Every once and a while I like to put this blog to good use - to serve the public interest. Today is such a day. DJ Dates saw a post I had done earlier on a nasty-faced white tiger and forwarded to me this photo and the story of a fraud.
Click the link above for the whole story, but let me give you a brief summary. White tigers are portrayed as rare, endangered beasts to be conserved and cherished. The reality is that they almost only occur in captivity and are the result of generations of inbreeding. Most white tiger cubs are so deformed that either they don't survive cubhood, or are too mangled to be displayed to the public. It is estimated that only 1 in 30 such cubs will ever grow to adulthood to be put on display.
The photo below is of one such individual - malformed from excessive inbreeding. Thanks, DJ Dates and www.bigcatrescue.org, for the info and the disillusionment.
Oct 22, 2006
Disillusionment and Fraud
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15 comments:
I feel sad for it.
Wow, thats a new brand of ugly.
Wow, this is disturbing. I had no idea about the mortality (or the breeding process) of these beasties. Thank you for the information.
Ya, this was a sad one to report on. Puts a new spin on Siegfried and Roy ...
And...it's just plain wrong. The cat displayed here is in fact the result of breeding, but it's not a white tiger at all - it's a so called "Liger", a crossbreed between a lion father and a tiger mother. Surely, it is deformed and ugly and sad to watch and all, but this white tiger story is also not the essence of truth. Hell, be a little more sceptical if someone pushes the tears so hard.
I don't know, Napoleon, he doesn't look like any other liger I've seen, even when you exclude the deformity.
Torren, you must have an artist's eye, because I hadn't even thought of that. But it does, which is no credit to the tiger.
Thank you for this information, I didn't know any of this. Those pictures just break my heart, those poor beasts. Poor fuzzy guys...
After reading that article, Siegfried and Roy can go suck it as far as I'm concerned, I have no symapthy for Roy after reading that, (In fact, I feel a strange vindication for all those white tigers since one of them attacked a notorious inbreeder/inbreeding supporter. Revenge of the White Tigers! ) and I think this is a good example of why we humans often have more sympathy for animals than members of our own race. The human race is full of sick bastards.
I'm totally printing out a copy of those pictures the next time I go anywhere displaying white tigers. People should know this is happening if they are going to spend money to see these animals at zoos thinking they are just 'bred' but not 'inbred.'
It is a real surprise that I hadn't heard of this before. PETA where are you?
Yikes. I've never been a fan of PETA, but that puts a whole new perspective on things. Thanks, anonymous.
omg
the poor thing
why do they feel the need to inbreed animals anyway?
its morrally wrong (epecially when they end up deformed)
Uhm, that's really not entirely true. White tigers are a genetically recessive trait. Blond hair and blue eyes are also a recessive trait. By no means are either only produced as a result of inbreeding. However, inbreeding does limit the gene pool, thus making recessive traits more likely to be expressed. They don't "feel the need" to breed them. They just don't separate couples, because doing so would make them miserable. What should they do? Kill the resulting cubs? Solitary confinement? It's very sad that people take advantage of these animals, and intentionally cause these malformations, but it's unfair and untrue to say that ALL white tigers are inbred.
Thank you for posting that. Hopefully, this post will allow people to read the real story on white tigers and pass it on.
Thanks!
White tigers can indeed occur naturally, but this only happens in one of every 10,000 births. In the wild, mother tigers will kill their white cubs to prevent the gene from being passed on. This is why they exist only in captivity today. The inbreeding has become an issue because zoos and breeding programs realized that instead of waiting for that one in 10,000 white cub to be born, they can inbreed and force the gene to show up through non-natural means. In short, all white tigers in captivity are manmade freaks of nature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_tiger
From what I gather (much to my relief: white tigers happen to be my favourite animals), the white fur is recessive, just like any other trait. But because it is so desired, breeders inbreed to try to duplicate it, hence the problems in cubs produced. My guess is that the big cat rescue website exaggerated this in an attempt to put a stop to it.
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