Reason commenting Florida animal reserve in Tampa, BigCatRescue: "All white tigers are inbred, thus inbreeding, and certainly not purebred. The only way to produce a tiger or a lion with white fur, is to mate him with his brother or sister, generation after generation. "This in turn leads inbreeding in the offspring besides resulting white color as well as a wide range of mutations and deformations.
"Breeding practice in which the emphasis is on increasing the physical manifestation of an individual rare alleles of the gene leads to many other abnormalities that may ultimately be fatal for animals," says the causative press release AZA. Example? The same gene that is responsible for the coat color of tigers, affects the optic nerve connection to the brain. All white tigers and invariably suffer from strabismus or squint. Nothing extraordinary is not so. Non-position congenital defect legs, popularly known as clubfoot or klumpfuss, cleft palate or spinal deformity. Who could be interested in deformation of the musculoskeletal system of big cats?
This explains Tarra Harris, who holds the post of AZA head of the Rescue program tigers. "White mold felines have for conservation purposes virtually no meaning. If tigers are mostly a hybrid of Indian and Siberian tigers. Really the only reason for further crossing the white carnivores in zoos is that visitors are willing to pay for it that is seen in white. "The site BigCatRescue minces no words when they write:" Do you believe in the rare white Bengal tigers? So you've been duped, like millions of others. "Expressed in simple words, it is a perfect myth, business trick that should convince you that white cats are something precious that should be preserved for future generations.
Ron Tilson, who leads the Department of Life programs, the Minnesota Zoo, adds: "The whole controversy breeding white tigers between zoos is a small part of the ethics and largely on the economy of operation." The white form of tigers, lions and cheetahs are an attractive and indeed their presence in the zoo raises revenue, but basically it's just a promotion "phenotypically aberrant", ie abnormal animals. This is consistent with the declared mission of zoos (Breeding equipment for the recovery of threatened species, scientific research institutions with educational activities and a place for recreation of citizens) do not match exactly.
AZA clearly expressed its position in 2011, so where is the problem? Their proclamation did not apply to private breeders. They WWF in the United States behave more Tigers than how many are in the wild. US private breeders, who in many cases the "nobility" and white tigers, often argue saving rare species. "But White tigers are not kind, not a threat, nor live in the wild," says Susan Baasová, director of Big Cat Rescue. "This All these are just rampant misconceptions about tigers. In the jungles White tiger survive simply because they stood out too much. "AZA currently seeks a federal ban on crossing white colored mutants felines in the US The problem with private ownership.
Hodonín Zoo has a breeding pair of white lions. As it has with them told us spokesperson Bohun Mikulicová: "According to the recently deceased zoologist Peter Lupták that issue specifically dealt with the Lions in South Africa, in terms of color deviation, called leucismus, already causing a recessive gene. Specifically, a phenomenon in which for a given animal either completely absent in certain parts of the body, or throughout the body pigment cells (unlike albinism, when there is a fault in the formation of melanin pigment). Leucismus So, that's the real reason, our lions - Samba and Nadira - say a white or cream color. The very first record of a white lion reportedly dates from 1928. With targeted husbandry program today in zoos around the world live three hundred individuals of color variations. "White tigers are already many years the iconic species of the zoo in Liberec.
Source: Ekolist.cz