Have you ever owned a painting done by a tiger? Now is your chance
Pouncer, a 17-year-old Siberian-Bengal mix, paced back and forth with anticipation Saturday morning as she waited to be let into a small caged area just outside of her enclosure where red, blue, yellow and black paint had been drizzled onto the white paper and canvases covering the floor.
After a few minutes, zookeeper Amy Van der Molen hit a button to lift the electronic gate that separated the tiger from her makeshift art studio. Pouncer immediately hopped through the opening and laid down in the paint, licking it and rolling around.
Pouncer is a part of the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary’s animal painting program, and zoo supervisor Jocelyn Smeltzer said at least one of the paintings she created during the art session will be auctioned off at the zoo’s “Animal Paintings” art exhibit opening reception March 29.
The zoo’s art program began in 1995 with a single black bear named Fisher, but Smeltzer said it has since grown to include an array of animals that live at the sanctuary, such as mountain lions, deer, zebu, wolf hybrids, hedgehogs, snakes, ferrets and birds.
“You would be amazed,” Smeltzer said. “Sometimes the paintings turn out to look like petals from flowers, depending on if it’s an animal with really tiny toes. They have all different techniques here.”
Painting acts as an enrichment activity for the animals at the zoo and is fun for them to do, Smeltzer said, adding that it is only available to those animals who show an interest in it – animals such as Pouncer.
Up until recently, Pouncer had been living with another tiger named Misty. But Van der Molen, who also takes care of the bears and mountain lions at the sanctuary, said that after 16 years together the tigers were separated because of Misty’s medical issues.
“We try to do more enrichment for them individually because they are not together,” Van der Molen said, adding that both tigers are avid artists and have been painting for 16 years. “We don’t even have to use treats. Normally, we will entice the animals to paint with food rewards. With these girls, the reward is the painting itself.”
The paint is nontoxic and washable, Van der Molen said. It also has something in it that creates a “catnippy effect.”
“Once they start doing it, they like to lick it, eat it,” Van der Molen said. “They’ve eaten so much paint over the years, but it’s never caused a problem, except for maybe colored poop the next day with glitter in it.”
Paintings created by the animals will be exhibited through April 26 at the Folsom Senior Center and Public Art Center building on Natoma Street, the zoo says. Both the exhibit and reception are free and open to the public, with all the proceeds from the sale of paintings going to benefit the animals.
The paintings created by the animals can also be bought year-round inside the sanctuary’s gift shop, Smeltzer said. Zoo patrons can even call ahead to schedule an appointment to watch one of the animals create a one-of-a-kind piece just for them.
The wild and domestic animals that come to live at the sanctuary are rescued for a variety of reasons, including abuse, neglect, life-threatening injuries or being illegally owned, the zoo says.
“Misty and Pouncer are super special,” Van der Molen said. “They’re animals that are kind of stuck here because they were in a bad situation to begin with and we certainly don’t have an ideal exhibit for them. They will probably never see a larger enclosure because of their age.”
Donations help improve the exhibits and allow for the purchase of more enrichment items, Van der Molen said, which for tigers can be particularly expensive.
This story was originally published March 9, 2019 at 3:38 PM.