On Saturday, August 25, 2007 at 12:10 p.m, a plane lands at the White County, Indiana airport. On board are Dr Baker, Dr. Stout and a transport cage that was especially built just for this event.

The transport is carefully off-loaded, just barely fitting through the plane's cargo doors.

Four of us carried the empty transport cage to our truck, then we left for the ten minute ride to our facility.

Arriving at our facility, we backed our truck into the compound, getting the truck as close to Roscoe's holding cage as possible.

A short bobcat ride gets the cage to Roscoe's holding area.

Now we begin positioning the cage, and starting the final prep that needed to begin moving 300 lbs worth of tiger

Each of my staff took a minute throughout this process to have a final minute with Roscoe before his adventure begins.

This is Steve, one of my staff and one of Roscoe's main caretakers.

Adjustments are made to the transport cage, the wheels are locked and blocks are placed under it to raise it up to the level of the cage floor.

Setting and positioning the transport takes time, but is necessary to assure a safe, smooth transfer.

When all is set, we go through one last "drill" so everyone knows what to do, and what to expect, and final security measures are put in place.

Finally, with everyone in position, the cage and transport doors are opened, and we call Roscoe into the transport cage

Once inside, the door is lowered behind him

Now we remove the blocks from under the transport, pull it away from the other cage and secure the door with a padlock, turning the key over to Dr. Baker.

Wheels are unlocked, and it's time to begin loading again.

A burlap cover, custom made just for this event by Dr. Baker's wife, is put on the cage to help Roscoe remain calm (and to hide him- Remember- This move was suppose to be a secret!)

Another bobcat ride, this time with a cage that weighs 300 lbs more, and keeps moving around!

We carefully manuver the transport out of the barn, trying not to crash the bobcat into anything (again!)

Out of the barn, we move toward the truck with me driving, and one of my staff, Andrew, holding the cage to keep it steady.

Under Dr. Baker's watchful eye, we work our way to the truck.

And start setting Roscoe and his transport in the truck

Almost loaded...

He is on the truck! Now all of us take about a 3 minute break...

Then begin the process of strapping him in.

Straps are tightened and we are ready to move...

At the compound entrance, more straps are added and everything is tightened down for the last time.

Br Baker and I go over the transport papers and health papers to make sure everything is in place and correct.

We both sign the various "dotted lines", and make sure that we each have our copies of everything needed to transfer Roscoe to LSU. Once Dr Baker signed the transfer papers, Roscoe became the property of LSU.

After another 10 minute ride, we are back at the airport and start unloading your tiger.

Another fork lift ride as we head for the plane.

Carefully, the transport cage is worked into the small cargo opening on the plane... as the Pilot watches nervously.

It's a tight fit, but the cage slides into place without to much effort.

Interesting fact: Dr. Baker and Dr. Stout had to slide through a 1 ft wide gap between the cage and the side of the plane to get to their seats, which were 2 jumpseats, facing backwards right behind the pilot. They rode the whole flight back sitting this way, with only a couple feet between them and Roscoe.

With everything buttoned up, and cleared for take-off, Roscoe begins to taxi on his way to his new life.... An emotional moment for us... Real happy for him, but sad at the same time.

And their off... "Air Force One" takes off from Indiana, heading for Baton Rouge. Dr Baker said he was impressed with how easily Roscoe loaded (I never had any doubts). This move went perfect, exactly as it was supposed to, and the secret arrival of Roscoe on LSU's campus was underway....

Until several hours later, when the Advocate-Channel 2's website had video of the same plane landing and the same burlap covered "crate" being loaded into an air-conditioned trailer and driven away... They even had a reporter there!

.... Imagine That!