially deadly for domestic animals.

Currently the Panhandle Mountain Lion has not been captured because wildlife officials wisely decided it was safer to let he or she walk away on their own with hopes they move away from the park vicinity, westward toward the ocean. This direction means a safe return to the wild.

The mountain lion was originally spotted high up in a tree in the Panhandle section of the park on Saturday night. Instead of using tranquilizer darts, San Francisco Animal Care & Control and state wildlife experts intentionally kept the area calm and quiet so the cat could climb down and leave naturally overnight. Darting a mountain lion high in a tree can be dangerous for the animal, and since it wasn't trapped or cornered, it was best to let it move out of the area.

Thermal imaging drones confirmed the lion left the Panhandle tree sometime during the night, and all police tape was removed by Sunday morning. On Sunday afternoon around 3:00 PM, a person walking an off-leash dog (PLEASE use a leash everyone) reported seeing the mountain lion on a path near 44th Avenue and Fulton Street (the northwest edge of Golden Gate Park).

The mountain lion quickly ran away into the brush.��If you are in the area, authorities advise keeping your dogs on a tight leash, keeping small children close, and slowly backing away if you happen to see a mountain lion. TERA advises avoiding the area in and around the Panhandle for the next week.



(Sources: San Francisco Chronicle, ABC7 Bay Area, SF Gate)

09/05/2026

Update on the 135 animals seized at the US Mexican border last week:

The animals were examined by Mexico's environmental agency and the Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA).

On August 28, PROFEPA reported that, overall, the animals are in good health. 90 of the animals/species have some level of national or international protection, under Mexico's NOM-059 system and/or CITES.

Still no word yet on where the animals will be sent to including five Bengal tigers, three jaguars, three African lions, two hyenas, 21 Mexican spider monkeys, a liger and numerous other animals in the group.

The animals were found at a ranch during five searches connected to an investigation into illegal fuel trafficking. Authorities also seized approximately 68,000 liters of diesel, weapons and extensive fuel-handling equipment, and arrested one person though the actual "kingpin" or ring has yet to be discovered.

TERA will update when we know more. 🐅

02/12/2026

TERA applauds the decision of The California Department of Fish and Wildlife to designate six identified mountain lion populations as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act. This is a critical decision for the most widely distributed apex predator in California as well as in the entire Western Hemisphere.

Genetic and landscape studies have found that mountain lions in Southern California and the Central Coast are isolated by urban development, freeways leading it's not just a tragic accidents, but to low genetic diversity and inbreeding in numerous groups.

What the protection will mean under CESA is that developers will have to minimize impacts on the protected mountain lion habitats. Activities that exacerbate habitat fragmentation will be minimized. This includes (but is not limited to) highway and road construction, urban and suburban development and commercial industrial infrastructure.

Mountain lions rely on large connected tracts of land, the ability for young males to disperse across large territories and distances, and of course, the genetic exchange between populations.

As seen in the Santa Monica Mountains, when inbreeding increases, then survival of mountain, lions decline overall and the entire populations become vulnerable to local extinction.

The specific Mountain Lion populations granted for protection are the following:

Santa Cruz Mountains (sometimes included in the Central Coast North region)

Central Coast (general region including habitat from San Francisco Bay southward)

Santa Monica Mountains

San Gabriel & San Bernardino Mountains

Santa Ana Mountains

Eastern Peninsular Ranges (near the U.S.–Mexico border region)

Those in opposition to the inclusion of mountain lions in CESA have displayed a paucity of knowledge and empathy. Humans with large families and aggressive property developers cannot keep encroaching onto and building into the undeveloped wilderness. The health of our forests, mountains, chapprell and grasslands are dependent on the mountain lion's apex predator status.

Without mountain lions, deer populations skyrocket, leading to overgrazing of native plants, degrade of riparian habitat and thus biodiversity declines and in some cases will collapse. When young male mountain lions dispersed naturally instead of being forced into the edges of suburbia, then vehicle collisions with deer are greatly redu reduced.

Deer are the leading animal related cause of death in the United States because of vehicle collisions.