The tiger who flew halfway across the world for a better life

He weighs 260kg, has a bone-crushing bite and paws the size of dinner plates, but Phevos the tiger is the latest victim of Greece's economic crisis - and this week (Dec.10) he left the country for a new home on other side of the world. Most of the time Phevos is a gentle creature. I sat with him the day before his journey, and he was quiet, content and passive. "He reacts very well to being softly spoken to. He listens when I talk to him. He twitches his ears, and he loves having his head rubbed," says David Barnes, a former RSPCA inspector. Barnes has spent the past year arranging to rescue Phevos from a small zoo in Trikala, central Greece, which has struggled to look after its exotic animals in the face of the cuts which have hit every aspect of Greek life. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30435069

The Moon’s Waning Gibbous phase  fell on  December 10, the very day Phevos left for his new home.  Shown here is chart for the Moon phase at Trikala. On December 8, Jupiter which had just stationed retrograde is here on the descendant as part of a slightly skewed Grand Cross. The delineation for elements of the Cross  are provided by Martha Wescott.  

Admetus-Saturn : Situations can best be described as being between a rock and a hard place; there is  sheer determination  and pride in the ability to survive and withstand  hardship; there are delays with separation…with Neptune: persisting in goals or hardship despite weakness and sorrow.

Jupiter-Saturn : Happy separation from difficult circumstances.

And here comes the best part. Jupiter [22le] is not only in tropical Leo but also conjunct the stars Algenubi, epsilon Leonis and Raselas, mu Leonis in the constellation of the Lion! So how interesting, we have a tiger (a big cat) separating from difficult circumstances!

But as we know by now there are usually more than one indicator of important events. Here is the chart for Jupiter’s station on Dec. 8. Notice that it has the same cross straddling the horizon with Jupiter on the Ascendant.