FAKE! DNA evidence to prove that big cats prowl British countryside!?

The British news media, at the moment (mid-May 2023), are stating that DNA evidence from a black hair strand caught on a barbed wire fence following a sheep attack has offered "definitive proof" that big cats are roaming the British countryside. Don't believe it. This is fake in my view but I stress this is my opinion.

The picture in the circle is a stock image from Alamy of a genuine black big cat (melanistic) while the blurry one is of a domestic cat crossing a field! Image: LBC.

There is a band of people in Britain who have been trying to prove that there are big cats - normally black panthers - roaming around the British countryside surreptitiously and have been for decades.

My suggestion (allegation) is that one of these band of brothers has got hold of a black hair strand from a melanistic jaguar i.e. black panther from a zoo because they have a friend working in the zoo and they have placed this black hair on a barbed wire fence and then commissioned a laboratory to do a DNA test on it. They've worked with the documentary film maker to do this (see below).

That I think is a very fair allegation because there is simply no evidence whatsoever to prove that there are big cats in the British countryside. People have been taking photographs and videos of big cats for decades and they are always fuzzy images and the cats are always domestic cats on analysis.

You have to have an inordinate amount of faith to believe what these big cat conspiracists want us to believe.

The LBC website say that this is a "shocking revelation" (LOL). It comes after a documentary film maker spent years investigating sightings across the country they say.

This mysterious black feline hair strand was recovered from a farm in Gloucestershire where there has been some unusual predatory activity. And there is apparently video footage of a large black animal in the area. They mean a domestic cat.

The picture above published on the LBC website shows a black panther - a genuine black big cat - but it is a stock photograph.

Matthew Everett from Dragonfly Films said:

The DNA was from hairs caught on a barbwire fence where there had been some unusual predatory activity.

"It's taken five years for the production team to find such evidence and film its journey from collection to analysis.

"People in Gloucestershire and Britain have described what appear to be black leopards for decades. So, a leopard DNA result from a black hair sample is unsurprising.

"This is not the first such DNA result and is unlikely to be the last.

"There is a great deal of 'secondary evidence' for these cats, such as consistent witness reports, but hard evidence like DNA is hard to get, so the contribution from this documentary is very helpful.

"Collecting such evidence from local people, farmers and landowners is essential - Citizen Science like this will hopefully help us learn more about the Bagheera type big cats which may be quietly naturalising here."

Dragonfly Films are looking into broadcast options for the documentary film. I will look forward to seeing it. But I do not believe a shred of this. It is an attempt to make an interesting film based upon a topic which has fascinated millions of people for a very long time and upon which the news media depend when real news becomes quiet.

2023 Carole Baskin and Nathan Winograd are America's two top animal advocates

I am going to have the temerity to name America's two greatest animal welfare advocates as at 2023. They are Carole Baskin and Nathan Winograd. And neatly, we can divide their efforts into two camps. 

Carole Baskin is an animal advocate for cats, specifically the big cats, wild cats in general and even wildcat hybrids (she hates the idea of creating wildcat hybrids). 

And on the domestic cat side, Nathan Winograd, has been and continues to be a tireless campaigner for the rights of rescue animals in America's shelters and pounds.

Baskin and Winograd. Image: MikeB based in images in the public domain.

Carole Baskin

You might know that she campaigned relentlessly for an improvement in welfare of big cats. There were far too many at private zoos all across America. America was and still is - until the Big Public Safety Act fully takes effect - the nation where there were the greatest number of big cat 'pets' in private zoos.

Join us in celebrating the passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act which banned contact with big cats and their cubs, and phases out private ownership of big cats! We have campaigned for this change since the 90s and on Dec. 20, 2022 it was signed into law!  This is the first step to saving wild cats, in the wild, where they belong. - Carole Baskin on BCR at May 2023.

There are an estimated 20,000 big cats kept in private ownership in the US. Carole Baskin's rescue center in Florida, Big Cat Rescue (BCR), picked up some of the pieces of bad big cat ownership. 

With her job effectively done she is now selling BCR and finding alternative outlets for her passion to improve animal welfare. The substantial money that she will raise will be used in projects I understand.

Carole Baskin, almost single-handedly, instigated and forced through the enactment of the Big Cat Safety Act in the UK. It is she who has saved the abuse of so many cubs from roadside tiger and lion cub petting sessions. 

And the abuse that followed with the adults becoming commercially useless beyond a certain age so what happened to them? They were probably euthanised.

The horrible exploitation of big cubs has ended. Although Carole Baskin is the prime mover and shaker in ending the private ownership of big cats in America, we have to thank indirectly a man who is currently in jail for conspiracy to murder Carole Baskin. His name is Joe Exotic. He was the biggest private zoo owner in America at one time.

