The Tiger

There was a time when American citizens were interested in the price of white tigers. That was before the enactment of the Big Cat Public Safety Act 2022 which very recently came into force. Big cats including of course, white tigers cannot be owned or possessed by private individuals in private zoos anymore in the USA.  Existing big cat owners can keep their tigers until they die but they can't then buy another one. Potential new owners are barred from buying. Accredited zoos can own them but the only reason why they want to own them is to entertain the public and make some dosh. There is not conservation value at all in white tigers as they are heavily inbred and extinct in the wild. In fact, they were extinct in the wild as long ago as 1951. A maharaja shot the last white tiger family but left one cub alive, Mohan (who was abused), from which the entire current world population of white tigers at zoos have been created. Horrible. A f***ing awful history of humankind's stupid...

NEWS AND COMMENT: This tiger story from India irritates me a hell of a lot. The authorities rescued a tiger that had survived an arduous 75 mile swim down a swollen river. This is a large adult male who was swept into the Brahmaputra River in the North-east Indian state of Assam (as reported). The tiger was spotted by passers-by who were out walking on Tuesday. He was submerged up to his neck and apparently fighting to stay afloat long enough to reach an island in the river. Tiger rescued from river and sent to a bloody zoo. Image provided by the Telegraph newspaper. Aswani Kumar from the Assam State Zoo reported that the tiger was tranquilized after capture and sent to a veterinary hospital where they discovered lacerations to his body and where he was kept under observation. It is the following information which irritates me a lot. They're going to keep the tiger there and when the veterinarians give clearance that he is well enough to be moved they will take him to the Guwahati ...

Mabel Stark, a former Kentucky nurse became the world's first female tiger trainer. She spent almost 3 decades as a circus performer working with tigers and another 30 years working at Jungleland, an animal theme park in California where she raised cubs to be performers. All of her career took place in America. Mabel Stark with a leopard cub. Image: Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. (Library of Congress) On April 20, 1968, Stark took own life at the age of 79. It was about a year or so after the Jungleland general manager dismissed her because the park's insurance provider decided that they could no longer cover her. At that moment, Mabel Stark told a cage hand at the park: ""If ever I can't have my tigers, it's sayonara, my friend." It seems that she meant it and decided to check out. She was born in Princeton, USA on December 10, 1889. Her real name was Mary Haynie. She was one of seven children and was raised on a farm. Her parents die...

Carole Baskin, the founder and owner of Big Cat Rescue in Florida has vigorously and highly effectively promoted the Big Cat Public Safety Act for as long as it takes in order to get it through America's legislature, to turn it into an Act. She has done tremendously well, and the breaking news is that this legislation has passed the U.S. Senate and is heading to President Biden's desk for his signature. Carole Baskin being interviewed by Wink news. Screenshot. It is a vital bit of legislation because there's been far too much big cat abuse in private zoos in America over decades. The Humane Society of the United States described as "monumental legislation". It will prohibit keeping tigers, lions and other big cat species as pets and bans public contact with the species including cub petting which is a form of animal abuse. Nathan Winograd states: " Under the new bill, possession of lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, jaguars, cougars or any hybrid of thes...

It is the best I can do as the video quality is poor. 😢😒 This is a short Twitter video. It is not a great video, but it does make a clear statement about tourists interfering with tiger behaviour and irritating tigers. This video was probably captured in one of the many Indian tiger reserves and you initially see the camera focused on the bushes. After a little while, the tiger rushes out towards the vehicles. Sometimes, our ‘too much’ eagerness for ‘Tiger sighting’ is nothing but intrusion in their Life…🐅 #Wilderness #Wildlife #nature #RespectWildlife #KnowWildlife #ResponsibleTourism Video: WA @susantananda3 @ntca_india pic.twitter.com/B8Gjv8UmgF — Surender Mehra IFS (@surenmehra) November 27, 2022 The person operating the smart phone capturing the video is so struck by the aggressive approach of the tiger that they are unable to continue filming and the camera pans left and then it comes back to the tiger who then decides to retreat. It is a statement by the ...

The question is: "Do male tigers killed tigresses?" And the answer, in my considered opinion, is different when referring to wild tigers or captive tigers, which points to the source of what might be considered aberrant behaviour. If you have a different viewpoint, please comment and provide science in support please. I love good contributions. Captive female Sumatran tiger killed at London Zoo by male while zookeepers tried to get them to mate. Image: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Wild tigers In the wild, male tigers have much larger home ranges than those of females. And each male's range typically overlaps several female ranges. It seems like male tigers have a harem of females within their orbit. Consequently, there are no fights over territory between males and females, as I understand it. Clearly, fights over territory can result in the death of one tiger. Also, male tigers sometimes fight over access to a female, but this is a male-on-male fight. I have read through a lar...

The situations during which tigers roar indicate that it is mainly used for long-distance communication. And the sound of the roar, which is obviously very loud, also supports this viewpoint. Tiger roar. Image: MikeB Tiger roaring is heard in a variety of contexts including the following as per Mel and Fiona Sunquist in their book Wild Cats of the World ( buy the book if you are interested in the wild cats as it is the best ) after a tiger has killed a large animal as a prelude to mating during mating when a female beckons a young and when some tigresses advertise sexual receptivity ( I expand on this below ). A contributor to the Reddit.com discussion on this topic, Nick Nicholas (40 years studying big cats 😎) says that male tigers roar to attract females. He correctly states that the home range of male tigers encompasses those of several females, and males know when a female is in season from their scent, and they will roar to attract her. He also says that tigers roar to warn other...

Often, man-eating tigers become the danger that they are to people because they've been injured in some way which has incapacitated them, or they are debilitated to such an extent that they can no longer prey upon their standard prey animal which is a large ungulate. They turn to humans as an alternative and as an easy prey animal. And one way that a tiger can become debilitated is when they try and attack and eat a porcupine. This is not that uncommon in wild animals generally and you will also certainly see domestic dogs getting into an awful state with porcupine quills all over their face. The quills can kill a dog . And, you might know that porcupine quills are very hard to remove because they have barbs along the shaft as you can see in the photograph. In fact, the barbs drive the quill further into the body when the body moves where they can damage internal organs. Porcupine and a quill showing the barbs. Image: MikeB Tigers can't remove them by biting on them and if ther...