[FEL-L] Ben is on target

[Brian Werner]

Look list,

Not trying to get in to stats but first off it is not the majority of 
big cats that are declawed. Zoos, professional handlers and circuses do 
not practice this declaw tactic even most USDA exhibitors do not. It is 
always the amateur, new comers and the old schoolers that set this false 
sense of security.

My point exactly concerning Ben's post, it has nothing to do with 
statistics and it clearly shows that declawed BIG cats are not as safe 
as being presented and in fact it is possible that they may actually be 
more dangerous without claws.

And not only that but it also adversely affects them in the 
psychological wellbeing as well as medically speaking.

When it comes to Big Cats the claws are not weapons but rather are 
tools, tools which they utilize to communicate with each other, to 
handle their own food and the occasional grooming or self rubbed scratch 
of an itch when applied to themselves. Again this seems to mainly be 
isolated to big cats. Now the cubs will scratch when bottle rearing as 
they are still learning coordination and eventually even they stop but 
you can clip the nails of the cubs during this growth curb to prevent 
that activity. Once they are older (usually about 3-5 months) they gain 
more control over the sheaths.

So with this information why bother performing these amputations? No 
justifiable reason to do so. Here we have a person claiming that she 
exhibits hands on with her cats herself for 50-years when she is not the 
one in the ring or in her case on stage. And on the other side is at 
least half a dozen or more of direct contact big cats handlers that 
perform daily who do not have to perform these amputations and they do 
quite well without such. That's all I am trying to point out. There is a 
lot more against declawing than for the practice and to see yet another 
generation considering these needless procedures on the big cats is 
really disturbing and sad ponders for the big cats themselves. Please do 
not assume that the declaw way is the correct method based on emails, 
you are welcomed to come here and see first hand as well as visiting 
others that perform with the big cats who do not declaw. I know that 
these handlers would gladly share that insight as a method to prevent 
you from making the mistake of amputating another big cat.

For additional captive rearing methods involving tigers please feel free 
to visit: http://www.tigerlink.org/husbandry/husman.htm if the server is 
down just try back later.

Brian Werner
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ben willis wrote:

Statistics can be misleading, but in this case it isn't a question of whether de-clawed cats are more or less prone to attack. It does prove that when they do, the absence of claws is trivial in rendering them less dangerous.