He hates Carole Baskin because she was so strongly against his kind of operation. His presence motivated her. He hated her so much that he conspired to kill her. And he was found out and was successfully prosecuted for that conspiracy and animal abuse offences.

Carole Baskin triumphed over the private zoo brigade. What a woman.

Big Cat Safety Act

Registration: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of America announced on 18 April 2023 that individuals who own big cats which includes cougars and hybrids of the species must register them with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service by the end of the day on June 18, 2023. That is in order to comply with the requirements of that act.

Current owners can keep their animals provided they are registered as per the act and provided that they abide by state and federal regulations. But once the animal's life has ended, that person will no longer be able to own and/or possess a big cat.

The act allows existing owners to continue with ownership until their zoo inventory no longer exists because of the end of the lifespans of these animals.  Of course, it does not apply to bona fide zoos and other authorized establishments.  It applies to John Doe, the individual who fancies possessing a big cat.

Nathan Winograd

He is a great man who has fought tirelessly for a no-kill policy in all of America's animal shelters and pounds. He believes that it is possible for an animal shelter to greatly improve their rehoming of animals in their charge. 

He believes that it is possible to not euthanise any or hardly any animals at shelters (90% save rate is the target) provided the administrators use all means possible to both prevent taking in rescue animals and facilitate the adoption of those animals.

By preventing intake, I don't mean physically preventing it. I mean that they should do all they can to improve cat and dog ownership in the area where they operate. There are two sides to the cat and dog rescue situation. 

There are those that abandon their cats and dogs when they don't need to or they shouldn't and there are those that don't adopt those cats and dogs because they're rather buy a purebred cat or not adopt.

It's down to the people involved in organising animal shelters to tackle both those challenges in my view. In the UK, for instance, there has been a surge in adoptions i.e. purchases of purebred cats over rescue cats during 2022. According to Cats Protection, 38% of people adopted cats during 2022 adopted a purebred cat.

The point is this though that Nathan Winograd continues through his newsletters, speeches and website to improve the running of animal shelters in America to save lives.

PETA

There is one aspect of Mr Winograd's argument that I disagree with, however. He hates PETA and believes that it is an organisation which kills cats unnecessarily. Winograd and PETA have entirely different point of view on some important aspects of animal rescue. I think they should work together by finding common ground.

However, both PETA and Winograd have very strong views which means that it is unlikely they will be able to find common ground.

Is Joe Exotic dying of cancer in prison?

NEWS AND VIEWS: You remember Joe Exotic, don't you? He is the former private zoo owner, addicted to big cats and breeding big cats who is currently in prison for animal abuse and plotting to murder Carole Baskin the owner of Big Cat Rescue in Florida. His jail sentence is 22 years. There were 17 charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder for hire. Pretty serious stuff.

Joe Exotic. Image in the public domain (assessed).

And he developed prostate cancer but has refused further treatment. He has blood in his urine and his medical consultant is urging him to take further tests to see whether the cancer has spread to other parts of his body.

He has refused and said that he wants to let the disease take its course. He added that he is not frightened of dying and simply wants to see his partner and fiancé, Seth.

He said:

"I want to stay here and just let it take its course. I could care less about dying, my birthday is coming up soon and all I want is to see Seth".

He has been imprisoned for two years and has a long way to go. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2021 one year into his sentence.

RELATED: Joe Exotic was terrified of big cats and wickedly cruel says film producer.

An online fundraising campaign has been started to raise money for his funeral. He's confirmed that he wants his ashes to be scattered at the same place as his late husband Travis Maldonado who took his own life in 2017 aged 23.

While Joe Exotic is seriously ill in prison with the prospect of his cancer spreading, his targeted victim who he tried to murder, Carole Baskin, is enjoying great success at the moment.

Through a committed campaign, she successfully pressed for the Big Cat Public Safety Act which in effect does away with all the kinds of tiger abuse that took place at the hands of Joe Exotic such as raising cubs to be abused at roadside photo sessions and when they grow up to be discarded.

The Act basically does away with the private ownership of big cats and makes it illegal for exhibitors to allow direct contact with cubs. It will protect all the big cats that would end up in private zoos where they're often abused because private zoo owners in America are not infrequently unqualified and unable to care for big cats properly. That's why some of them ended up at Big Cat Rescue.

Carole Baskin sums up the advantages of the Big Cat Public Safety Act, now US law

 I am one of those people who admire Carole Baskin tremendously. She has spent 30 years of her life ensuring that this new law, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, comes into force. In the video she tells us that it passed Congress but since then it's been signed off by President Joe Biden and therefore it is now law in the USA.

