Saving The Tigers

Jayton Tidwell, 4, had his arm torn off by his uncle's 400-pound pet tiger in March.

Within hours surgeons reattached his mangled arm and now the recovering boy is part of a crusade championed by the Tiger Missing Link Foundation that rescues tigers and advocates minimum standards for their care.

Early Show Co-Anchor Jane Clayson spoke with the young activist, his mother and the director of the Tiger Missing Link Foundation Friday.

"You can keep the tiger in your back yard or in your house...We're trying to make it where you have to have a perimeter cage, things like that, like a barrier around the cage itself," Jennifer says in Little Rock, Ark.

This is a viewpoint shared by Brian Werner, director of Tiger Missing Link Foundation, whose nonprofit agency is involved with conservation, education and big-cat rescue through the Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge based in Tyler, Texas.

"Basically we've joined up with the family, and we're trying to advocate to have an act in Congress amended known as the Animal Welfare Act," Werner explains. "What we intend to do is bring these people with these tigers under licensing to ensure minimum standards are met."

Werner is not seeking a ban on individual ownership. There are 14 states with no regulations at all, he says, adding many states have limited regulation to very strict rules.

"The other issue there is if we were to ban them, we're not set up to take them all in," Werner says.

A 7-week-old tiger accompanying Werner to The Early Show interview was born of a rescued tigress bred in captivity.

"What we want to tell people is that these things are cute but they're not pets," he says. "And it requires a lot of care and training, and a special staff and facilities to handle these animals."

And the boy's recovery is progressing. The boy's mother says, "He's doing real good. He's pulling through."

"We're hoping that he's going to get function (of his arm)," she says, but adding, "It won't ever be 100 percent."

As nerves endings continue to grow, Jayton should eventually reaquire the sense of touch in his fingers. He still awaits other surgeries, Jennifer Howell says.

Jayton, who visits a therapist, frightens when viewing pictures of tigers but doesn't suffer from nightmares, his mother says.