Emaciated, abused tigers in a Thailand breeding farm. Wrong attitude by humankind to save the tiger.

NEWS AND COMMENT: There is a relatively small minority of people on the planet who genuinely want to protect and conserve the tiger in the wild. Certainly they do their best but overall, it's impossible to come to the conclusion that humankind is genuinely concerned about the tiger when a story such as in the press today comes to light which is about a starved female tiger reduced to skin and bone who could barely stand in a disgusting Thai breeding farm.

Emaciated tigers in a Thailand breeding farm. Wrong attitude to save the tiger in the wild.

The Daily Mail reports on this tiger whose name is Salamas. She is one of 53 big cats rescued from a Thai breeding farm. You see, if the tiger is seen as a commercial asset and starved to near death through negligence while being abused, it is possible to be optimistic about the chances of protecting the tiger in the wild going forward.

There's just not enough will and determination to achieve the goal of saving the tiger.  It is  shocking to see to be honest. It is depressing to see it and read about it. This poor tiger was found struggling to stand or walk because she had lost so much weight in her cage in this rundown facility in northern Thailand.

The pictures are harrowing. Patches of her fur were missing and she was skeletal. She was exhausted lying on the concrete.

Utter abuse of the tiger. 

The farm is facing bankruptcy and prosecution as it was involved with illegal wildlife trading. The tigers and leopards spent their lives in captivity. They are going to spend the last moments of their lives on grassland in sunlight at a woodland sanctuary around 550 miles away in the south of Thailand.

The founder of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, Edwin Weik, said "'It was feared that she was too weak to walk, but eventually she gathered her strength and stumbled over to the cage.  She was then able to be lifted to the specialist wildlife ambulance that made the twelve hour overnight drive to the wildlife rescue sanctuary. Although alarmingly skinny and with huge patches of fur missing across her body, rescuers are hopeful that Salamas will now begin to recover."

The picture shows an horrendously cramped and barren enclosure which would make any animal advocate weep.

In total, 35 tigers and 18 leopards were rescued from this farm. Twelve old tigers and three ill leopards were the first to be saved. They were sedated and underwent health checks before being loaded into cages and then into wildlife ambulances. They will transported out of the facility in the coming days.

Pictures of the rescue show an immense operation. This was a massive project and it's been described by Edwin as "an incredible rescue. It's the biggest by any NGO in Thailand. The tigers, leopards and other animals will finally see freedom for the first times in their lives. They will experience direct sunlight and the feel of grass on their feet. They will have the freedom every animal deserves.'

He added: "After months of planning the biggest tiger rescue by an NGO in Thailand's history, we are thrilled to now finally give these magnificent animals a new life at WFFT's Tiger Rescue Centre.

'Sadly, they will never be able to return to the wild, but we can offer them the next best thing: a safe, sanctuary home where they can roam forested land, socialise with other tigers, and even swim in the lake.

'We are grateful to the Thai government's Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNP) for taking action against the illegal wildlife trade and for collaborating with WFFT to help give these tigers the second chance that they deserve.

'The first twelve tigers and three leopards have been rescued, but there are many more who remain at the farm still waiting to be saved.

'We are desperate to return as soon as possible to rescue them, but as an NGO without government funding we rely solely on donations to make these rescue missions a reality."

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Private zoo owner employed emotional blackmail to raise money

Private zoo owner employed emotional blackmail to raise money. Image: MikeB based on images on the Daily Mail website.

Keith Evans, the owner of Lion Habitat Ranch, a private zoo in America, employed a company to fund raise for him. He blames that company for sending out a handwritten letter claiming that he would put down his big cats unless people made donations. It was a form of emotional blackmail because he was tugging at the heartstrings of people who are concerned about animal welfare.

Keith Evans runs one of America's dwindling private zoos. They are on the way out because of the Big Public Safety Act. There are far too many private Jews in America. It's a form of self-indulgent human behaviour and the victims are the big cats and other animals they keep.

Lion Habitat Ranch is home to 21 lions on the outskirts of Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. In one letter and I presume in his handwriting, it says that, "It scares me deeply to think about what might happen if I can't afford to feed them. It's possible they would be euthanised because they simply have nowhere to go. I can't let that happen."

When he was asked by a local news station whether he would in fact kill the lions he said no that he wouldn't and he has blamed the letter on a fundraising company he has contracted with. He regrets the letter going out and has rescinded it. Although he had approved the letter.

He says that the company he uses make more from him than he makes from their fundraising. His lion sanctuary has a total income of $2.5 million for the year 2021-2022. Keith Evans paid a fundraising company, a Eberle Associates a total of $613,533, I presume, over a long period of time and Mr Evans complains that the money pays them is not good value for money.

Evans said that anyone who receives the letter should rip it up and Evans has asked Eberle Associates to stop sending out these letters.

Evans is now backtracking big time because this kind of fundraising is a public relations disaster for his lion sanctuary as it has been called. It shows how commercial they have to be. It shows us that ultimately these private zoos are commercial establishments making money for the owner and they are therefore exploiting the animals held captive at them.

All private zoos in America should be shut down, lock stock and barrel. Fortunately, Carole Baskin's Big Cat Safety Act bans the ownership of big cats in America within private zoos and therefore in the not-too-distant future they should be non-existent in America because this is a federal act governing all states. The new law allows private zoos to wind down.

