They Traded 5 Motorcycles for a Lion, and Thus Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge Was Born

If you think your family’s pet history is wild, wait until you meet Tanya Smith, founder of Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. Located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, this sanctuary isn’t just a home for big cats — it’s a full-throttle rescue mission fueled by heart, hustle, and a few hairy stories. In fact, Tanya’s journey into the world of exotic animal rescue began when she was 10 years old, with what might be the strangest trade deal in history.

Lions, and Tigers, and Motorcycles, Oh My!

The story of Turpentine Creek began in 1978 when Tanya’s father made a trade that defied all logic: five motorcycles and a trailer in exchange for an African lion named Bum. True story. Tanya, then just 10 years old, couldn’t have predicted how much this bizarre barter would change her life.

“Then, a few years later,” Tanya recalls, “my parents got a call about another African lion — a female that a young couple bought to raise alongside their baby in an apartment in Fort Worth, Texas. That didn’t work out, of course.”

Tanya’s family promptly found themselves with two lions and the glaring realization that backyard lions are a terrible idea.

Fast forward to 1992, when a woman approached Tanya’s parents with grand plans for a wildlife park. What started as an exciting opportunity turned into an eye-opening adventure when they discovered they’d been duped by a scam artist with an animal-hoarding problem: 42 big cats, 60 puppies, 40 dogs, 19 horses, and an ever-growing menagerie of neglected “pets.” But it brought Tanya and her family to Eureka Springs, and it launched their legacy of saving animals.

“Through her, we realized there was a need for a big cat sanctuary,” says Tanya. “Once people heard there was somebody who would take these animals after they were too big and eating the furniture, they ended up calling us.”

Rescue, Rehabilitation, and a Reality Check

Over the years, Turpentine Creek has rescued over 500 animals, providing lifetime care and a loving home for big cats (and even some bears) that have experienced hardship. Today, the refuge houses around 100 big cats, many of whom were removed from terrible conditions. They’ve even rescued animals from inadequate cages at schools. Schools. 

“We’ve rescued animals that were locked in basements or closets because the people got scared of them,” Tanya says. “Or they were abandoned in cages and just left. Every story is just as horrific as the next. It’s unbelievable what we’ve experienced over the years and where we’ve pulled animals out of.”

A major win on that front came with the passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act in 2022, which restricts private ownership of big cats and bans exploitative cub-petting schemes. “We actually started working on the Big Cat Public Safety Act with Howard and Carol Baskin, trying to get this law pushed in,” Tanya explains. “We don’t need to rescue big cats if nobody has them in their private homes or breeds them for the cub-petting industry, where they’re only good for about three months before they get too big.”

The struggle is real, and while the extent of private big cat ownership might come as a surprise to many of us, Tanya is all too familiar with its repercussions.

“Last year was the first time in all my 33 years of doing this that we didn’t get a single call about a big cat in need of rescue,” she shares. “That’s pretty amazing. But it’s estimated that there are over 10,000 in East Texas alone. So, how many big cats are there that aren’t registered?”

Tales of Tails: A Few Rescue Stories

Every rescue is significant, but some animals leave an unforgettable mark. Tanya’s stories are enough to fill several books. Take Lady, for example, a lion left to starve when an Oklahoma animal park shut down so the owners could go open a water park in Tulsa instead. By the time Turpentine Creek even heard about it, most of the animals had already died of starvation. Lady was barely hanging on.

“We didn’t know if she’d make it,” Tanya admits. “But she lived here for a couple of years with us and had a good ending to a horrible lifetime of suffering.”

Then there’s Chief, a tiger from the infamous Tiger King circles. When the Turpentine Creek rescue team found him, he had nearly checked out.

“Chief couldn’t even stand up when we got there,” recalls Tanya. “He was just a bag of bones. He hadn’t eaten; he’d completely shut down. They get in this mode where they won’t look at you. They just stare off into space. They go into their own catatonic state just to protect their own mental state, I think. And that’s how we found him.”

Once a cub-petting baby, Chief’s personality began to shine through after some TLC and fluids to help his dehydration. 

“We had the crate set up over by the door — open and ready for him to go in, just in case,” says Tanya, “and I’ll be darned. He stood up, stretched real big, walked over, and got in that crate like, ‘Please get me out of here.’ You could just see it on his face.”

And as for the bears? They have their stories, too. “So, I go out on this bear call,” explains Tanya, “and here’s this poor bear in a little cage with beer cans all around it. The guy would go out and sit there and drink beer with his bear. The bear couldn’t even stand up. It was stupid.”

The BIG Reality of Big Cat Ownership

Too many people underestimate the reality of bringing an exotic animal into their home. After all, that ‘starter tiger’ doesn’t stay kitten-sized for long. And when reality hits, the consequences can be catastrophic. No pun intended. 

“We’ve heard everything,” Tanya says, shaking her head. “‘If I don’t feed it raw meat, it can live in the house with my kids, and it’ll all be fine. Then we get a call from the school principal saying, ‘We have five children living in a house with an African lion, and they’re scared. Can you help?’”

The truth? Big cats eat eight to 10 pounds of raw meat daily, require specialized veterinary care, and, despite what some influencers claim, will never be cuddly house pets. Even smaller exotic cats, like servals and caracals, often end up abandoned due to their delightful (read: destructive) behaviors. Put simply, if you’re not prepared to turn your house into a litter box, you’re not prepared to own a serval.

“Right now, we’re having a small cat crisis,” says Tanya. “We keep getting calls on these small, exotic cats that are peeing all over the house — they’re marking their territory. They’re wild animals, and people don’t realize they do these things. It doesn’t smell good, and they’re cats. They want to be on top of your furniture. They want to be up on top of your cabinets. And when they get there, they’re in charge. You’re not in charge anymore.”

Feeling the Pride

Turpentine Creek’s work is far from done. With 460 acres of land (150 actively used for sanctuary operations), the refuge continues expanding and improving. Intern housing remains a pressing issue, as does the never-ending quest for funding — because feeding and caring for 100 big cats isn’t exactly a budget-friendly endeavor.

“It’s exciting, frustrating … all the things of running any sanctuary,” Tanya shares. “There’s never enough money to do all the good work you want to get done, so you’ve got to keep hustling every single day just to make sure that the electric bill gets paid and you can provide the food, and all your employees get a living wage. It’s a balancing act, for sure, but we’re proud to be where we are today as part of the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries. I would put our level of animal care up against anyone in the world.”

For animal lovers, conservationists, and anyone who believes in second chances, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge is a reminder that change starts with compassion — and that sometimes, the most unexpected choices (like swapping motorcycles for a lion) can lead to something truly extraordinary.

Learn more about the incredible work being done and how you can help support the refuge at the Turpentine Creek Animal Refuge website.