[FEL-L] Hybrid Lions Article

[Tim Stoffel]

On Tue, 2006-09-19 at 07:26 -0700, Laura Morin wrote:
> Help them die with dignity? They should humanely Euthanize them before
> there is no dignity left!
> The whole cross breeding thing.... I read an article about that and
> how disasterous that was.. but isnt that what we did with the Florida
> Panther? They brought in Cougars from Texas to 'strengthen' the
> population.. So are they all now Hybrids or was the Fl Panther ever
> really a different species??

Laura,
    The article writer, who obviously has an agenda (or a poor mastery
of English) did not mean what we normally associate with the term 'die
with dignity'. In fact, they are going to some fairly great lengths to
help these lions live on. I think what the writer was trying to say was
they were 'not taking the lions into a shed in the back and killing them
because they were no longer useful'. (European zoos are known to do this
with unneeded cubs.)
    As far as Florida panthers go, the stuff I have read says there is
virtually no genetic difference between Florida panthers and other North
American cougar populations. There is a demonstrable difference between
African and Asiatic lions. So, using TExas cougars to strengthen the
population of Florida panthers may not really be genetic contamination.
    I strongly suspect our lioness Sierra is an African/Asiatic cross.
One of the characteristics reported about these hybrid lionesses is a
pronounced, tiger-like ruff. Sierra has a ruff that's pronounced enough
that some poeple think she is a male lion. We no longer breed her.

Tim Stoffel