Year of the Tiger (But Not As a Pet)

Camille,

You are way ahead of me on this one. I keep meaning to delve into this very issue - it's a big one here in the West. As humans continue to spread out across the land once populated by wolves, this becomes more and more of a problem to both.

~ClizBiz

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Animal Concerns, Proprietor, ClizBiz ( http://www.clizbiz.blogspot.com/ )

http://bloginsong.com from Camille, your intrepid blogger in song

Bonehead fits.  It just does.  Here in West we have a similar problem with people that thing Wolves are great pets....just like doggies.  But, of course, wolves are NOT just like doggies despite the similarities.  Its dangerous to people, and just hideously unfair to the animals.

Great work Heather!

This is such a sad and disturbing story. No one knew what to do with it so they beat it to death? Gawd, that's terrible. What is wrong with people? The owners no doubt got swept up in the Emu Business, which was supposed to be a big pay-off - it never came.

Thanks for sharing your story. Give Ted a scratch behind the ear for me. ;-)

~ClizBiz

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Animal Concerns, Proprietor, ClizBiz ( http://www.clizbiz.blogspot.com/ )

...but I do.  I lived for awhile on a small college campus tucked away in the mountains of eastern Tennessee.  One morning, I looked out the front window of my house only to see a very large emu strutting slowly across the front yard, leaving big emu tracks in the snow.  Not exactly something you see every day.

The next day I was at the college team's baseball game (yes, they play baseball in eastern TN even when there is snow on the ground), when the damn thing actually wandered on to the field.  They had to stop the game and wait for it to stroll off.  None of the players, wisely, were willing to get near it.

Sadly, I heard later that once the emu wandered away from the field, several locals beat the poor thing to death.  It turned out that two of the big creatures had been dumped there by owners who no longer wanted to deal with them.

So senseless. 

www.mylifeasjaneblog.blogspot.com ( http://www.mylifeasjaneblog.blogspot.com )

Thanks so much for bringing such great insight to the table. It helped me clarify that these sanctuaries actually come to the rescue for cats from ignorant owners. Gosh, the mountain lion story is a sad one. Python too.

The fact that you volunteer and clean tiger cages makes you pretty much a hero in my book. Thanks for the link to the Tampa rescue - I had no idea it was so pervasive.

Thanks again for writing and hope all the head banging didn't ruin your day.

~ClizBiz

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Animal Concerns, Proprietor, ClizBiz ( http://www.clizbiz.blogspot.com/ )

Sorry, Sari, but yes, I'm sticking by my bonehead comment. In fact, it was really the nicest word I can think of for somebody who keeps a wild animal in their apartment. To clarify, the 'wild tiger' is going extinct while the numbers of captive tigers continue to grow.

Interesting your assumptive reactions to the words 'Harlem' and 'mobile homes.' Very curious.

To the reader's point below, I should definitely clarify that wildlife sanctuaries often come in to save these wild cats after the BONEHEADS get a cute cub and think they can raise it. Tigers, my dear Sari, are wild animals. No amount of human pampering will ever change this. Ask Roy Horn from Siegfried & Roy.

And finally, you might notice that my beat as a mere blogger is "Animal & Wildlife Concerns", which does not cover drugs or trees or motorcycles.

~ClizBiz

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Animal Concerns, Proprietor, ClizBiz ( http://www.clizbiz.blogspot.com/ )

after seeing the things I have and hearing the stories of the animals, I don't recommend people buying exotic animals. Like I said below, I realize there are people who CAN and ARE able to afford and even educate the public about the species. I definitely fully support education and I hope that the people you are referring to who are keeping tigers and other assorted exotic species are doing so because these animals were rescued and not purchased on the black market. Unless of course it was the only way to actually rescue the animal. I think I am mucking myself up here. I just get very frustrated when I think about these animals and what they have gone through at the hands of their previous ill equipped owners. 

after growing up in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area was a real culture shock to me. You might actually be wondering why the hell I am talking about where I grew up in regards to where this post is concerned, WELLLLL<<<< it wasn't until after I moved down here that I found out how horrible people really can be. sarigordon may not like the bonehead comment, but oh its true. People pay THOUSANDS of dollars for white tigers. But white tigers are rare, BUT they can be BRED to be white. By inbreeding, many many times over and can be damaging to the tiger, there will be deformites usually. Many times if a yellow tiger is produced, they will just kill it.

