Rescue Network · Big Cat Sanctuary

Tajmir the Tiger Blows Bubbles in His Pool: From a Czech Backyard to a Dutch Sanctuary

He’s a full grown tiger. He’s also a thirteen year old with a ball, a pool and no intention of acting his age.

Bubbles. Splashing. A ball he refuses to share.

Tajmir doesn’t seem to know he is one of the most formidable predators on Earth. In a clip shared by FOUR PAWS as part of its Sanctuary Saturdays series, the tiger wades into his pool at the FELIDA Big Cat Sanctuary in the Netherlands, blows streams of bubbles, chases a ball around the water and sends spray flying in every direction. He may be an adult, as the sanctuary puts it, but he plays like a cub.

Tajmir in his pool at FELIDA Big Cat Sanctuary. Video courtesy of FOUR PAWS.

A Tiger Who Waited a Long Time for This

The pool is the happy ending to a hard story. Tajmir was born in 2013 at a big cat breeding facility in the Czech Republic and was passed to a private owner in 2015. Czech authorities later found that he was being kept without the required paperwork and in conditions below the country’s legal minimums. The owner didn’t fix the problems, and the tiger was confiscated. Then, in March 2025, the owner lost his property to foreclosure and abandoned the animal altogether.

Officials who reached the site found a tiger in a small, dirty enclosure with no shelter from the weather. He was thin, sick and injured. Authorities and staff from a nearby zoo made sure he received basic care while a longer term plan was worked out, and in April, Zoo Liberec took him in. At that point, Czech officials asked FOUR PAWS for help.

He had been starved, abandoned and forgotten. Now he plays with a ball.

Recovery at Zoo Liberec

The medical picture on arrival was sobering. Tajmir tested positive for salmonella, was underweight and malnourished, and had mobility problems that were likely tied to his earlier care. He also showed stereotypic behaviors, the repetitive pacing and similar movements that big cats develop under stress and confinement. The zoo treated the infection, rebuilt his diet with supplements and began training him to walk into a transport crate, a step that paid off later. When the day came to move, he went in on his own, and no anesthesia was needed.

The Road to FELIDA

In September 2025, FOUR PAWS staff and colleagues from FELIDA drove to northern Czechia to meet the transport at the rescue site. The trip to the Netherlands took about nine hours, with several stops for check-ups. The specially equipped “big cat ambulance” carried a surveillance system so that a veterinarian could monitor Tajmir throughout. Juno van Zon, chief animal caretaker at FELIDA, said Tajmir was very tired after the long journey but was already beginning to settle in.

He arrived in the evening and walked straight into his indoor enclosure, where he ate meat from his caretakers. After an adaptation period indoors and a full health check, he was given access to an outdoor habitat with a pond, climbing structures and a zipline. FOUR PAWS says he is the biggest and tallest big cat at the sanctuary, and that he enjoys scratching, enrichment toys and, of course, the water.

What FELIDA Does

FELIDA Big Cat Sanctuary is part of FOUR PAWS’ wild animal work in the Netherlands, established in 2014. It cares for big cats with difficult pasts, including animals confiscated from illegal keeping, circuses and private owners, and gives them lifelong, individualized care. Tajmir isn’t the only recent arrival from the Czech Republic. A lion cub named Mero, confiscated there in March 2025, has been settling in at FELIDA as well. Sanctuary Saturdays, the series that produced the pool video, is FOUR PAWS’ way of sharing success stories from its sanctuaries and partners around the world.

The broader problem hasn’t gone away. Big cats are bred and kept as pets, attractions and status symbols in many countries, often by people unprepared for the cost or the danger. When the owners fail, the animals are the ones left behind. That is why sanctuaries such as FELIDA exist, and why stories like Tajmir’s are worth telling. A tiger that once sat in a filthy enclosure is now blowing bubbles in a pool, and every part of that sentence took the work of people who refused to look away.

Tajmir’s Road, Step by Step

• 2013Born at a big cat breeding facility in the Czech Republic.
• 2015Transferred to a private owner.
• March 2025Owner loses the property and abandons him. Authorities step in.
• April 2025Zoo Liberec takes him in for treatment. FOUR PAWS is asked to help.
• September 2025A nine hour journey brings him to FELIDA in the Netherlands.
• 2026Tajmir plays in his pool, now a regular on Sanctuary Saturdays.