Five tigers that were abandoned after living for years at a now-shuttered roadside zoo in Oroville, in Butte County, were rescued and cared for in recent months at the Oakland Zoo, with one remaining there for good.

Northern California for years had its own Tiger King-type roadside zoo attraction, in the town of Oroville, known as the Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Sanctuary. It was run by Roberta Kirshner, the widow of the facility's namesake who died in 1994, and it housed a variety of wildlife in cage enclosures including tigers, bears, leopards, lemurs, macaws, and at least one deer, and in the last decade the place had racked up a series of violations from state inspectors and complaints from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

Residents of the Oroville and Chico areas may not have understood that the sanctuary was treating its animals so poorly, as evidenced by posts like this mourning its 2025 closure. But PETA had been cataloguing various problems at the facility for years, including the deteriorating physical health of big cats being housed there, likely due to malnutrition, and this ultimately led to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife revoking the facility's operating permit in February 2025.

The Butte County District Attorney was discussing possible criminal charges against Kirshner in 2024, after a female tiger cub named Cleo developed metabolic bone disease from insufficient calcium in her diet and ended up at the Oakland Zoo for treatment with 10 bone fractures. She ultimately recovered and was relocated to the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), a PETA-approved sanctuary for animals formerly used in the entertainment industry, in Galt, California.

PETA also filed a lawsuit against the roadside zoo last summer, as some of the animals were being sold or relocated to other facilities.

Five tigers from the facility were relocated to a new owner in Rio Vista, California, who later surrendered them to the Oakland Zoo following PETA's lawsuit, where they received examinations and treatment. One of the tigers, a 16-year-old female named Savara, was reportedly suffering from "end-stage arthritis and spinal disease likely caused by years of neglect," per PETA, and when she did not respond to treatment, she was humanely euthanized.

As KRON4 reports, three of the tigers have now been rehoused, two of them, a male white-and-Bengal tiger mix and a male Siberian tiger mix named Franklin and JB, were relocated to PAWS. A 14-year-old female white tiger name Zuri, who suffers from visual impairment due to inbreeding, was relocated to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, according to the zoo.

And one female tiger named Sitara believed to be around 13 years old has found her forever home at the Oakland Zoo.

"Over the coming months, Sitara will learn to navigate a habitat unlike anything she's experienced before — complete with pools, a waterfall, elevated platforms, ample enrichment, and vegetation," the zoo said in a Facebook post. "She will also undergo a comprehensive medical evaluation to help us better understand her condition and plan for her long-term care."

Amy Phelps, Oakland Zoo’s zoological manager, said in a statement to KRON4, "Projects like this remind us that animal welfare is profoundly personal, and one of the most meaningful things we can do is change the life of one individual. These tigers have been given a future with greater stability, greater opportunity, and greater peace."

The Oakland Zoo says that it has received over 250 requests for assistance with similar rescue operations since 2021, coming to the aid of exotic animals who were being trafficked on the black market or abused in roadside zoos.

Previously: The Oakland Zoo Now Has Two Rescued Mountain Lion Cubs Named ‘Crimson and Clover’