There are TWO wildlife sanctuaries right up the road from me, not even 10 minutes away that hold tigers because BONEHEADS tried to keep them and later found out how difficult it was to keep a wild animal such as that. They also had mountain lions, panthers, and cervals. One of my favorite kitties was an old mountain lion. Beautiful cat, he was beat by his previous owner (his back was broken and never taken to a vet to be fixed so he had issues getting around) and was kept inside a tiny cage, finally the owner was forced to give the cat up and was brought to the sanctuary. The cat lived out the rest of his poor life in a much larger and nicer cage with actual room to move around if he so chose, but because of his poor health from his previous keeper, he was in very poor form. 

This holds true for snakes and other assorted wildlife. Emu's for example. Did you know that Emus were a very hot item for a while? Until the market became so saturated with them. Then the prices plummeted and people were no longer able to sell them for premium prices and no longer able to afford them so they were taking them down to the everglades and letting them go. The sanctuary I volunteered at had an emu that was found in someones garage. *there is an emu farm about 5 minutes north of me and once one escaped and was running along side the road. Really a bit of a shock to see this huge bird running alongside the road. 

Pythons are a huge problem here. They are not native to the 'glades, but because people were stupid and bought them without thinking about how large they would eventually get and how much money/care you had to put into them, assholes would release them in the 'glades and now they are not only destroying the ecosystem, but they are actually breeding. 

Yeah, I am all for people to stop being assholes and buying animals they have no business buying and keeping...trying to keep. While there are some people out there who want nothing more than to help, they should help by volunteering at a sanctuary, there are PLENTY Of them around. I helped feed and clean tiger cages, what a major pain in the ass that was. Also the fact that one of the males tried to spray me and mark me as his territory was kinda gross. I loved those tigers dearly, they were so beautiful, but ...they are friggin huge.

There was a case last year where this couple had a burmese python and they didn't have it secured in its cage properly...nor had they fed it properly and it got loose and killed their little girl. It was devastating to see on the news, not only because the little girl died, but because the snake nearly died as well. I'm not particularly fond of snakes, but ...that snake was not being properly cared for and was just looking for food. I'm totally not being callous here because I feel deeply for the loss of that child. But when will these fucking people realize that these are not dogs or cats? These "pets" will KILL YOU!I won't even go into gators, because I am starting to feel the urge to smack my head against the desk. 

As you may have guessed I feel very strongly about captive wildlife. I realize under certain conditions that some people are actually smart enough and able to care for and keep pets such as tigers/snakes/whatever, but its not something I would ever recommend. Here is a link to Big Cat Rescue in Tampa. Very informative site and beautiful photos to boot. http://www.bigcatrescue.org/index.htm 

i am no captive wildlife advocate, but i've done my homework. if there are more tigers in captivity in the US, how much longer can you say they are going "extinct?"

and if there are 10,000 to 15,000 (the golden number that anyone can get from Googling, but not from actual research), why focus on the 1 or 2 gruesome deaths? why not take issue with drugs or falling trees or motorcycle accidents?

what i think is most vile is your choice to stereotype by way of anecdote--tigers at gas stations, tigers in harlem (read "black"), tigers in mobile homes (read "white trash") - you are depicting a dangerous illusion, one that true wildlife advocates would say do more to endanger wildlife than villagers who kill them to protect their livelihoods.

if there are so many tigers living is so many horrible conditions, shouldn't there be more news? more maulings? more photos on the internet by proud, yet "boneheaded" owners?

I realize you are a blogger, not a journalist, but you should talk to the people who are struggling to do good work and who keep tigers as "pets," but more importantly, as amabassadors for a dying breed. There are people with money, with resources and yes, even with good taste, who keep captive wildlife and yes, there are losers out there and the USDA is ill-equipped to keep up, but why don't you go after people who raise their children on television, with no education or good nutrition, only to end up in prison or procreating a more unsustainable population of humans?

http://archives.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/repo... ( http://archives.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/repo... )

In writing this, I was also pretty shocked at these numbers. Seems like something so stupid and so avoidable but yet the problem grows. I guess mankind likes the idea of owning and 'keeping' a wild animal - makes 'em feel superior, I guess ...? Dunno.

Let me know what you think of 'Cat Dancers' - fa-REAKY stuff.

~ClizBiz

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Animal Concerns, Proprietor, ClizBiz ( http://www.clizbiz.blogspot.com/ )

Great post!  Happy Year of the Tiger. I'm ready for a year of win.  But 10 - 20 K captive tigers?  That's horrible.  What is wrong with people?? I do love freaky documentaries showing me what's what, though, so I'll looking that one up, thanks!

Deb
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