[FEL-L] Inbred white tiger story

[Lynn Culver]

No doubt this white tiger appears to be the product of a very poor genetic
match of parents. Not every owner knows the genetic history of their cats
and so some very poor matches are possible, and certainly if a breeder
deliberately matches up animals of very tight genetic lines they run the
risk of deformities and poor survival rate of the cubs.

Kenny could possibly suffer from some congenital deformities as well. Not
everything is connected to inbreeding. Sometimes things just go wrong when
the fetus is developing inside the womb. But considering his white coat
color, everyone automatically jumps to the conclusion it is a genetic
problem, not congenital.

I have seen this same photo on Big Cat Rescue's website, and on Turpentine
Creek's web site which is where Kenny resides, and now Tippi has their
story.

Does that make all white tiger breedings a guarantee for disaster? Does this
mean that this recessive gene for white coat color always carries with it
genetics for these facial deformities? No. But the people who make a living
out of vilifying breeders of tigers find that by promoting white tiger
horror stories increases their donations.

The private sector has vastly increased the genetic pool by out-crossing the
original white tiger bloodline from the AZA control. That's why so many
orange tigers are advertised to have hetro genes.  Genetic deformities like
Kenny are extremely rare.

There are hundreds of white tigers on display at AZA zoos, private zoos,
circus's, magic acts, and other public displays that look stunningly
beautiful. If they all looked like Kenny Americans would not be in love with
this color mutation.

Even Carol Baskin took in a white tiger and lion to boost her gait receipts.
That tiger looks fine. Carole has to show Turpentine's tiger photo and story
on her web site to get her followers to hate this color mutation. And now
Tippi wants to see if it will work for her too.

Are there other photos of seriously deformed white tigers on the internet
that anyone could direct me to?

Does anyone believe there are more deformed white tiger photos, then
beautiful white tiger photos on the internet?

Thanks.

Lynn


  -----Original Message-----
  From: felines-l-bounces at catbox.com [mailto:felines-l-bounces at catbox.com]On
Behalf Of Chufff at aol.com
  Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 1:33 PM
  To: undisclosed-recipients:
  Subject: [FEL-L] Inbred white tiger story


  This is pretty heart-wrenching...


  http://tippedearclan.wordpress.com/2007/01/10/meet-the-real-captive-bred-w
hite-tiger/


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