Catch a tiger by the tail..... *Picture*

[Kater]

I could never support these traveling "zoos" and my reasons may surprise you, so please hear me out. As an occasional volunteer at a big cats rescue (related thread: http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...threadid=25368) I’ve had my eyes opened to the horrors behind something as seemingly innocent as taking a picture with a baby tiger.

I will leave it to the experts to describe some of the atrocities which are part of the commercial exploitation of big cats. The experts in this case are the real rescue organizations!

Every year the animal exhibits want to have a cute little cub on display for the paying public, but next year where does that cub go? Alan Green's book, Animal Underworld tells you the sad truth. You will always be told that it went to another zoo, but they are all breeding like crazy and none of them wants the adults from each previous year, so they end up in canned hunts and at auctions to anyone with $100.00 in their pocket and then they are bred like beagles for the "pet" trade.

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/FAQ.htm

These sort of photo opportunities are what causes life times of suffering for the animals and I would strongly urge you to learn more about how these things work before adding to the problem. You probably love the big cats and would not knowingly do something to hurt them. In the State of Florida, it is legal for a person to touch a great cat (lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar) until they are 40 pounds. Many people breed these cats just for that market. They produce lots of cute little cubs for people to have their pictures made with. To keep them under 40 pounds, as long as possible, they starve them, deprive them of the calcium they need to grow strong (thus heavy) bones and then when the cub passes it's 40 pound limit, they are dumped at auctions where they are bought by people who offer canned hunts (illegally in the case of the tiger, leopard and jag, but done all the same). The other options for these cats are that unscrupulous people who want to make money in the photo opp business will buy them and breed them like rabbits, doing the same thing over and over. They typically call themselves sanctuaries and say that they are breeding for conservation efforts, but the truth is that virtually none of them really are. (Ask to see the proof of signed governmental contracts for release and reintroduction.) If you don't provide the demand for this market, then it will go away.

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/FAQ.htm

More information: http://www.bigcatrescue.org/animal_abuse.htm

I’m sorry if this comes across as an attack, but I just CANNOT leave this unsaid. I hope you can understand.