Note: Come on guys and ladies 😒😢. Judging by the very small number of views of this page almost no one is interested in this and yet it is of major importance in animal welfare in the US. It is huge and a great achievement by Carole Baskin and the others who pushed this law through the legislature.

It tackles two major aspects of big cat ownership. Firstly, it prevents big cat ownership falling into the hands of private individuals where the cats are often mistreated and abused. Carole Baskin in another video says that countries like the UK banned this form of big cat ownership in 1970. She is upset that America has taken until now, 50 years later, to do the same thing.

And secondly, it stops the abuse of big cat cubs in photo sessions and other uses. There are two aspects to be cub abuse. They are torn from their mothers and we don't know the back story to this and how many cubs die in the process et cetera. And secondly when they grow up and become adults they are shipped off to private individuals where they become pets and where they can be mistreated.

"This became the last chance. If it hadn't passed this year I don't think it would have passed with the kind of Congress we have set up for next year. I really think this is the first step to saving the tiger in the wild. And when I say the tiger, I mean the lions, the leopards and everybody because they're all critically endangered." - Baskin

She says that in 20 years' time there will be no big cats in private ownership in the US. It will take that long because the law does not force existing big cat owners to give up their cats. The cats will have to die out. And there will be a while during which the country will have to adjust to enforcing the Big Cat Public Safety Act.

That's going to be a big issue as to how it is enforced and Carole Baskin states that there will need to be a registration process. I presume this applies to existing owners so that they can be tracked and monitored to prevent them adopting and buying further big cats against the law.

There are so many big cats in private ownership in the US that it is going to be difficult to enforce the law. These are backyard private zoos where the animals are often effectively mistreated and treated as "pets".

On so many occasions the police, the first responders, have had to deal with escaped big cats where they've terrorised the public and on occasions they've been shot. This need not happen and going forward it won't happen in the US. The new law protects the public and the cats.

It's been a long time coming. Carole Baskin has many enemies and they are all in the business of abusing big cats for profit. Such is the hatred of her enemies of her that one of them, Joe Exotic, planned to kill her. For that crime he is now serving a life term prison sentence.

Single-handedly it seems she totally unpicked and demolished this objectionable and extensive big cat abuse business in the US. Big cats are vulnerable to abuse because they are very popular. Because they are popular abusers want to breed them to exploit them.

That, over time, will entirely come to an end thanks to the 30 year effort of Carole Baskin. She is the founder and owner of Big Cat Rescue. There are still people who hate her. She is not easily intimidated.

She speaks very eloquently about protecting the wild cats. This new law will also help protect the wild cats living in the wild. She makes the point that today, in the USA, if a person has a piece of jewellery containing a tiger tooth, they can't be stopped and arrested because that tooth may have come from a pet tiger in a private zoo.

But in the future a person carrying such an ornament will be arrested hopefully because it will have come from the wild and to trade in wild tiger body parts has been illegal for many years. That, by the way, is another story because the enforcement of laws preventing the trading of wild species body parts is appalling.

It's critical that the Big Cat Public Safety Act is enforced effectively. A good law without proper enforcement is a bad law.

NEVER Turn Your Back on Big Cats!

NEVER Turn Your Back on Big Cats! That's what the experts say. It's to avoid provoking the prey chasing response inherent in feline predators. The advice when confronting a mountain lion is to face the cat and make noise and make yourself bigger. If you turn away and run the puma will run after you as if you are prey.

But the video is weak in my opinion. Firstly I don't like to see captive big cats in small pens whiling away the days bored to death. And secondly I am not sure that these big cats are trying to attack the video maker who has a successful YouTube channel. It looks to me that some of them are just interested in his presence and so they charge up to investigate. Anything will get them interested as the days roll by with almost nothing happening. Perhaps I am being too critical.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Carole Baskin's 'Cage Fight' is about what she does best: stopping the people who hurt big cats

For Carole Baskin the follow-up to the highly successful Netflix Tiger King series is going to be "Cage Fight". It is a two-part discovery+ special about her work as a big cat rescuer. She has fought against these abusive private zoo owners for decades it seems to me and as I see it, this two-part series will tell the world about her work. 

I think it's great for her because she was very disappointed in Tiger King because it painted her in the wrong light. Her antagonistic association with Joe Exotic tainted her, as portrayed by the producers of the series. She says that it turned out to be a reality TV show at best.

Cage Fight follows Carole Baskin and her husband Howard as they investigate private zoos where they mistreat big cats including those that belonged to Jo Exotic. As the world knows he is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence after a conviction for the murder-for-hire plot to kill Carole Baskin. He is seeking a reduction in his sentence and is awaiting the result of the hearing.

