Comments on: Behind The Breeding Of The White Tiger

By: grizz

grizz — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:30:37 +0000

There are people in the world that deserve to be murdered.

By: kaci

kaci — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 06:27:48 +0000

you know what i think he is freaking adorable… i dont know why someone would want to abuse an animal anyway it is ridiculous. and no matter if the people stop paying to see these animals or not genetic testing/breeding is going to continue to happen with or without the public knowing.

By: Little Lioness

Little Lioness — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:52:03 +0000

Hannerr: I don’t normally like to correct people, but I’m afraid that you’ve been mislead, like so many other people, into thinking that white tigers live in snowy regions, which (in theory) would give them the upper-hand. But to date, there have been no records of wild white tiger sightings outside the Bengal’s Indian home range. No snow in those tropical jungles, I can assure you!

The idea comes from the fact that many captive white Bengal tigers are cross-bred with Siberians in order to make them look larger and more visually-appealing to the public. According to information released by Daniel C. Laughlin, a widely-recognized manager of zoological animals, “white tigers in the U.S. (are) crossbred or hybrid animals, part Siberian and part Bengal. So, in conclusion, every white tiger in the U.S. is not only the result of repeated inbreeding of genetically defective animals but, even worse, is a hybrid or crossbred animal. Thus, anyone involved in breeding and/or exhibiting white tigers is doing a great disservice to honest conservation and preservation efforts to save the five remaining and endangered subspecies of tigers barely clinging to survival in their rapidly-diminishing natural habitats.”

You are right, however, to point out that white tigers have occurred in the wild before. The founder of today’s strain comes from a cub named Mohan captured in 1951, and despite what zoos may claim, all white tigers can trace their ancestral lines back to him (Note: Zoos were not required to keep studbooks until the 1980s, so zoos which claim that their white tigers are NOT related to Mohan are mistaken. There is, after all, a one in 10,000 chance of a white tiger occurring naturally without inbreeding involved, and seeing as nearly all Bengal tigers in modern zoos today come from a handful of wild-caught breeding founders, this is highly unlikely. On top of that, there needs to be a genetic base of at least 40 unrelated individuals in order to create a sustainable genepool without having to resort to inbreeding somewhere down the line. So says the Species Survival Plan.).

You are also right (in a sense) to point out the fact that displaying white tigers brings more visitors and raises more awareness to conservation efforts aimed toward normal tigers. But there are two major problems with this idea:
One: White tigers take up space, money, and resources in zoos which could be used to house genetically-stable, endangered tigers.
Two: Deliberately breeding an animal with the knowledge that its life will be unnecessarily painful is cruel, and is a practice that should have no place in modern animal care.

Again, I’m not trying to be rude here; I’m simply trying to educate. Hope this helps!
—Sarah

By: Hannerr

Hannerr — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:22:49 +0000

It’s not exactly man-made. White tigers were found in the wild, some found were it snows – and there they are camoflauged. Giving them the upperhand against Orange tigers.
In other places (without snow and whiteness) the fact that white tigers would be seen by prey is not the only reason why they aren’t seen in the wild. If prey might see them, so do we! Poaching ruins the day, again, it seems.
Aslong as they ain’t inbred, these tigers can still be used to breed normal tigers – which are also endangered. Inbreeding should only be accidental, and inbred animals should really be castrated and used for education rather than repopulation. Inbreeding causes too much damage later, and there is enough genetic-individuals animals get them out of the endangered zone. If only we would stop poaching!
The more money these white tigers bring in, the more they can breed to help Conservation. Think about that. These animals bring in more people so why not breed them to get more people to help Bengal tigers? Could not this be a good marketing scheme for a very good cause?

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