Page 87 of Tiger Queen

“The zoo was attacked last night. Someone needs to make a statement to counter whatever nonsense the AFF is claiming.”

Anthony chuckled. “About that…”

I didn’t want to hear what the AFF had claimed, so I walked out the front door and down to the waiting reporters. Cameras swiveled on tripods and the reporters rushed forward to bombard me with questions. I held up my hands and waited for silence.

“My name is Rachel Koenig, and I’m the primary veterinarian here. I’d like to issue a statement on behalf of the zoo,” I said. I had never done something like this before, so I wasn’t sure how to begin. “Last night our zoo was sabotaged by a member of the Animal Freedom Front posing as an employee of the zoo. They released over a dozen animals into the zoo grounds. They also fed neodymium magnets to one of our tigers, who we had to perform emergency surgery on. Aside from that no animals were harmed, though many are shaken up after being tranquilized and returned to their enclosures. The zoo will remain closed today, and probably tomorrow, until we can ensure the animals have recovered from this trauma.”

I turned to go back inside. The reporters all shouted questions at me, and one of them stuck out.

“How do you feel about the strong public reaction to the social media post?”

I stopped. “Whatever the AFF is claiming…”

“This is the video of you,” another reporter added. “The one of you weeping and holding the tiger you performed surgery on.”

“Rachel! Is that blood on your shirt from the surgery?” another reporter asked. “How many surgeries have you performed in your career?”

I was becoming overwhelmed by the questions, and I didn’t know how to answer them, so I quickly went back inside.

“What are they talking about?” I asked the boys.

Anthony tapped on his phone and handed it to me. “I tried to tell you before you rushed out there…”

It was a video from early this morning in the medical office. Caesar was laying on his side on the examination table, showing his shaved belly and the stitches from his surgery. I came into view and hugged the tiger while weeping.

“I’ve worked so hard to give them a better home!” I insisted on video while sobbing. “To keep them healthy while we move them to other zoos… and then the AFF comes along and endangers their lives! I’m so sick of people misunderstanding what we’re doing here. We are the good guys! We’re trying to do the right thing for the animals! We’re better than Crazy Carl!”

I winced at the video. I hated how I looked, with sweat staining my shirt and my hair all frizzy. Not to mention the fact that I was ugly-crying.

“You posted this to our Facebook page?” I asked.

Anthony gave me a weak smile. “I know. I should have asked. But you’re so passionate, and it does a better job showing what we went through than any formal statement could. Do you hate me?”

“Of course not,” I sighed. “Just ask me next time.”

“It’s a good thing you’re not mad,” David said. “Because the video went viral.”

The video ended and I switched over to the details tab. The video already had 2,544 comments and 10,989 shares. And it had been viewed over a million times! I clicked on the comments and scrolled through some of them. Most people were sympathetic toward the zoo. Lots of comments about how the AFF was endangering the animals, and how we were the good guys in the situation.

“All of this because of a single video of me crying?”

“Well, we also have a video of Brandon confessing to the whole thing. That swung public opinion in our favor too.”

“How did you get that on video?”

“I wasn’t much use in catching Brandon,” Anthony admitted. “I mostly got kicked in the dick and then rolled around on the ground in pain. But I did record the whole thing.”

I kept scrolling comments. “Who’s the Tiger Queen they keep mentioning?”

David and Anthony glanced at each other.

“That’s the internet’s nickname for you,” David said.

“What!”

“The video ended with us hugging you,” Anthony added. “Three brothers and you. Everyone has drawn their own conclusions from there. That you have your harem of men.”

“From one hug?” I replied. “I mean, granted, they’re right. But they shouldn’t know that!”

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