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...

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 is more than about a white tiger in a Ukrainian zoo but it comes down to the same thing; the utterly uncivilised manner in which humankind is behaving at the moment at the expense of vulnerable animals. I'm referring of course to Putin's invasion of Ukraine which has proved to be far more barbaric than anybody envisaged and which is causing the mass destruction of many animals.  I have recently written about the starving to death of 300 dogs in an animal shelter in Russian occupied Ukraine because they failed to care for those dogs while they were caged . Alexander Feldman the zoo's owner. Picture as per the credit in the image. The owner of a zoo in Kharkiv, Alexander Feldman, is telling the world that he is set to euthanise the animals that remain. This includes a white tiger, as mentioned, and lions and bears. Some of the animals have been evacuated such as kangaroos but some kangaroos have been killed. Some of the deer escaped to surrounding fores...

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...

Tigers need an enormous amount of space when they live in the wild and I believe that they still need that kind of space when in captivity even if they were born in captivity because this need is inherited. I believe that it is hardwired into their DNA. On that basis life in a zoo for a tiger is uncomfortable, sterile and without enjoyment except intermittently. And I am referring to good zoos in the West. What about the crappy zoos in Asia where we see tigers pacing to survive mentally. It is horrible to see. I shake my head when I think of it because I don't know how people can put tigers through that kind of mental torture. Only ignorant people can do it. Tiger in captivity. Photo: Pixabay I do not believe that it makes any difference whether a tiger is born in captivity, in a zoo, or whether they are born in the wild. They need a certain amount of space in order to express their natural behaviour. It is an enormous amount of space. It depends upon where the tiger lives in the w...

This is a bizarre story but aren't they all bizarre when they come from the Joe Exotic book of life . Just to remind you, Joe Exotic is the former owner of a private in America where he kept hundreds of animals including a large number of tigers and lions and indeed other big cats. He planned to murder Carole Baskin (BCR founder) and has ended up in jail for 22 years. He is one of four "Tiger Kings" all of whom have been charged for animal cruelty. All four owned private zoos and allegedly exploited tigers and/or lion cubs . Image: PoC from pictures in the public domain. Moving forward, a Las Vegas museum is exhibiting a penis pump which they claim belonged to Joe Exotic. He denies it saying that he never needed a sex aid and that is sex drive has always been strong. He is gay and he is known to have lived with two husbands when he wasn't locked in prison. He claims that Geoff Lowe who took over his private zoo in Oklahoma made up the stories about items collected...