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Photo by Jim Craven Nanue, a 6-month-old white tiger cub, lives at the Wildwood Exotic Animal Shelter in Eagle Point owned by Bob and Bonnie Ringo. The center has seven of the rare wild cats. Center's in a struggle to survive Like its rare tigers, Eagle Point shelter needs lots of help By PAUL FATTIG EAGLE POINT -- Nanue plopped a hairy white paw on Karla Schoneberger's foot, wrapped a playful tail around her leg, then blinked up at her. And melted Schoneberger's heart. "Look at those eyes," Schoneberger said of the Bengal tiger cub. "It hurts my heart every time I look at them. "It's devastating to think that someday these guys may no longer be on earth," she added. "We just have to help save them." She and her husband, Bill, who own Jacksonville Pump Service, are among local business people offering assistance to Wildwood Exotic Animal Shelter owned by Bob and Bonnie Ringo. You can help WHAT : Fund-raiser for Wildwood Exotic Animal Shelter, to raise money for two root canals for Bosie, a white female Bengal tiger in need of dental care. The work will be done at the University of California at Davis, at a cost of $2,400 per tooth. WHERE: Angelo's Pizza Parlor, 2161 West Main St., Medford WHEN: 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24 TO HELP OUT: The shelter, at 17630 Highway 62 in Eagle Point, needs food and money donations. Call Bob or Bonnie Ringo at (541) 830-5339. Donations of money or meat are tax deductible. But the Ringos say more help is needed if the non-profit center near Eagle Point they established in 1995 is to survive. There are 13 big cats at the center, eating 18 tons of meat a year. Last year's veterinarian bill came to about $12,000. "We've sold our boat, sold a car, mortgaged our house -- all for the sake of these cats," Bonnie Ringo said. "But we feel it's worth it to help prevent them from becoming extinct." The Ringos, who are vegetarians, are licensed by the state and Uncle Sam to handle big cats. They participate in the federal breeding program for endangered exotic species. The couple are charter members of Friends For Life, a nonprofit group working to prevent the abuse and neglect of exotic animals. The center has seven rare white tigers. There are only about 350 worldwide, according to Bonnie Ringo. Bonnie Ringo would rather the big cats remained wild, thriving in their natural habitat. But she says that isn't going to happen, given poaching coupled with the encroachment on the wild lands. The number of wild Bengals is declining such that by the end of this year they will no longer be viable -- able to produce enough offspring to sustain a wild population, she said. "There will be a few out there, but there won't be enough to reproduce," she said. The population of wild Siberian tigers is expected to be history by the year 2002, she said. "It's a terrible shame this is happening to our tigers," she said. "They are being poached in the wild. These are international treasures. We are going to lose them if we don't support their gene pool." The Rogue Valley could lose a unique facility if more businesses don't help Wildwood, observed Wayne Whitescorn, owner of Confident Caterers in Jacksonville. He and his wife, Shawn, contribute financially to the center each month. "They are doing a good thing here," he said. "But they are up against some pretty stiff vet and food bills. I'd like to see folks out there looking for a worthy cause to consider Wildwood. These cats are well cared for." While some may not understand what drives the Ringos to put everything on the line for the big cats, they should consider that it is abuse of the animals by others that causes the need for such rescue centers, he said. If they aren't rescued by people like the Ringos, he said, they could end up at a "game ranch." "Then some rich guy can spend five grand to have them let it out of a cage so he can shoot it and have his picture taken with it," he added. "To me, that's sick." "We've taken in a lot of abandoned and abused cats that would have otherwise become rugs," she said. Last year three big cats were placed at other sites that have the required cat-care licenses. "Our focus is only to rescue them," she stressed. "We don't promote the sale of these cats at all." Nanue, one of three cubs born at the center in the past year, weighs about 60 pounds. While he may look like a stuffed toy now at five months old, he will weigh more than 200 pounds in six months, Ringo said. Although he has an outer white coat, he is actually a gray tiger, making him even more rare than his white cousins, Ringo said. Behind him in a cage pads Miranda, a white Bengal tiger cub with blue eyes. "These are such unique animals," Ringo said. "We're going to do what we have to do to keep this species on the planet." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA