White Tigers!

So white tigers are cute, right?

Or maybe not what they seem to be? How many of you have seen white tigers like this….

Most probably never. Welcome to the white tiger trade.

Zoo’s only ever let you see what they want you to see. The truth of the matter is white tigers are totally man made and should not exists to the extent they do now. White tigers can exist in the wild, the colouration is cause by a double recessive gene, but if a white tiger is born the mother will generally abandon or kill it, the mothers priority is the protection of herself and her other cubs and a white tiger would draw to much attention to them.
So it all started in the 1950’s when a white tiger cub was spotted in the wild and hunters saw this striking animal and saw mega dollar. The cub was captured and raised with the prospect of breeding. Once the cub became old enough, the breeding began. The tiger was bred continuously to orange tigers, however no white tigers ever came about. It was then that this tiger was inbred to relatives until eventually white cubs were born.
Yes, it is what you are thinking, every white tiger you see now originates from that one white tiger named Mohan. Its no wonder they are born with genetic defaults such as a cleft palate, cross eyes and deformed features. Did you know for every “perfect” white tiger born, about 40 orange tigers and 5 imperfect white tigers are also born, these are also known as ‘throw away tigers’. You may be thinking, so what happens to them? There are many answers to this, they could be neglected, fed on dog food and left in a tiny cage for the rest of their life, sold on to pet homes or put in canned hunts. For those of you who don’t know what a canned hunt is, the tiger is put into a cage and someone pays to shoot it. Yes I said it, the tiger is shot in a cage as a trophy. I don’t know if this makes there balls look big , but personally I cant see it.
An imperfect white tiger can only have brown stripes instead of black and will still face this uncertain future.
So why do you only see “perfect” white tigers? Think about it, why would any zoo want you to see what goes on behind the scenes, to see how unnatural these animals really are? But aren’t zoos meant to be conserving species? Maybe in this case, not. The white tiger is a classic example to show zoos are only a money making facility and generally don’t help the conservation of animals at all.

So next time you take a trip to the zoo, step back and think, should I really pay for this? Your money is helping edge this trade further and allowing this animals to suffer.

The life at BCR!

I am still new at this whole blog thing, and haven't blogged in some time, so i apologize if you suddenly get bombarded with posts.


Well, what a hectic summer it was! 
Going away for three months, not only to do something you love, but to grow as a person is one of the best decisions you can make. All good experiences come with bad, but thats how you learn from happenings and become the person you want to be.


Big Cat Rescue, what amazing work they are doing. Cats that faced such extraordinary cruelty were given a lifeline. Although they will spend the rest of their life in a cage, at least they will have the best life BCR can possibly offer. Carol Baskin, the founder of Big Cat Rescue, has dedicated her life to educating and trying to stop the exotic pet trade. This is something I am extremely proud to of been a part of.


So, I spent my summer cleaning up cat poop and looking after these beautiful animals. I bled, i sweated (beyond belief), i worked until i ached, but it was all worth it to see those animals escape such bad histories.
Along the way i met some amazing people, who made the experience just that even bit better. But as always there were the not so great people. For the few that understand, in particular i am referring to, a ding ding ding ding ding ding. But it is from those people you learn who you would never want to be.


I would like to take this opportunity to thank Big Cat Rescue, not only for doing all you do, but for allowing me to look after these cats, there is nothing more rewarding than working so hard and at the end of the day seeing a happy cat!


I spent my summer with amazing cats such as these...

And some pretty awesome people such as these....

YES, BE JEALOUS!!