[REXANO]comments RE: Tiger Politics: Is AZA and Few Outspok

**Raven** · Site Admin Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 217

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1. Ellie Says:
January <http://www.bloggernews.net/112827#comment-178883#comment-178883>
4th, 2008 at 1:27 pm

I agree that private big cat owners are not necessarily the untrained lay
people that zoos and other 'accredited' institutions make them out to be.
Zoos should be subject to the same regulations that private owners are, and
it should be stressed that an associates degree in exotic animal care and
husbandry does not even begin to compare to the many years of experience and
personal insights that some private big cat owners may have. However, to say
that the wild doesn't exist and is "going bye bye" is just ignorant,
defeatist, and selfish. If the considerable investment of money that zoos
and private big cat owners put toward upkeep of their animals went toward
protecting their habitat and helping their free cousins to continue to live
on their own land and their own terms, then wilderness areas for big cats
would not be disappearing. What's more, the animals that people may not find
so cute and endearing and personable, such as the deer and antelope, pigs
and peccaries, howler monkeys and baboons, would not be losing their land
and their lives as well.

There is a war on wilderness going on. It has been going on since some
humans first separated themselves from the daily struggles of survival.
Wildness is viewed as worthless, dangerous, scary, something to be feared
and fought, controlled and dominated.

Big cats are wild. That is a fact. They were not domesticated thousands of
years ago like dairy cows. No one wants to domesticate big cats, not truly,
because the whole reason people are fascinated with them is because they
have the mystique of the wilderness about them. It's because they remind
people that we are not the top of the food chain and the rulers of the
earth. Wild animals, because of the very nature of what and who they are,
need to be free. Large carnivores, even more than other animals, have the
need to be free. Any big cat in a captive setting is a tragedy. Unselfishly
put yourself in their position for a moment. They will never feel the thrill
of the hunt, pushing their muscles and their minds to the breaking point to
outwit and overpower that animal that they must kill in order to survive.
They will never have to search miles of forest for a scent on the air known
only to them in order to find their mate. They will never have to impress
them and then fight to keep them. These things that make life worth living
are forever taken away from them. Why? Because their keepers "love" them.
Because "it's for their own good." Because there's no place left for them to
go because people and institutions are too selfish to spend money on
protecting wilderness that they may never personally see. What kind of love
is that?

The difference between a big cat in the wild and a big cat in captivity is
incredibly striking. It's like looking at a prisoner of war compared to a
mythical ancient greek warrior. In reality, these captive big cats are
prisoners of war. Their homes are being destroyed, those of their kind
continually being shot, poisoned, trapped, caged, sold, and shipped to
foreign lands. Though they may be given "good food and water, adequate
caging with adequate space" just like any half-civilized country would give
their prisoners of war, that does not change the hard truth of their
situation. You can tell from a glance at the muscle tone, the scars on the
fur, the look in the eyes, the world of difference between a cat that has
truly lived, and the shallow, "picture in a magazine"-type wild cat in a
cage.

I do not advocate for a world without animals or a world without human
contact with animals, but only for a world where people think not only about
ourselves but for other species as well, where we actively restrain
ourselves from destroying and dominating every last scrap of wild land and
with it the livelihoods of wild animals.

1. Zuzana Kukol Says:
January <http://www.bloggernews.net/112827#comment-179167#comment-179167>
4th, 2008 at 8:31 pm

Yes, the best way to help tigers is by protecting their habitat, I couldn't
agree more. That would be the perfect scenario, but despite conservationists
pouring millions into protecting tigers in their natural habitats, the
animal's numbers are on steep decline every year.
Ellie, millions has been spent on wild tiger conservation, but it doesn't
seem to be working for many reasons: human population in India is
increasing, native tiger habitat is decreasing.
India is poor country with many corrupt officials, so the money sent for
conservation often doesn't even reach the proper recipients. Even if it did,
poachers can easily bribe the very guards that are supposed to be guarding
the tigers.
I'm getting tired of ignorant, naive people with little knowledge of the
real conservation issues that affect wild tiger habitats. It's easy to
repeat slogans and ask for protection, but the problem is nobody, so far,
can offer workable solutions.

It's not any different than saying the obvious, that we all want cure for
cancer. Of course we do. But how do we achieve it?

If the main problem here is that tiger habitat is disappearing, blame human
encroachment and population boom. And the only ways to reverse those things
are to ban human breeding or to kill humans living near tigers. Then the
animals can reclaim habitat. Why don't we start in the United States with
that. After all, the U.S. has endangered species in need of protection. That
is, unless you have a better and more workable solutions. I'm all ears.
Honest.

I wish to protect the wild tiger, but I'm the first one to admit I have no
idea how to accomplish it, just like I don't have the cure for cancer. I'd
rather see tigers survive in captivity than become extinct altogether. Let
me offer a slogan: "Extinction is forever."

And yes, I own captive tigers and have for years. I believe you can offer an
appropriate environment for captive tigers. Remember, all domestic animals
were domesticated from wild cousins