A Story of Bonnie and Clyde

Imagine if you will, a young couple, Bonnie and Clyde, in love. He and she can't stand to be apart, can't imagine life without the other. Then, for whatever reasons, their family threw you out. Bonnie, pregnant, Clyde desperate to find a new home for his approaching family they set off walking. Other couples have begun life together this way.

The hills are high, the valleys deep and traffic is often heavy on Hwy. 65.

They took off on their own, looking for a safe place where Bonnie could give birth. She understood the time was near, knew she was within days of giving birth. Sad, frightened and alone, the two keep walking.

It's hard to see the concrete barrier in the middle. The center blue dot is where Clyde had stopped.

The spot, above, is where I saw the two Great Pyrenees couple. The 2 blue dots show the location of each one. There was traffic, lots of it, tourists heading to Branson for a vacation, people going to work. They had both evidently been on the west side of the highway. He, being the more brave, found a gap in traffic and darted across. What he couldn't see from the edge of the highway, was there was a concrete safety barrier between the 4 lanes. Clyde was stuck, he couldn't cross, the barrier was to high and he couldn't return because traffic had become heavy again.

I was driving in that traffic, I saw the problem but there was no opportunity to stop. I worried. I hoped the two were from a nearby farm and knew what they were doing. But I am not the Good Samaritan in this story and it was several days later before I learned the rest of the story.

Our friend, Steve, lovingly known as Mr. Tiger to his friends, is a volunteer at the National Tiger Sanctuary north of Branson, MO. He gives tours and helps educate visitors about the Sanctuary and about tigers in general. (The Sanctuary provides a secure home to tigers, a cougar and a lion, that were all need of homes. It's a caring, kind place and the big cats are treated with respect).

Steve is also co-owner with his wife, June Guido, of Bouvier Acres, home to award-winning Bouvier des flandres show dogs. Evidently Steve came along right behind me, saw Bonnie and Clyde, and knew better than I had that they were abandoned and in serious trouble. Driving his little yellow VW Beetle, he made some tricky turns and found a place to stop. He coaxed Bonnie and Clyde into his car and drove them to the Tiger Sanctuary.

Bonnie and Clyde with baths and new hair-dos, in their new home.

The folks at the Sanctuary placed ads in all the local newspapers, they put up posters on bulletin boards, they made lots of phone calls, then they waited. Meanwhile, Bonnie gave birth to 7 puppies.  Weeks went by and no one came to claim the pair, so, like the tigers, the pair was named Bonnie and Clyde, and have a new home. They were dubbed Bonnie and Clyde because of their adventurous travels. They are a kind, sweet couple and their little litter is growing rapidly. The Sanctuary hopes to find homes for all of the pups, but Bonnie and Clyde have a new home.

Here are 2 of the 7 pups. Cute as a puppy certainly applies!

If you would like to know more about the National Tiger Sanctuary, here's the link. And if you would like to receive the weekly Tiger Tales, which Steve produces and emails each week, here's that link. (I've learned a lot about tigers through Tiger Tales, it's always entertaining and you will probably enjoy it as much as I do). For example, did you know each tiger has a different set of stripes, much like human's fingerprints? Or what is the difference between Siberian and Indian tigers? You'll learn a lot and you can subscribe to Tiger Tales for more fun facts and information.

And how does all this relate to our garden? We've been testing tiger poop up in our woods to see if it will keep deer away from our garden area So far, the possibilities look good.

Spring is here, the garden is slowly coming to life.