[FEL-L] "gettin nasty with humans applying human anatomy to an animal instead of animal anatomy to an animal"

[Great Cats]

Thank you Brian, well said.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brian Werner" <tiger1 at tigerlink.org>
To: <felines-l at catbox.com>
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2006 10:51 AM
Subject: [FEL-L] "gettin nasty with humans applying human anatomy to an 
animal instead of animal anatomy to an animal"


> List,
>
> I am sorry that I am so mean. I seldom post here but this is one sore 
> subject, literally sore to more than one of my own big cats here at Tiger 
> Creek. You can learn more about me on Animal Planet today at 3:00 pm 
> easter time in Growing Up Tiger. See 
> http://www.tigercreek.org/animalplanet.html for more info.
>
> To me it is nasty to declaw a BIG cat. I strongly believe it is immoral, 
> unethical, neglectful and inflicted abuse. It has no role in conservation 
> or education. It is only performed by inexperienced handlers or even worse 
> in some cases those who claim to be handlers only never working with the 
> big cats directly.
>
> If you'll research my posts you will see that I pointed to the facts, 
> truths or experiences including many others that work with big cats that 
> have claws. If I and a handful of others do not speak out against this old 
> human practice then who will? Am I coming across strong (or mean)? Yes 
> most definitely so but I do so out of compassion to try and save any 
> additional big cats from having to experience the agony of having its 
> extensions amputated.
>
> Big cats have a lot of weight that bares down on the paws. You can tell 
> from a distance that a big cat is declawed by the way it walks, the 
> pressure points are pushed to the limits causing them to actually change 
> the way in which they set down the paw in each step. It throws the entire 
> natural alignments of the animals posture off. Often in old age when cast 
> to some sanctuary the cats are suffering from severe arthritis and in some 
> of the most extreme cases these big cats claws actually grow back through 
> the paw in a deformed shape that pokes through the paw at the top or sides 
> (a path of least resistance). It (the practice of declaw) always starts 
> with cubs that scratch while drinking a bottle, if they trimmed the claws 
> points with nail snips at the very end of the points they would save 
> themselves from having to take this any farther.
>
> I see pet owners do this declaw as well as those who have big cats in acts 
> of movie work but only by those whom seem to either be taught by the old 
> timers such as Jan or are more recently "getting into the business". In 
> one case I even seen a leopard that had its canines pulled out to prevent 
> her from biting as well as being declawed. The experienced and best of the 
> best handlers do not practice this method of declaw, they have the 
> experience and knowledge to know what it does and that it is senseless. 
> These are all guys that I know who have full direct contact every day and 
> they do more with their cats then these stardom magic acts or modeling 
> shoots would dare dream of.
>
> The bottom line is that declawing a big cat is useless, cruel and doesn't 
> even protect people intended to protect, which by itself is a selfish 
> reason or act in itself to try and justify this activity. The non-profit 
> magazine that I receive this month talks about the GI generation (1901 - 
> 1927) being the most giving generation of all times, it then goes on to 
> talk about the generation (1928  1944) being less giving than any other 
> generation calling them the ME generation and then it states that the baby 
> bommers are even worse at this mentality. My point? Is declawing about the 
> ME syndrome or is it about the big cats? It is all about the ME in all of 
> those people who practice this. It is a self serving application that 
> doesn't even work as intended. It doesn't make the big cat safer, it 
> doesn't even better protect the model, and who gives a damn about a 
> costume? And in the end the big cats suffer from this practice. The claw 
> of a cat is not like our own finger nails, you cant remove it in the same 
> manner without causing irreversible damages. This is equal to removing all 
> of your toes and then expecting you to walk correct with a standard 
> posture. People need to understand that if they want to work with animals 
> than they need to do just that, work with them, not against them. This 
> practice of declawing originated by humans applying human anatomy to an 
> animal instead of animal anatomy to an animal. It originated by applying 
> human needs to an animal instead of applying animal needs to an animal.
>
> In the service of the big cats,
> Brian Werner
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