SPCA blasts Panjo’s owner

SPCA blasts Panjo’s owner

By Staff Reporter
July 30, 2010

The SPCA has slammed the owner of Panjo the tiger who dominated headlines this week, arguing that “no wild animal” should be kept as a pet.

Panjo was returned to his owner, game farm owner Goosey Fernandes, on Wednesday night after escaping off the back of his bakkie on Monday.

Seventeen-month-old Panjo disappeared on Monday night while Fernandes was transporting him in the back of his Ford F250 bakkie from the game farm to the family smallholding in Endicott, Springs, when the canopy door came open and Panjo jumped out.

The tiger was found at about 8pm on Wednesday near Verena, south of Groblersdal, after a search by dozens of people.

On Thursday Limpopo authorities apparently realised they had failed to process Fernandes’s application for a permit to keep the tiger and hurriedly arranged to meet Fernandes.

The SPCA, in the meantime, argued that wild animals taken into the home “usually lose their appeal once they reach maturity or become too strong to handle”.

In the case of predators, they also became aggressive and dangerous, they said.

These animals were then no longer considered welcome house guests to be spoilt and pampered, and were condemned to a life behind bars and fences, said the SPCA.

“In most cases these cages are devoid of environmental enrichment, the animals will have little contact with their owners and become breeding machines. Due to the expensive upkeep of these animals, owners are forced to find other means to financially support them – for example breeding programmes and zoo-type exhibits,” they said.

The SPCA promised to investigate the tiger’s situation.

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