A bear, a lion and a tiger are a family at Noah's Ark in Locust Grove

LOCUST GROVE -- In a three-acre enclosure at Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary, a bear, a lion and a tiger live as brothers.

The trio of unlikely friends, called "the BLT," have been together for 14 years, bonded from a shared horror as cubs.

Allison Hedgecoth, the sanctuary's animal husbandry manager, said it's the only place in the world where those three species live together.

At first, Hedgecoth said, the sanctuary staff didn't see the arrangement as unique because they usually try to keep animals together that come there together.

But they later realized how unusual it was -- and that something about it resonated with visitors. People have come from around the world to see the animals.

The lion is native to Africa, the black bear to North America and the Bengal tiger to India, so the three species would never meet in the wild, Hedgecoth said.

"I think the main thing that the BLT teaches is really just loving each other despite our differences," Hedgecoth said. "They don't see that one is brown and one is striped and one is tan. They just know each other as their family and that they are brothers."

In 2001, they were cubs found in the basement of an Atlanta home during a drug raid. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources brought them to Noah's Ark.

They were malnourished and infected with internal and external parasites. Leo, the lion, had a wound on his nose from being confined to a small crate. He still has a scar from it. Baloo, the American black bear, had a harness that had never been expanded as he grew. It was embedded in his skin and had to be surgically removed.

While he was having the surgery, Leo and Shere Khan, the Bengal tiger, paced and cried for their missing friend. They were shortly reunited and have been together ever since.

Baloo, now the largest of the three at 750 pounds, and Shere Khan sauntered right over to Hedgecoth on Thursday when she opened a door to their pen. Only three electrified wires separated her from the animals. Hedgecoth reached out and let Baloo sniff her hand, then the tiger and bear snuggled noses.

The sanctuary has some other big cats, but only with the BLT is she comfortable with standing there with the gate open.

"These guys are really, really unique," she said.

Leo, who has arthritis and is more standoffish, remained lounging under a nearby tree. But they all three commonly show affection to each other, Hedgecoth said, and there has never been a spat among them.

Although the animals seem perfectly docile, Hedgecoth said she does not get in the pen with them unless it's an emergency. She was carefully watching them as she had the door open for any warning signs of aggression.

Volunteer Judi Peterson was walking by the BLT's pen Thursday while training a couple of new volunteers. She offered her thoughts on the trio.

"I think if a lion, a tiger and a bear can get along, people ought to be able to get along," she said.

One of her trainees, Lori Squires, said the fact that Noah's Ark let the three stay together, when logic might say otherwise, is part of why she supports the facility.

"It goes to show, to me, that Noah's Ark puts the needs of the animals first," Squires said. "These animals needed each other because of the circumstances, but rather than trying to break them up, they let them flourish."

MENDING THE NEGLECTED

Having a lion and tiger together isn't such a big deal. In fact, Hedgecoth said with a grimace, some people breed them to create a "liger."

But to have a bear co-existing with a lion and tiger is special. Hedgecoth has heard of it being done with cubs, but it didn't work once the animals reached adulthood.

She said it probably helps that Leo, Baloo and Shere Khan are all neutered. But she thinks it was their terrifying experience together as cubs that made them a family.

She doesn't know how the three came to be in the home where they were found, but she said it's really not that unusual. There is a big market for exotic animals, and buyers don't realize what they are getting into.

That basically is the case for most of the 1,500 or so animals that inhabit the sanctuary. It's different from a zoo in that all of the animals are rescues. Noah's Ark does not buy any animals. And because its primary mission is to give the animals a good home to live out their lives, not to put them on display for the public, the visiting hours are limited.

Many of the animals were neglected and confiscated by law enforcement. Others, including dozens of parrots and other exotic birds, were turned over by owners who didn't understand what caring for the animals entailed.

Several peacocks, for example, wander the grounds. People get peacocks as a "yard ornament," Hedgecoth said, but they don't realize that peacocks like to fight their reflection in the side of a vehicle. That's tends to wear out their welcome pretty fast.

Cary, a rhesus macaque monkey, was brought there by a medical research lab, where he had undergone 14 brain surgeries.

The sanctuary has several spider monkeys, which are popular pets until people realize that they aren't actually very good pets. The animals are small but very strong, and one 20-pound spider monkey was brought there because he was ripping doors out of the frame.

The sanctuary is basically at maximum capacity and isn't taking in any more animals.

"I turn down parrots every day," Hedgecoth said.

The sanctuary had 300,000 visitors last year, with the BLT being its biggest draw. Many schools visit, and it so happened that on Thursday, Lake Joy Primary in Warner Robins had its entire first grade there.

The sanctuary, a nonprofit founded in 1978 by Hedgecoth's mother in law, is at 712 L.G. Griffin Road, near Tanger Outlet, about 50 miles north of Macon. It is open from noon to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. There is no admission, but donations are appreciated. It costs about $33,000 each month to feed the animals.

The sanctuary closes when it is raining, so Hedgecoth recommends checking the website, www.noahs-ark.org, which is updated each morning.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 8:40 PM with the headline "A bear, a lion and a tiger are a family at Noah's Ark in Locust Grove ."