No Real Sanctuary Breeds Tigers (period)

Charles Perry cperry@heraldonline.com (803) 329-4068

Dear Charles,

The people keeping big cats as pets will tell you they are doing it for conservation purposes.  That is why the Long Island Ocelot Club changed its name to the Feline Conservation Federation.  None of these private owners are participating in any true conservation efforts.  That is just the deception they use to cover the real agenda which is one of selfishness and greed.  Florida boasts the strongest laws regarding private ownership of big cats and yet this video, filmed this month, at a USDA and FL inspected and approved facility says it all:  http://www.veoh.com/videos/v2570412PGPYhmr?searchId=2503376743519897135&rank=0

Many of these places house white tigers.  No one who knows anything about white tigers would claim to be breeding them for conservation. They are all hybrids of Bengal and Siberian tigers (like crossing a German Shepherd with a Dalmatian) AND the only way to get the white coat is through severe inbreeding.  The American Zoological Association condemns such breeding as does the international Tiger Species Survival Plan.  That alone should tell you how well educated or well intentioned these people are.  The only reason anyone breeds white tigers is because there are still some people that don’t know any better who will pay to come see one.  This page details the genetics and shows what happens to most of the white cubs who are born with all of the inherent birth defects association with inbreeding:  http://bigcatrescue.org/white_tigers.htm  

Real sanctuaries do not breed their cats, so these places, which always have cubs, could not qualify as a sanctuary either.    

The following is a partial listing (797) of incidents involving captive big cats since 1990. These incidents have resulted in the killing or deaths of 234 big cats, 69 human deaths, more than 243 human maulings, 214 exotic cat escapes and 364 confiscations.   http://bigcatrescue.org/big_cat_news.htm

To see a video of the mauling of a zoo keeper in 2006 go to http://bigcatrescue.org/animal_contact.htm

The Journal of Internal Medicine in 2006 estimated that 50 million people worldwide have been infected with zoonotic diseases since 2000 and as many as 78,000 have died. Read more about zoonotic diseases here:

To see the number of exotic cats abandoned each year go to http://bigcatrescue.org/animal_abuse.htm

To view a trend chart that shows the alarming escalation of big cat incidents here: http://bigcatrescue.org/Flash/BigCatBans/BigCatBanCharts.htm

The U.S. represents less than 5% of the entire global population, but 67% of ALL captive cat incidents occur in the U.S.  Likewise, Florida represents less than 6% of the U.S. population while 13% of all U.S. incidents occur in Florida.  California and Florida boast the most comprehensive sets of regulations allowing private ownership of exotic cats while ranking #3 and #1 respectively in the highest numbers of big cat killings, maulings and escapes. To view photos of fatal injuries from cases reported in the American Journal of Forensic Medicine click http://bigcatrescue.org/laws/AMJForensicFeline.pdf 

This video shows facilities that are currently licensed and approved by the USDA and the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission that have been operating at this level or worse for more than 10 years and yet are still open to the public.  These images are typical of those who allow cameras in but there are many worse ones who do not.   This shows precisely why we need to ban private possession of exotic cats. http://www.veoh.com/videos/v2570412PGPYhmr

Feel free to quote me or the website if you do any follow up story on the fraud that is being brought to your town.   

In case you need a second opinion on white tigers, try:  

Dr. Ron Tilson, Director of Conservation at the Minnesota Zoo, is the director of the Tiger Species Survival Plan and has actually worked in the field to save them.  http://www.tigerfdn.com/home/W2D7.html   He is quoted on our page about white tigers.

You can contact the American Zoological Association at http://www.aza.org/NewsGrantsCalendar/MemberNewsMar2006/  Do a search on that page for "white tigers" and you will see that they are trying to debunk the myth that white tigers are an endangered species that should be bred.

For the cats,

Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue

an Educational Sanctuary home

to more than 100 big cats

12802 Easy Street Tampa, FL  33625

813.493.4564 fax 885.4457

http://www.BigCatRescue.org    MakeADifference@BigCatRescue.org

Sign our petition here:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/344896451?ltl=1140270431

Get 7 Free Lessons from the Teachers of "The Secret" here: http://bigcatrescue.theofficialsecretseminar.com 

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