Tippi Hedren on Lions, Tigers, and Alfred Hitchcock (Part One) by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
Among the many reasons you might have for admiring film star and animal
advocate Tippi Hedren, there is this: she has tangled with lions,
tigers, and Alfred Hitchcock. Successfully.
This month during
its 24th annual Genesis Awards, held to honor animal-conscious work in
the media, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) gave Hedren
its Lifetime Achievement Award. The organization cited several reasons for admiring the actress, including:
Hedren founded and runs Shambala Preserve,
a sanctuary for more than 70 captive-born exotic felines who, because
they were kept and often abused as pets, cannot be released into the
wild.
She coauthored, initiated, and successfully pushed for
the federal Captive Wildlife Safety Act of 2003 that prohibits
interstate commerce in exotic cats sold as pets.
On shows
such as Larry King Live she speaks out sharply against cruelty toward
both wild and domestic animals, holding wild species in captivity,
habitat loss, and about other animal issues.
Hedren works with several conservation and animal welfare groups such
as the American Sanctuary Association, The Elsa Wild Animal Appeal, and
her own, The Roar Foundation.
Hedren and her Melanie cat
Many fans admire the petite, brown-eyed blonde, who remains strikingly
beautiful in her senior years, for her work in such films as
Hitchcock’s horror classic The Birds, where she played opposite
Rod Taylor as a spoiled socialite beleaguered by whole flocks of the
avian species gone murderously mad.
In Marnie, considered by
some to be one of Hitchcock’s best films, she turned in a
hair-raising performance as a troubled thief and chronic
liar—half-mad herself—who is forced to marry one of the men
she tries to hoodwink, Sean Connery.
Yet another set of
Hedren’s fans include her daughter and son-in-law, who
undoubtedly have their own reasons for admiring her. She clearly
admires them, having named two of her cats after them. The smaller
kind, that is—homeless domestic felines who Hedren rescued and
dubbed Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas.
While speaking with Animal Beat on the phone this month, Hedren said,
“Right now I’m looking at a liger out my bedroom window.
He’s half lion and half tiger. And he’s absolutely
beautiful. His name is Patrick. You can see him on our website."
This is not the kind of thing people say to you every day. But then
Tippi Hedren is not your every-day kind of person. Not at all. During
your hour talking with Hedren, you find yourself admiring her for that,
and a great deal more.
QUOTES FROM ANIMAL BEAT INTERVIEW WITH TIPPI HEDREN
On her most important message
What
I’m trying to get across is don’t ever, ever buy a wild
anim for a pet. It’s the only way to stop the breeding. And if
you know anyone who is thinking about acquiring a wild animal, have
them do the research on that animal and how dangerous it can be and
will be.
There will just come a time when that animal will
retaliate about being in captivity, and they’ll wait for a chance
and they’ll take it. I hear about it all the time. On keeping wild animals in captivity
All
those years ago when I first began, which was in 1971, the problem
existed with these animals being bred and born in the U.S. to be sold
as pets. It’s an unbelievably cruel thing to do to these animals.
There’s
absolutely not one thing that we can give to a wild animal in captivity
that they need. Not one thing. Whether it’s the little squirrel
in your backyard, or a Siberian tiger, or a whale. You know
there’s nothing that we can give them—not one thing that
they truly need.
On the business of captivity
It
is such a huge business. All of this is just such a huge
business. And I don’t think an awful lot of people are aware of
it. But according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the exotic animal business
is on par with illegal drugs in the U.S.
When you think of
breeders, they’re mostly in the midwest. You can buy a lion or a
tiger for any amount that you’re foolish enough to pay. You know,
hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars. The last time I looked on
the Internet there was a tigress for $24,000 dollars, a year old.
Twenty-four thousand dollars.
On the dangers to humans
The
purchasing of these animals is kind of spur of the moment.
They’re at a swap meet. They see or hear about a lion for sale.
Because you can find them anywhere. It’s a spur of the moment
thing, many of the times, because they’ll see this adorable
little cub—and they are cute—so they think, “Oh, I
want one of those.”
They don’t realize that by the
time they’re a year old, they’ll destroy your house, and
start taking a pretty good chunk out of you, too, because they
don’t have a 400-pound mom to say, “Knock it off! I gotta
teach you some manners!” Nor do they have a sibling, so you
become the sibling.
Even at those young ages they’re very
tough. And they have to be, because even at those young ages they have
to be very tough to survive.
For more from Animal Beat’s interview with Tippi Hedren, please visit this page again in the coming days.
Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
is the author of 17 novels for publishers including Avon, E.P. Dutton,
and Simon & Schuster, and hundreds of articles for publications
such as National Geographic Traveler, San Francisco Chronicle, and
Veggie Life. She wrote a teleplay for CBS and short fiction for The
Bark magazine. With coauthor Shelley Frost, she wrote Your Adopted Dog (The Lyons Press).
Holding a B.A. in Environmental Science Studies and a lifelong interest
in animal issues, she spends a lot of her time battling a severe
addiction to dogs.
