Malnutrition in a circus in Guatemala had stunted Jade’s growth and left her with walking difficulties and she had lost her tail, but they never broke her spirit. This video was the day she cracked the ADIWS play center puzzle.

Jade was rescued by ADI in June 2018 from a tiny circus cage in Guatemala with her sister Luna and we quickly united her with two other cubs from the circus, Sun, and Moon. She was just 18 months old and was amazed with her new world. She ran and played on grass for the first time, so much so that their antics turned the enclosure at the ADI Temporary Rescue Unit (TRU) in Guatemala into a mud bath. No one will ever forget when we made the pools at the TRU and let out Luna and Jade to test them. Water went everywhere, we were all soaked, and the water was turned brown with mud!

Despite being the smallest of the four tigers (called the Spice Girls at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary), she was clearly the boss and the one who energized the group to go out and play – she always raced to investigate everything first. It may have been sheer force of character but may also have been because she was so smart.

The ADIWS team built a play center for the residents, which was moved from habitat to habitat for different residents to try it out, try to solve the puzzle (a ball inside a tunnel), while enjoying the scent of other residents who had played with it before. The puzzle challenge was to get a ball around a corner and out of a small gap. While many had pawed at it trying to tug it out, Jade worked it out, rolling it along the tunnel using her paws and her nose until the ball popped out.

In part due to the spondylitis caused by the circus, and perhaps in part due to her character, she didn’t so much run, as bounce everywhere. It was magical when she first entered her big habitat at ADIWS when they arrived in 2020, just running and running and leaping on and off the big platform den, with such joy.

A star of many live videos from the sanctuary, it was Jade the leader of the Spice Girls that would charge out and get the fun going. Classic Jade was to be snoozing in the pool and then wake up, deciding it was time for everyone to get up, and race from one to another of the girls to rustle them up and play.

She was inspirational, burned like a bright star, and brought joy and a smile to us all for seven wonderful years. A huge loss to her family and the whole sanctuary. Jade, you were loved and will be missed.