Carole Baskin took charge of Jo Exotic's zoo animals as compensation for a successful civil suit against him for, as I recall, defamation. In this new series the cameras explore Baskin and her team which includes a retired homicide detective, Griff Garrison, and Jo Exotic's niece, Chealsi.

The trailer on this page tells us that the kind of people who operate these abusive private zoos can tend to be quite nasty and violent. It is a dangerous world and viewers of the series can see Baskin's people being threatened and guns pointed at them.

Cage Fight will be aired on November 13, four days before the second series of Tiger King which airs on November 17.

Calls for zoo animals to be Covid vaccinated as 9 big cats at one zoo get the disease

NEWS AND VIEWS - WASHINGTON ZOO: The time has come to vaccinate zoo animals against Covid both in the interests of their health and welfare and of humans visiting these zoos and the employees. Nine big cats, lions and tigers, contracting the disease is the largest outbreak that I have heard about at a zoo.

Covid outbreak at Washington Zoo affecting 9 big cats. Photos: Pixabay. These are not the cats in the story.

The zoo administration doesn't know how they got the disease. Their workers all wear masks apparently. In the past zoo animals have caught Covid from zoo workers. Who else? No one is near enough to them to transmit this zoonotic disease.

The cats are being treated with anti-inflammatories, anti-nausea meds and antibiotics (possible secondary bacterial infection in the lungs). The patients comprise: Six African lions, one Sumatran tiger, and two Amur tigers. Their symptoms are: decreased appetite, coughing, sneezing and lethargy.

It is believed that they are not a risk to customers. The USDA has approved the inoculation of zoo animals to Covid. The first jabs will be administered to certain zoo animals at the Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia when they become accessible in the following months. Other zoos have started to vaccinate their animals.

It is time as the problem appears to be getting worse. Russia has or is developing a Covid vaccine for animals. I wonder if this story will prompt the vaccination of domestic cats and dogs? It has been on the cards for a while. It is thought that animals might become a reservoir for the disease and maintain it when it has been substantially diminished among humans.

Photoshopped gigantic domestic cat

This has to be a photoshopped, gigantic domestic cat. It has been done very well and there are some Maine Coons who are humongous so you can almost believe that this picture is true but it is impossible. This cat looks as heavy as a mountain lion! You'd struggle to carry a cat like this in this way. 

The cat's head is bigger than the man's head. No, it caught my eye and then it all looks wrong. There is a problem these days with being deceived by photographs of all kinds. If it looks extraordinary you have to query if it's genuine and often you can't tell which leaves you in limbo land. Many photos on the internet are photo-edited nowadays to varying degrees.

Photoshopped gigantic domestic cat.

Do lions and tigers get along?

The answer as to whether lions and tigers get along can probably be obtained by referring to domestic cats. If a single domestic cat in someone's home sees a strange cat in their backyard, they will normally chase it away. When you introduce a new cat to a resident cat the likelihood is that they will not get along. They might accept each other and they might even make friends but generally speaking, because of their inherently solitary nature, domestic cats don't, in general, get along with other domestic cats.

This even applies to siblings who at one time were great friends until they grew up and became great enemies! This is because when they become independent, they want their own home range and the other encroaches upon it. But this is not a 100% outcome. There is variability due to variations in cat personality and gender. And some grown siblings do get along.

Captive tiger and lion are best friends. Screenshot.

I've seen lions and tigers get along in captivity within private zoos. But these lions and tigers are semi-domesticated and pacified by their captivity. Sometimes they may even be drugged. Or they may have been chosen by the zoo owner to get along. There can be a certain amount of chemistry between cats just like people (see video below). There may be harmony. You'll see it in videos by high-profile private zoo owners. They'll have leopards in there as well looking like a big happy family of big cats. So, it does happen.

The caption to the video below states:

A social 6-year-old lion and an old solitary tiger are putting their differences aside to be life-long friends at Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Georgia....In nature, what you’re seeing here is as unlikely sight as you’ll ever see. But at this sanctuary in Georgia, it’s an odd pairing that, actually, came naturally.

But in general lions and tigers don't get along. They may fight and one may kill the other. The default position, in short, is that they won't get along. The same, I would argue, could be said about a couple of adult tigers. They won't get along either.

Lions as we know live in groups called prides and you get coalitions of outsider male lions roaming around waiting to take over a pride. These related male lions (brothers and/or cousins) get along because they work in a group but this is highly unusual in the cat world.

The domestic cat is quite sociable after 10,000 years of domestication but still this inherent anti-social behaviour can come to the surface in respect of territorial rights and ownership.

CLICK FOR SOME PAGES ON TIGER VERSUS LION

The problem really is that it is difficult to answer the question in a clear manner which is what people want. It depends on various circumstances. An interesting thought, however, is that there is no need for tigers and lions to get along because they never meet in the wild. They live on different continents. It is only in captivity that they meet at which point the question in the title becomes relevant.