Video shows how lions escaped Taronga Zoo, in Sydney, Australia

The security camera video shows how a family of lions escaped from an Australian zoo. It wasn't particularly amazing as they just crawled (walked) through what appears to be a fence with a hole in it! The interesting thing is that they all came back of their own volition bar one who was tranquillized and brought back. It seems that they are all conditioned to feel safe in the zoo and returned to experience that safety.

The lions involved were lion cubs Luzuko, Zuri, Khari and Malika and adult male Ato.
    

As you can see this is a BBC video taken from the security camera footage. The video is 'embedded' in this website using code. If the BBC deletes the video on their website, it will disappear here. Just so you know. I can't control what the BBC do.

Video shows how lions escaped Taronga Zoo, in Sydney, Australia. Screenshot.

The video was released by the zoo which surprises me a bit because it shows us that the zoo management were allegedly negligent in allowing a hole to develop in the wire mesh fence. How did it develop? Weird. Perhaps it was faulty manufacturing and the lions gradually, over time, enlarged the hole.

Body parts of America's 10,000 tigers end up in China in their medicine

Tigers are still "the chosen one" for wildlife traffickers. There are many other animals which are also abused and used but I would suggest that the tiger is the number one product to be sold. And the number one consumer is China. I'm told that the Chinese government realise that traditional Chinese medicine doesn't really work but they allow the businesses to flourish in the interests of trade and keeping the peace. 

Tiger found in Houston residence was taken to a rescue facility. Photo: Godofredo A Vasquez/AP.

The trouble is that President Xi has no concern about wildlife conservation and in particular the tiger population which is being decimated by Chinese traditional medicine due to poaching. Yes, China has a large number of tiger farms where tigers are treated as livestock, like cows, but when you treat tigers like that you inevitably devalue their status in the world to the point where there is illegal activity in obtaining tiger body parts from other parts of the world. Tiger farms muddy tiger conservation.

It is estimated that there are10,000 tigers in America because America has either none or very lax tiger ownership regulations across their 50 states. The rules do vary between states but, for example, in nine states there are no permit or licence requirements whatsoever. In general, the requirement is very simple, a USDA conservation label form and a $30 licence according to The Guardian newspaper.

ASSOCIATED: Tiger Bone

And because there is such a vast number of tigers in captivity in America (about three times the number of wild tigers across the entire planet) when they conveniently disappear, as many do, you can probably assume that their bodies and body parts are being shipped out to China in illegal activity to be turned into Chinese traditional medicine. Tiger body parts are enormously valuable.

Tiger penis products? Photo in public domain.

The authorities in America, through primarily the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, store about 1.3 million confiscated animal products but they say that this is the tip of the iceberg. They confiscate about 10% of all goods that pass through US ports. It's a losing battle it seems to me.

ASSOCIATED: Picture of seven frozen tiger cubs for Asian body parts market

John Platt, the editor of the Revelator, the media partner of the Centre for Biological Diversity said: "I would not be surprised if US tigers were turning up in China."

He suggested this because so many big cats in the US disappear, he said. There is a huge black market because the financial value of tiger bone and tiger penises (as two examples) is high. In a capitalist society where business is governed by market forces, if a product is valuable, businesses find a way to produce it or farm it and sell it internationally, if needs be. 

That's why I think we can say with some confidence that many of the 10,000 tigers in America end up in the form of body parts in Beijing, China. It is an unedifying thought. Humankind has debased and degraded the mighty tiger to a consumer product, no more. 

Pink tiger bone jewellery made by deboning a living tiger. Photo: The Tiger Mafia (believed).

The animal is worth more dead than alive and when they are farmed in China, they live miserable lives before slaughter. Some have their bones extracted while they are alive! It's a complete failure of conservation even if 3,500 Bengal tigers are still in existence in India and Bangladesh. There used to be 100,000 of them at the turn of the 20th century.

Evi a small female bobcat who escaped from captivity under strange circumstances

A bobcat named Evi lived at the Reflection Riding nature preserve located at 400 Garden Road Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. A young man whose name is Cayden Melia was kayaking on Lookout Creek after drinking alcohol (and perhaps during his kayaking).

Evi a small female bobcat who escaped from captivity under strange circumstances. Screenshot.

When he got to Reflection Riding, he got out and walked to the area where a bobcat and an eagle were kept in cages. I will have to presume that the reason why he broke into the cages with a rock was because of his inebriated state. He then broke into the bobcat's cage.

Once he was inside the bobcat's captive area, he decided the play with the bobcat. He was playing with a ball when the animal decided to escape. He tried to get the cat back inside the cage but failed so he returned to his kayak. Evi is domesticated and behaves like a domestic cat to a large extent.

He admitted that he knew the area was off-limits. A person had come forward who suspected that Cayden was the culprit. A city officer went to his home in North Chattanooga, read him his Miranda rights and took a statement. This brief article is based upon the statement and comes via The Chattanoogan.com.

He had his first court appearance on August 6 2020 before General Sessions Court Judge Alex McVeagh. The "crime" took place on June 11, 2019.  Melia is charged with vandalism and criminal trespassing. I expect he received a nominal sentence.

Evi was spotted numerous times on the side of Lookout Mountain. $4000 was donated by the public to cover the cost of the search. The police have decided that Cayden did not try and steal the bobcat and has been charged with vandalism and criminal trespassing. 

Evi was recovered 5 days later according to the video below. Evi is quite small, not much larger than a 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.