Four Cubs Born into Captivity at Hanoi Zoo

An Indochinese tiger cub sits next to its mother, Mi, at the Hanoi Zoo June 22, 2011.

Mi gave birth to four cubs in the morning of April 2, 2011, becoming the first tiger at the Hanoi zoo to be born and bred in captivity.

Mi was born on the same day eight years earlier, on April 2, 2003, to Lam Nhi (which mean “Child of Forest”), a tiger that was confiscated from wildlife traffickers in Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien Hue.

Most people are surprised to learn that despite all of the captive breeding of tigers that goes on in zoos there are no legitimate programs to reintroduce them to the wild. Those who work in the field say that zoos only pay the equivalent of lip service to the actual protection or conservation of tigers in the wild.

Breeding tigers for life in cages does nothing to save them in the wild and means a life of deprivation and boredom for those unlucky enough to have been born into captivity.