The Tiger

NEWS AND VIEWS - VIRGINIA, USA: Carole Baskin, the founder and chief executive of Big Cat Rescue (BCR) always detested the private zoo, big cat kings of America who she accused of abusing and exploiting big cats for commercial gain. There were a number of them. I use the past tense.  4 ‘Tiger Kings’ in America have now been charged with animal cruelty . Doc Antle and pet leopard. Image: Netflix. Since Carole Baskin, in effect, put Joe Exotic behind bars for a long stretch because of his attempts to have her murdered, she has reigned supreme as the antithesis and antidote of America's private zoo exploiters. She is going to sell up (or has sold) Big Cat Rescue and do other work with the proceeds to help wildlife welfare and conservation. Her mission at Big Cat Rescue is over. She has achieved her goals. For a long time, she was picking up the pieces of individuals such as Joe Exotic and other private zoo owners who also abused big cats and who were unable to look after them properly...

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...

NEWS AND COMMENT: I know that the majestic tiger is nothing to the British government. The tiger's gradual extinction in the wild is not on Boris Johnson's radar. Never has been. BUT I am sure Carrie Symonds, his fiancée, has considered the abuse of the tiger by four Asian countries: China, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos and as such here is a real opportunity to add some conditions to the trade links that Britain wants to develop with China and neighbouring countries.   British PM needs to think of the tiger when pushing trade links with China. This is a tiger farm. Gross animal abuse. Cruel. These tigers will soon be killed and their body parts harvested. Pic in the public domain. I recently wrote about the abuses dished out to the tiger by these countries  - click to read it . If anyone cares about animal welfare it is horrendous. For example, deboning living tigers to make pink tiger bone jewellery. Can you believe it?  It is truly time to tackle tiger abuse and ex...

Netflix's Tiger King documentary was highly popular. I think, for a while, it was their highest rated production. It made a celebrity out of Joe Exotic. He is not a celebrity but a foolish individual with a disdain for animal welfare and a convicted criminal. It appears that there is going to be a second series because of the popularity of the first. There may be spin-offs because I read that Louis Theroux wants to dive into the murky world of Joe Exotic again. Wild animals kept as pets in the UK. Graphic: The Sun  newspaper. Date: 17/03/2021. But all this focus on keeping tigers and other exotic animals as pets in a self-indulgent way is damaging to wildlife conservation and it also represents a distorted relationship between humans and other animals. Wild animals are not ours to possess and use for our entertainment. We should do all we can to allow them to live natural lives in the wild. Sadly too many foolish and inscrupulous individuals prefer to possess them, use them and...

COMMENT AND OPINION ON THE NEWS: This is a quick note on a topic which frankly disgusts me. In Laos some commercial enterprises are sedating tigers and cutting their bones from them and using the blood filled bones to make jewellery. It is sick human behaviour.  Perverted human behaviour in the creation of pink tiger bone jewellery. Pic: in public domain. What happens to the tigers after they wake up? They've been deboned. Which bloody bones are they missing? Does it affect them badly? Can they move? These bloody bastards are harvesting the body parts of tigers while they are alive. They can't even bloody well wait until they kill them to 'harvest' the bones, skin, teeth, penis etc.. There is a film about this sort of mass and extreme abuse and exploitation of tigers which will be aired shortly I believe. It is called The Tiger Mafia by Karl Ammann and Laurin Merz. Tiger in severe ill-health at an Asian tiger farm. Acute abuse. Horror. Hateful human behaviour. Unfor...

There is no God-given rule, no absolute diktat from up above as to why tigers should be kept in captivity. They shouldn't. In a better world, with half the current human population, there would be enough space for tigers to live in their own reserves without coming into conflict with people. In other words people would be living in harmony with tigers rather than persecuting them, exploiting them, abusing them and banging them up in prison cells with concrete floors and nasty bars.  Why shouldn't tigers be kept in captivity? Because it is a f**k**g failure. Pic: Pixabay. Tigers like to enjoy space. In the natural world they may roam over hundreds of square miles in their home range. You imprison them in a zoo and no matter how wonderful you make that zoo they are still confined to a space much smaller than they would be enjoying in the wild. And let's remind ourselves that very many zoos are terrible dumps. They are disgusting places in Third World countries where tigers...

Even today in Asia tiger body parts are still extensively used by people to improve their well-being or status, or so they believe. The Chinese are particularly involved with this. The body parts are also often used in Chinese traditional medicine. However, you can go back a very long way indeed throughout history to see how humankind's reverence and admiration of the tiger has often been its demise. It is very odd that animals that people admire end up being killed by people because humankind likes to possess or eat a piece of that animal thinking that it benefits them. Tiger clavicle bone as a brooch. Photo: Tennants Auctioneers. For example, the tiger clavicle bone was often turned into a brooch. You can see one in the photograph above. This particular brooch is mounted in gold metal with a pin fastener. It is 7.5 cm long. A very small bone for such a very large predatory animal. This is because its reduced size allows the tiger to stride longer and therefore move faster....

Carole Baskin, the founder and manager of Big Cat Rescue in Florida is a genuine animal advocate and conservationist. She has many critics because she's an outspoken person but I am one of her supporters and admirers.  Doc Antle. Screenshot from video. I believe that she is genuine and she's good for big cat welfare. She's been trying to push through animal welfare law to protect big cats in America where they are kept as pets and where tiger and lion cubs are exploited in roadside zoos for photography and petting sessions. She is behind the Big Cat Safety Act which has been introduced into the federal legislature. One of the biggest exploiters of that money spinning business was exotically named Bhagavan "Doc" Antle. He was (his time has come to an end) one of the big four "Tiger Kings", all of whom have been indicted for animal cruelty. He owns the Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina.  Carole Baskin. Photo: BCR. Carole Baskin believes that Antle ...