But you don't put tigers together in captivity unless they have been 'domesticated' and even then, fights break out. There was a recent story of a male tiger in a private zoo getting into another male tiger's enclosure to kill that tiger with the intention of freeing up access to a female to mate. In other words, the male tiger killed the male partner of a female tiger to have her for himself. That's how friendly the tiger world is.

World's most dangerous cat?

The answer depends upon whether you are referring to people or animals. If you're referring to the most dangerous cat species in respect of small animals then you will go for the black-footed cat. This cute looking and diminutive wild cat species is considered to be the most efficient hunter of all the cats. They hunt relentlessly, mainly at night. 

Lions lose teeth in old age through hard usage. Picture: Ernest Porter.

So to small mammals and birds this fast hunting and relentlessly efficient cat is highly dangerous. They employ three methods one of which is called "fast hunting". The cat jumps along through tall grass flushing out prey. Another method is to sit outside the burrow exit and entrance and wait for the animal to emerge. They can stay immobile for two hours (reminds me of my domestic cat). The third method is in between these two in which the cat employs a careful weaving action as they walk through their habitat sneaking up on potential prey.

If the question relates to people then you have to say that the world's most dangerous cat is one of the big cats. You would have to choose the tiger or lion. Their sheer power can prove fatal very quickly. There are numerous stories of zookeepers either making mistakes or being reckless in their interactions with captive tigers. Quickly the tiger can kill a zookeeper with a bite to the neck.

I don't think the bite force of the cat is particularly relevant because all the big cats have a very strong bites. The jaguar has the hardest bite of the big cats. They can bite through the shell of turtles. They got to have strong canine teeth as well! I'm sure that you will see jaguars with broken teeth. Lions often are broken teeth as well in their old age. Perhaps their bite is too strong for their teeth.

At the time of writing this there are no individual cats that are notoriously dangerous. When there were more big cats in Africa and more conflicts between them and humans, it was more likely that an individual big cat could be regarded as a man-eater. These were often injured cats forced to prey on humans (easy prey). The cats were tracked down and shot by specialist hunters often white men described as big game hunters. One such person was Jim Corbett. He has a tiger reserve named after him in India.

USDA Too Slow to Shut Down Dodgy Zoos

Great Cats of Indiana has been closed. Hurrah! It took about ten years to do it. In the meantime the great cats inside were turned into cats that weren't so great; just depressed, underweight tigers and lions with medical problems, and in poor health and condition.

I have written about the dodgy private zoos of America before. There have been some high profile cases, which have resulted in deaths.

Lion at Great Cats of Indiana - I don't the name of the photographer, sorry.

Apparently the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) had filed a complaint about Great Cats of Indiana in 2007 and there have been breaches of regulations going back to 2002. A court application was filed by the USDA, as I understand it, in 2007 but the place was still open until now.

Earlier inspections revealed negligent medical treatment of a cougar, leopard and lion. For example, the cougar had half a tail and a bloody open would where it had been severed.

I am informed that the USDA often make cursory inspections of private zoos that are poorly managed to avoid having to report animal abuse as it reflects badly on the them. Also it takes at least 6 years normally for cases to be heard at court (src: Big Cat Rescue).

Then recently the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Law Enforcement received a complaint about the Great Cats of Indiana. They investigated on May 23rd. Corporal Todd Pekny went around to the place and saw emaciated animals in very poor conditions, which demonstrated neglect by the director of the place Rob Craig.

On May 29th they removed seven cats from the facility and they are now at a undisclosed USDA facility.

There it is. Neglect by a private zoo keeper and a government department that might also be accused of neglect. The losers? Of course it has to be cats.

Another Private Zoo Disaster Waiting to Happen?

May 2012: I wrote about Joe Exotic's private zoo a while ago (see article). I think he has the largest collection of big cats in America. His real name is Joe Schreibvogel. Mr Exotic is your archetypical American big cat obsessive. I am sure at the beginning he had no intention of ending up with nearly 170 big cats and up to 800 (yes 800) other animals in an area that would normally be quite large at 54 acres but must be considered pitifully cramped when you take into consideration the demands for territory of the large wild cat species and other animals. It just gradually happened in the same way a cat hoarder ends up with hundreds of domestic cats.

Having changed his name to "Exotic" it would appear he is also obsessed with the exotic. In my humble opinion what he has created is very far indeed from anything that is remotely exotic. It is sad, unhealthy and dangerous.

