But these are not just your normal, everyday household felines.

Koenig, a graduate of St. Edmond, recently completed her junior year at Iowa State University. She was selected for an internship with the Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary, the home for three tigers.

“It’s been an eye-opening experience,” Koenig said. “I’ve learned a lot about tigers in my time here. Some surprising things I’ve learned are that each of the three cats here have a totally different personality and also that there are actually more tigers in captivity than there are in the wild.”

Koenig works with Izzy, Thor and Gracie on a daily basis by helping prepare their daily diet, cleaning their enclosures and explaining the difference between zoos and sanctuaries.

-Submitted photo
This is one of the tigers that St. Edmond graduate Joeli Koenig has been helping care for while working as an intern at the Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary in Missouri this summer.

The mission of Crown Ridge is to provide life-long sanctuary to abused, neglected or unwanted wild cats and inspire change to end the captive wildlife crisis. Their vision is a world where wild cats thrive in their natural environments and they no longer need sanctuaries to provide safety.

“In the mornings, the tigers come into their indoor enclosures to get part of their daily diet,” Koenig said. “While they’re inside, the other interns and I help feed them, along with cleaning the outdoor enclosures.

“In the afternoon, we help lead tours around the sanctuary and help inform people about our tigers and also about how sanctuaries are different from zoos and our goals as a sanctuary, which revolve around ending the ability to own wild cats.”

For Koenig, the internship opened several doors to her future, as she is an animal science major with a pre-veterinary emphasis.

“During veterinary school, you decide which types of animals you want to work with,” she said. “There are companion animals, production animals, exotics or a mix of any of those. This internship is giving me experience with exotic animals so that when I’m in veterinary school, I can decide what type of field I’ll want to work in.

“Also, the internship was something different that could help me stand out when I apply to veterinary schools in the future, along with the fact that tigers are such a cool species and I wanted to learn more about them.”

While she doesn’t have anything set up for next year, Koenig said she has “my eye set on some internships and jobs for next summer.”