[FEL-L] Thailand- depressing news 4 Tigers

[Prometheus Horse]

Pardon my ignorance, but.... perhaps I'm not understanding what's "depressing" about this. As part of all I do, I'm giving advice to someone propagating a species of horse that has fallen into disfavor... only 200 studs worldwide dealing with this type of horse. They were concerned about inbreeding and such, and were questioning whether or not to use a stud of the same line their mares are from. I asked them this simple question:
   
  If you're trying to prop up this breed, isn't simply more animals a good thing, and then once you have a large enough population only then worry about the more minor genetic traits of any given line?
   
  They agreed. And, to my mind this is a similar situation. Isn't more tigers overall a good thing? Nature will determine which genetic traits are desirable after the population is large enough.... and that means in the thousands, not just hundreds, IMO. So how would someone mass breeding tigers be a bad thing? To my mind it's a beneficial thing. But then again, I'm not seeking to breed the perfect tiger, like the AZA's SSP is. I'm just seeking to see MORE of them overall. Nature will filter out the duds, just as it has since before time was measured. That's just my observation on the matter, though I do agree that if they're being created for harvesting of their parts, that is a shame. But I see nothing whatsoever wrong with breeding them to create more, for the "pet trade" nor for anything that sees them alive and well, including circuses and commercial displays. But that's just how I see things. Flame me at will.
   
  Tim Fuller
  

Laura Morin <lmorin67 at earthlink.net> wrote:
      I would guess the unfortunate medical tradition..... 
  Dont they follow up on things there? 
   
    Laura Morin
  lmorin67 at earthlink.net
  www.WildAboutCats.org
  Exotic Feline Conservation-Education-Rescue 
   
   

   
    ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: 
  To: felines-l at catbox.com
  Sent: 7/26/2006 6:37:56 PM 
  Subject: [FEL-L] Thailand- depressing news 4 Tigers
  

Tiger Production Line?
Tiger cubs at Sriracha zoo in Thailand are being weaned on surrogate pig
mothers. Not because their mother has died or is unable to feed them, but
simply so that she can become pregnant again and produce more cubs.

The Metro newspaper (28.7.99) says that there are more than 180 tigers at
the zoo, which breeds the endangered species. The implication being that
these animals are being conserved for future reintroduction.
But the story misses an important point. 

It is now well accepted that animals bred in zoos are very unlikely to ever
be returned to the wild. They are becoming best suited to life in captivity,
and one reason for this is that they loose the skills necessary to survive
in the wild. These skills are learned from their parents, so how can a cub
weaned on a pig ever hope to survive on its own in its natural habitat.

Maybe we should ask the question: where or what! are these tiger cubs
destined for? Zoos? Circuses? The film industry? As pets? Or traditional
medicine?

This zoo sounds as though it might just be a breeding farm, supplying
animals to anyone that wants them.

Related News:-
Thailand's Tigers, Tiger Farm Busted!
http://www.warthai.org/education/tigers.htm#top (several recent news updates
missing though) 

The Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand (WAR) 
http://www.warthai.org/home.htm _______________________________________________
Felines-L mailing list
Felines-L at catbox.com
http://www.breuckman.com/mailman/listinfo/felines-l



Bringing fire as the light of reason to mortals and morons for better than two decades.

Check out http://www.neopoa.com and become a more informed pet owner.

Be a snappy dresser and help animals too! - NEOPOA has an online shop at www.cafepress.com/neopoa
 		
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
 Next-gen email? Have it all with the  all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.breuckman.com/pipermail/felines-l/attachments/20060726/1e3c71c1/attachment.html