Mr Schreibvogel came to my attention in a television documentary program. He was visited by and interviewed by Louis Theroux an English broadcaster who asks telling questions is a very dry and apparently innocent manner. He is able to elicit honest answers to difficult questions. Even though the television program was about seven months ago (Oct 2011) it is still clear in my memory. It clearly had an impact. It was bound to because Mr Schreibvogel's edifice to self-indulgence is so odd.

During interviewing three episodes come to mind. When challenged by Louis about keeping a tiger is a small cage for a long time, Mr Schreibvogel said that what the tiger does not know he won't miss (i.e. the young tiger had never experienced a natural environment). Incidentally, in the wild tigers commonly travel 15-20 kilometers per day and 16-32 kms per night. Let's say they like space, up to 300 square kilometers of it, rather than a 15 foot square cage. I disagree with Mr Exotic because I believe that the desire for a large territory is hard wired into the big cat and inherited. The point is that Mr Schreibvogel simply finds a way to justify what he does whether it is considered cruel or not. Mr Schreibvogel likes his freedom under the famous American constitution but he refuses to give it to a tiger and in doing so he disrespects the tiger. He says that the tiger will be extinct in the wild in 15 years or so. He should know because what he does contributes to that process.

Mr Schreibvogel likes to breed big cat hybrids. He seems to do this without any concern for best breeding practice and inbreeding or preserving genetic purity. As far as I am aware he breeds generic tigers and sells them for profit. Generic tigers are hybrids. There are no conservation benefits to this process. It is just manufacturing tigers for the American commercial marketplace. Does that sound good or acceptable to you?

Mr Schreibvogel also made it clear that under certain unspecified circumstances he would be prepared to kill all the animals under his control. I presume that he meant that if things went wrong he would kill them and perhaps himself. I got the distinct impression that he meant that. He still grieves for this brother who is buried on his land. That is sad but I feel it still affects him emotionally. Is it a contributing factor that makes him unsuitable to keep such a large private zoo?

That is why I have the title: Another Private Zoo Disaster Waiting to Happen? I am  referring to the horrors of October 2011 at the private zoo near Zanesville, Ohio owned by Terry Thompson. As you might recall, he committed suicide and released all his animals. The police shot 48 of them. They said they had to. Everything about these large private zoos are bad for the animals. They live in cages, and then in this case get shot at the end of that misery.  I don't think that the Terry Thompson incident is a freak one-off event because the circumstances under which the events unfolded remain in place. It could happen again and Mr Schreibvogel could the next person to be in the news.

He is certainly under pressure from the authorities and he must always be under financial pressure. Perhaps the unspecified circumstances under which he kills his animals are gradually arriving. Who knows? A recent CBS news story refers to allegations of animal abuse at his private zoo.  Mr Exotic likes to exercise his constitutional rights. If it is legal he has the right to do it, he declares. Yes, agreed. However, the law is frequently an ass and outmoded. Times change. The law follows. The time of the private big cat zoo is over.

All the world's attention should be on how to save the tiger in the wild and to stop pretending it can be done in captivity. If Mr Exotic did something like that he'd get my respect.

Note: If I was the authority dealing with Mr Exotic and wanted to close him down I'd ensure that the animals were protected before taking action.

Escaped Melanistic F1 Savannah in Scotland?

There might be an escaped F1 melanistic Savannah cat roaming around Scotland, near St. Andrews. I'll tell you why it is a possibility.

The local press is talking about a black "big cat" on the loose (see Fife Today). The word "big cat" is used loosely to! Because a father and son were out for a walk near St. Andrews when from a distance of 35 feet (fairly close so the sighting was good) they saw "a big black cat". It was the size of a small Labrador they added.

There is a difference between a "big black cat" and a "black big cat"! Big cats are usually one of the top four biggest wildcats: jaguar, leopard, lion and tiger.

A genuine black big cat is likely to be a melanistic leopard or jaguar (euphemistically called black panthers). These are large animals considerably larger than a normal or large labrador.

Labradors vary in size but at the shoulder a small Labrador might be about 21 inches tall. The world's tallest domestic cat was at one time Magic, an F1 Savannah cat that was 17.1 inches at the shoulder. The male serval, the father of an F1 Savannah cat is considerably bigger but smaller than the leopard or jaguar.

There is at least one Savannah cat breeder in Scotland: Wild Cat Breeder. They don't say where they are on their website. However, servals and Savannah cats are able to escape. Melanism can occur at anytime. It is a genetic mutation that affects the coat and nothing else.

We are not talking about big cats in the conventional sense. Newspapers like to talk things up. But the observations of a large black cat roaming around St. Andrews, if the observations are faithful, might be sightings of a melanistic F1 Savannah cat or perhaps a serval as both these cats are in Scotland, albeit in captivity. They are the correct size based on the best sighting referred to above.

See also Big Cats in the UK.

