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...

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 ...

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...

Four Paws International have successfully rescued four Bengal tigers, two of which (the parents) had spent 15 years of captivity in a tight enclosure on a train carriage. The history is interesting and sad. In 2007 a circus troupe abandoned a male and female tiger in San Luis, Argentina. Four Bengal tigers, two of which were trapped in a train carriage for 15 years, now freed. Photo in public domain. On a temporary basis, a local farmer was asked to take care of them but the animal's handler never returned to claim them. As a consequence, this male and female Bengal tiger were caged in a metal train carriage on the farmer's property. The tigers were not sterilised. They bred. They produced two offspring who were born into captivity and remained in captivity until released with their parents by Four Paws International. The train carriage was filthy, as expected, with leftover bones and meat. The tigers probably engaged in pacing which is a displacement activity due to the stress...

NEWS AND COMMENT: In order to gloss up their celebrity status and present to the world that they live a glamorous lifestyle, female Russian social media celebrities and influencers have introduced sedated tigers and lions as glamorous props at wild parties.  Even within Russia there are those who have criticised them heavily. There are obviously animal advocates in Russia but there are other people who think that Russians don't give a damn about animal welfare. It's one reason why the Siberian tiger is near extinction. For many years it was the target of sport hunters. Ilona Kotelyukh poses with the tiger at her party in Moscow Credit: Peopletalk.ru One female model and influencer Ilona Kotelyukh, 28, had a party marking Russian Women's Day which is a holiday apparently, where the guests were entertained with a striptease and where the surroundings were glamorised by three sedated tigers (see above). She is the wife of multimillionaire insurance king Nikolay Sarkisov, 52...

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 ON NEWS: Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and China appear to be the big four countries where tigers are abused the most but in Europe we can add France. I was surprised. The news goes against the grain or our perceptions of France as a civilised country. And they like to believe that they are more civilised than any other country.  France allegedly involved in abusive tiger trade. Photo: Pixabay. An organisation called 'Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project' have concluded that 'France is home to a booming tiger trade'. They refer to an article by Oxpeckers - 'Investigative Environmental Journalism'. Oxpeckers say that tigers are big business in France. It looks like France is leading the way in Europe on big animal abuse. The po-faced holier-than-thou French who love bureaucracy because it makes them more civilised (they think) are showing their true colours in allowing this abuse of the world's most iconic animal. The more iconic an animal is...

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...