Raspoetin lived his entire life in the Netherlands before he made the transfer to LIONSROCK Big Sanctuary. He is the oldest son of tigers Cromwell and Juno and was born in the Dutch rescue centre in 2004, ten years before FOUR PAWS took over the centre and named it FELIDA Big Cat Sanctuary.

Tigers Cromwell and Juno were born in 2000 in a zoo in Great Britain and two years later they were brought to Nijeberkoop, the Netherlands, where they had two litters: one in 2004 and one in 2009. Raspoetin was the only survivor of the first litter. We met Raspoetin in the end of 2013, right before FOUR PAWS took over the rescue centre and named it FELIDA Big Cat Sanctuary. 

Raspoetin, his parents and his younger siblings are big Siberian tigers who used to live under very poor circumstances. When FOUR PAWS took over the rescue centre their lives finally improved, but they still had too little space. Raspoetin and his family were therefore transferred to LIONSROCK in South Africa in May 2015, shortly after Raspoetin's 11th birthday. A long journey for a tiger who spent his entire life in a small enclosure in the Netherlands!

Since then, Raspoetin has been enjoying his one-hectare enclosure and his large private swimming pool. His enclosure is adjacent to the enclosure where his mother Juno lives and he can also see his younger brothers, Rafik and Mirza, and sister, Zita, who have their own place nearby.