Karen Osler, the big-cat handler and wild animal caretaker for the Western Pennsylvania National Wild Animal Orphanage, pets two lionesses in their cage. The orphanage takes in abused and neglected large cats, giving them a lifelong home. "By working with these animals day in and day out on a repetitive basis, you end up with an animal that totally loves and is bonded to you," she says.
A photograph of Karen with a lion sits among bottles of bleach that are used to clean up deer blood.
Raja, a white bengal tiger, is the only big cat Osler won't physically handle. He was owned by a drug ring and was used to kill those who owed money to the drug dealers. "Tigers do what tigers do, and in the wild they naturally kill…It’s very very hard to, in captivity, if you’ve positively reinforced them for very very bad behaviors...that’s the hardest thing to get back out of a cat," she says.
Osler cuts down branches from the orphanage's surrounding woods.
Osler then drags the branches, which will be used as toys, into a lion's cage at the orphanage. Seven days a week, Osler feeds, cares for, and plays with the cats. "I believe that, probably, before I was conceived, I was…this is what I was supposed to do," she says.
Karen Osler feeds deer meat to a tiger.
Karen Osler uses a forklift to hoist a dead cow in order to butcher it. The orphanage feeds about 200 pounds of deboned meat per day. Much of that comes from freshly roadkill deer, and some from cows that are donated after dying by local farmers.
Osler takes a strip of meat from a cow and drops it in a bucket. She receives phone calls from the State Police, community members and her family about the locations of roadkill deer. "The truth is I’m just very very passionate about the big cats. so what do i care if i’m spotted on 119 several times a week picking up freshly roadkill deer? I really don’t. I don’t even give it a thought," she says.
Karen Osler pets a tiger through a gap left in its cage at the orphanage. "It's horrible to see an animal that in my opinion is totally awesome and magnificent…I can’t even come up with a word that describes the way I feel for these animals. And so when I see an animal in types of conditions, maybe like in a small cage, or in feces, or basically in squalor conditions, it really tears me up," Osler says.
Osler plays with a lioness as it stands on top of a platform inside its cage.
A tiger approaches the fence of his cage looking for attention as Karen Osler passes by.
Osler walks down a row of cages, checking on the big cats. "The worst part of my job is actually when we lose a cat…The cats are very important to me. They’re like my family. And so when I lose one, its a very sad experience. But I also think about the lives that they’ve had. And I also think about all the good that we’ve done for them. We talk about the history of the cats not to be so really depressed about the histories of the cats, because they have an amazing life now. Every day i’m working on trying to make it better for them," Osler says.