THE TIGER CRISIS
Steve Cole reports:
We have a problem in this country in that people can (legally or not) buy tigers, lions, cougars, leopards, and other exotic cats (as well as wolves, coyotes, foxes, and even bears) as "pets". (There are more tigers in private hands in Texas than there are in the wild in Asia, and as many more in the rest of the USA.) When these idiots figure out that such animals make awful pets and cost $20-$40 per DAY to feed (most of them are kept in horrible conditions, some live their entire lives without ever touching grass or seeing the sun), they often either kill them, turn them loose in unpopulated areas (see the recent episode of Monster Quest), or (if they have a soul) call a "rescue shelter" to come get the animal and give it a good home. (Some of these people are nice enough to donate some cash to the shelter to take care of the animal, which can cost thousands of dollars over the animal's lifetime.) Leanna and I regularly visit and support several such shelters, donate money to them every year, and support them with a special link on the company website (http://www.starfleetgames.com/wildliferescue.shtml).
Leanna and I were at the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Center in Colorado only a few days ago; they have hundreds of these "large mammal predators" which were mostly confiscated by law enforcement. They had some rather unkind things to say about Texas, which has no state law regulating this stupidity and hence is the worst place in the USA for private ownership of tigers and other rare animals. (One of the shelters that Leanna and I support, which I will visit next month, allows me to bring food and feed it to the wolves. Before you show up at a shelter with the trunk of your car full of raw meat, call them and make sure it's ok and find out what kind of meat to bring.) This national shame and embarassment leads to criminals going into business breeding tigers and so forth and selling the babies. Most of such illegally sold cubs are seriously in-bred and have nasty genetic problems. Everybody thinks white tigers are cool, but they are deaf, cross-eyed, have hip displasia, and cannot digest food very well. Most of them die young after being miserable all their lives. Worse, a breading program for white tigers produces 15 genetically defective orange tigers that nobody wants for each white tiger which sells for $100,000. Some people have no shame!!
We have a problem in this country in that people can (legally or not) buy tigers, lions, cougars, leopards, and other exotic cats (as well as wolves, coyotes, foxes, and even bears) as "pets". (There are more tigers in private hands in Texas than there are in the wild in Asia, and as many more in the rest of the USA.) When these idiots figure out that such animals make awful pets and cost $20-$40 per DAY to feed (most of them are kept in horrible conditions, some live their entire lives without ever touching grass or seeing the sun), they often either kill them, turn them loose in unpopulated areas (see the recent episode of Monster Quest), or (if they have a soul) call a "rescue shelter" to come get the animal and give it a good home. (Some of these people are nice enough to donate some cash to the shelter to take care of the animal, which can cost thousands of dollars over the animal's lifetime.) Leanna and I regularly visit and support several such shelters, donate money to them every year, and support them with a special link on the company website (http://www.starfleetgames.com/wildliferescue.shtml).
Leanna and I were at the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Center in Colorado only a few days ago; they have hundreds of these "large mammal predators" which were mostly confiscated by law enforcement. They had some rather unkind things to say about Texas, which has no state law regulating this stupidity and hence is the worst place in the USA for private ownership of tigers and other rare animals. (One of the shelters that Leanna and I support, which I will visit next month, allows me to bring food and feed it to the wolves. Before you show up at a shelter with the trunk of your car full of raw meat, call them and make sure it's ok and find out what kind of meat to bring.) This national shame and embarassment leads to criminals going into business breeding tigers and so forth and selling the babies. Most of such illegally sold cubs are seriously in-bred and have nasty genetic problems. Everybody thinks white tigers are cool, but they are deaf, cross-eyed, have hip displasia, and cannot digest food very well. Most of them die young after being miserable all their lives. Worse, a breading program for white tigers produces 15 genetically defective orange tigers that nobody wants for each white tiger which sells for $100,000. Some people have no shame!!
posted by Federation Commander at 5:54 PM
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