Big Cat Toys

The interesting thing about searching on the internet for "big cat toys" is that it can mean two things. Either people search for toys for the big cats: jaguar, leopard, tiger and lion or they want to buy toys that are based on the four big cats, such as plush toys.

Big Cat Plush Toys

Here is a carousel of big cat plush toys and big cat toys from Amazon:



There are many more. These are for the North American market place.

Here's a picture of a large big cat plush toy:

Big cat (tiger) plush toy - photo Melissa and Doug

Large toys for large cats!

These must be a specialist kind of toys unless I am mistaken and I probably am. Judging by this great video from Big Cat Rescue the big cat toys are not really specialist but simply big lumps of durable plastic shapes. These cats love them. This must be good for the health of the cats as it will help to keep them mentally and physically active in captivity.





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Inbreeding the Curse of Big Cats

Inbreeding is the curse of big cats in captivity. And it is in captivity, that increasingly they are to be found. We kill them in the wild and kill them indirectly in captivity. The poor big cat is in the wrong hands. He should steer clear of humans. He tries to but there are too many of us.

   

I am talking here, specifically, of a report from India but other big cat reserves will have similar problems, I am sure. How can we breed with diversity when there are so few big cats around? Inbreeding is a perenial problem with all cat breeders, wildcats big and small and domestic cats too. In respect of domestic cats the problem of inbreeding arises because of the desire to improve "type", the appearance of the cat. 

There is competition to produce the most desirable cats for purebred domestic cat breeders. The same goes for dogs and it is worse in the dog world. The famous Kennel Club in the UK being a good example of what can go wrong over time when overbreeding or breeding for an exteme appearance is allowed to continue unchecked (see Purebred Pedigree cat breeding, for example).

   

Renuka Lake, the site of the Renuka Safari park for lions. Photo published under Wikimedia® creative commons license license = Attribution-ShareAlike License But for the Asiatic lions of the Renuka Lion Safari park the inbreeding leading to premature death though illness has come about, it seems to me, because the whole enterprise started with a pair of Asiatic lions, a very rare cat indeed in the wild, and the breeding program probably allowed breeding back to parents (offspring to parents) or offspring to offspring and so on. 

This is classic inbreeding as far as I am concerned and we are on dangerous ground when we do this in terms of health. The immune system historically becomes weakened and we can even produce deformed lions. And believe me there is nothing more sad and bad than a deformed lion, one of the most handsome animals in the world, usually. The location of the lion reserve can be seen on this map:

   

At the Renuka Lion Safari, 59 Asiatic lions has been lost to diseases and abnormalities due to inbreeding, which in turn was brought about by a defective breeding program, it has been decided. The dead lions include 33 cubs who died between 1981 and 2001. The causes of the more recent deaths were put down to heart failure, lung-congestion and asphyxia. 

Breeding has stopped at the sanctuary. I guess that is the end of the Asiatic lion at the sanctuary. What now breeding of big cats? Why did it happen over such a long time? Inbreeding the Curse of Big Cats. See also India's Project Tiger and Genetic Diseases in Purebred Cats. One last point, the cheetah is inbreed (see endangered cheetah) but it is believed this happened thousands of years ago and finally the Florida Cougar, due to it's isolated habit is also inbreed, jeopardising its survival. Source: http://www.thaindian.com/

Exotic Big Cats for Sale

Exotic Big Cats for Sale - Captive big cat - this is what they look like when they are grown up. Photo by huntingdesigns published under creative commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License

Exotic Big Cats for Sale is quite a popular search term (a keyword). Note the adjective, "exotic". People seek the exotic. This suggests that a fair number of people look to buy a big cat (I guess to keep them as some sort of pet). They must be very rich, have masses of land and know a hell of a lot about keeping big cats (including the law) because if they're not they are in for a shock and it will probably, almost certainly, lead to giving up the cat to a rescue center or something worse, euthanasia. And it doesn't stop there. If there is a demand for big cats someone will supply them. Some suppliers will be less than scrupulous. Irresponsible buyers feed the market and are, in part, responsible for the breeding and death, after a short and possibly miserable life, of a fine creature.




Exotic Big Cats for Sale - Background

The person (I believe the founder) who runs and manages Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida has come to understand over time the true and only way to live with big cats and indeed any wild animal. And for me that is to allow them their own space (and wild big cats need a lot of space, far more in fact than we can now give them), their own life, to allow them to exercise their right to share the planet with us and underpinning this is their right to be respected by us and to allow them their dignity. All this can only be achieved through education at both a profound level and a particular level.

