‘ My tigers helped me with depression’
For big cat fanatic Gert the two tigers he’s raised from cubs are more than pets – they’ve helped to lift him from the depths of despair
‘My dad used to say if you take a wild animal out of its natural habitat, you need to care for it even better than God did’
THE finches in the trees at the dam suddenly erupt into a riot of agitated noise. Something is freaking them out – and it soon becomes clear why when a man arrives with two huge Bengal tigers in tow. It’s hard to imagine this scene playing out in the Free State, and not in a jungle or on a movie set.
As Gert Claassen (50) wades into the pool, seeking relief from the scorching heat, one of the tigers follows him into the water, frolicking like a kitten. The other tiger, its sibling, watches for a few moments, then clambers in too.
Even though these creatures have paws the size of dinner plates and teeth as sharp as razors, they wouldn’t hurt a fly, Gert tells us after he finishes his swim.
Having hand-reared them from tiny cubs, he regards the 11-month-old animals as his children.
“I adore them,” says Gert, a cattle farmer from the Petrus Steyn district. “Their personalities are very different – Seuna plays a bit rough, like boys do, while Sashi is much gentler.”
The tigers aren’t the only big cats kept on his farm. Gert also has 16 lions, 24 servals and eight caracals.
“I have a bit of an obsession with cats,” he tells us.
But to Gert they’re far more than just exotic pets. He says the animals – and Seuna and Sashi in particular – have helped him overcome a deep depression and supported him when he needed it most.
“I was in a very dark place last year,” he says. “If it hadn’t been for my cats and for willpower, I wouldn’t be here today. They saved my life.”
THE two tigers watch patiently as Gert dries himself off.
“We do this every day,” he says. “I swim and play with them every morning for about an hour. They enjoy the attention and I get some exercise.” Gert has always loved cats. “By the time I was five years old, I had several house cats. And when I was about 14, I told my dad I’d like to farm with lions someday. He just laughed.
“‘My boy, you live in a crop-growing
area,’ he’d say. ‘How on earth will you farm with lions here?’”
But when he was 28, Gert bought his first lion.
“It’s 22 years later and I don’t regret any of it. I love lions and tigers. They have this ability to look into your soul.”
Though he’s a commercial cattle farmer, his big cats aren’t just pets.
“All the lions are bred for large wildlife parks in places like China. They build beautiful parks and the lions all go to a good home.” But Seuna and Sashi aren’t for sale. “They’re my kids. They’ll stay with me here on this farm for the rest of my life,” Gert says.
Last year, a friend called to ask if he’d like to add two tigers to his cat menagerie. His own breeding pair had just had cubs, the friend explained.
“He told me one was born without a tail, which only made me want that tiger even more. I have a soft spot for an underdog.”
The cubs were tiny when they arrived on the farm.
“I put up a cot in the lounge for them and hand-reared them,” Gert recalls.
He had to feed them formula milk in a bottle, just like human babies. But those days are long gone – now they eat only meat. Gert’s cats collectively consume about 50kg of meat a week, mostly chicken from his brother’s farm.
When the tigers got too big to stay in the house, he moved them to a large enclosure also occupied by five lions in their own cordoned-off space.
“I try to keep my enclosures as close to a natural habitat as possible. They need long grass and trees for shade, and that’s what I’ve given them. My dad used to say if you take a wild animal out of its natural habitat, you need to care for it even better than God did.”
He didn’t know at the time that the cats would motivate him to keep going when he became depressed. He says 2020 was an extremely tough year. Apart from the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, he also lost someone who was very dear to him.
“I really don’t want to talk about it. She was incredibly special to me and a big influence in my life.”
All he’s prepared to divulge is that the person lost her life in a freak accident.
“One makes peace with it, but you still miss that person a great deal.”
To add to his sorrow, just a month later his two dogs were po i soned by criminals.
“Everything was getting too much for me. I got into a deep depression. I sat here on the farm on my own, feeling despondent.”
His depression caused him to gain weight until he tipped the scale at 109kg.
“I was deeply unhappy. But then I heard my tigers roaring and realised, ‘What would happen to them if I took my own life?’ I just couldn’t do that to them.”
Gert decided to turn his life around for the sake of his animals. He started training six times a week in town with a personal trainer, cut out sugar and switched to eating mainly vegetables. Within eight months, he’d lost 31kg.
“I feel fantastic. When things were worst for me, I managed to transform myself.
“I’m fit now and it helps to play with the tigers. I have more energy and can give them more of my attention.”
IN A small camp near the farmhouse, three lion cubs lie snoozing under a canopy. Gert makes roaring sounds to attract their attention and they come over to the fence.
They’re called Jackie, Willem and Pieter, he says. “They were all named after friends of mine.
“When I feel lonely, I come and sit here in their enclosure and I talk to them like I’m talking to my friends. These cats are like therapists. I discuss my worries, just like I would if I’d been talking to a psychologist,” he explains.
“There are four pillars in my life: my faith, my family, my friends and my cats. Those are my antidepressants. Without them, life simply wouldn’t be worth living.”
And it seems the animals are content in their role. Driving away, you spot the odd ear tip or tail moving in the grass which is lush and green after the recent rains. It’s as if the big cats are giving the assurance, “As long as we’re here, our human won’t be alone.” S