At the more profound level we need to educate ourselves about ourselves. There is a high level of arrogance and ignorance. A sense that we are the top primate and we can do as we please. We cannot. We cannot do as we please because we live with other humans. The rules that ensure that we live in reasonable harmony with other people are extensive. There are far fewer rules telling us how to live with wild animals. As a result we are driven by our own self interest and low level motivators. This goes unchecked and the animals suffer. Worse in fact. In parts of the USA sport hunting is actively encouraged, it seems. Human population levels are growing unabated and little is done to address this. Habitat loss is the biggest danger to wild cats and wild animals. The wild Cougar is a classic example including the doomed Florida Cougar (Panther).

People then actively or passively allow the gradual extermination of wild cats leaving people distanced from them and distanced nature generally. This encourages the market in big cats and people looking for exotic big cats for sale. It is very odd and self destructive. We destroy animals we like. We also need to educate ourselves about the lives and deaths of the wild cats. All are endangered, some critically. The image presented by the zoos and conservationists is I believe misleading. We are heading towards the situation where there will no big wild cats, just captive breed "commercial curiosities".

Anyway turning to the subject matter of this post, Exotic Big Cats for Sale. I am sure the advice of the true experts (people who know big cats and care for them at the same time), will effectively say stop looking for Exotic Big Cats for Sale. For my part this should apply to everyone including zoos (looking long term). Many zoos or reserves keep big cats for commercial reasons (i.e. profit). There is little in the way of conservation going on (but some do good work in picking up the pieces). Have a look at the popular White Siberian Tiger for instance. The white coat is due to a recessive mutated gene. To make this gene's presence visible in a white coat, inbreeding has to take place. Inbreeding gives us the white tiger in captivity but a number of tigers are born with genetic defects as a result. We don't see these animals do we? Just the fluffy and the beautiful. What we see is not how it truly is.

Anyway, what I say will be ignored. So what does it cost to buy and keep Exotic Big Cats for Sale? These figures are my summary from the Big Cat Rescue website. They are merely a guideline as much for me as anyone who might visit this page. It is interesting to see what it might cost. Of course these costs relate to money. There will be a massive investment in time and energy in acting as a zoo keeper. Do you want to be a zoo keeper? One of the biggest single factors in keeping big cats or medium sized wild cats is that they spray urine. This is instinctive and domestic cats that aren't neutered or spayed do the same. Are you ready for a smelly home if you keep a relatively small tamed wild cat such as a Serval?

Some of the figures below can be multiplied several times in respect of some of the bigger cats.


Captive medium sized cat a Bobcat - Photo by huntingdesigns published under creative commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License

Exotic Big Cats for Sale - The Cost

Estimated amounts based on life of a medium-sized wild cat for 2 years in captivity in USA. The amounts are in $ (USD). The land cost is an estimate.

Purchase of tiger cub................................................2,500
Purchase of Bobcat for comparison..........................500
Purchase of Ocelot for comparison......................15,000
Land requirements (legal obligation) for some States are 5 acres for big cats. This figure is obviously very elastic as it depends how generous you'd like to be on space. The more the better for the cat.......50,000
Fencing.................................8,000
Cage (medium-small cat)................2,500
Food (frozen needing defrosting) and vitamins (mid sized cat)................1,460
Vaccinations (min).....................260
Worming (DIY).......................70
Flea treatments (DIY).........240
Federal permits (est.), time a trouble in store...............400
Insurance if you can get it.......................2,000
Toys (entertainment a vital ingredient in a captive space) - estimated..............300
Contingencies estimate..................2000

TOTAL....................................$67,730


Exotic Big Cats for Sale - Relationships

Can wild cats especially the big cats be genuinely friendly towards humans? The general consensus is it is dangerous to be unprotected in the same environment as a big cat. But (and this is based on a layperson's observations) it would seem that if a big cat is raised by a person the cat will remember that person and remain friendly towards him/her. The smaller cats such as the Cheetah (the biggest small cat) have definitely demonstrated the ability to be sociable with humans. Cheetahs have been tamed and trained to hunt for humans in India for example. And I am thinking of a BBC program about the big cats when one of the presenters became very friendly with a truly wild Cheetah.

I have a gut feeling that it is safe to be with the big cats under certain particular conditions the most important of which is that the cat must be fully socialized to humans during the formative months and weeks.

Exotic Big Cats for Sale - My conclusions

We should positively stop thinking of exotic big cats for sale as something we can "own" and possess. This is totally counter to the very existence of these animals. They are born to be free and to share the world with us. Lets stop trading in big cat parts as well. Chinese Medicine must be changed. We need to focus all our money not on caging and possessing these cats but in working out how we can live them while ensuring they live naturally. That above all means addressing some very fundamental issues such as human population growth and our attitudes towards them. And allowing them the space that they need.

Exotic Big Cats for Sale to Bengal tiger facts