White tigers are rare genetic mutations, not a different species. According to the San Diego Zoo, every American white tiger is descended from a single father. New cubs must be inbred further. For every healthy, valuable cub, it is thought that many are born with ailments like shortened tendons, club foot, kidney problems, malformed backbones, contorted necks, and twisted faces.
Emily McCormack, a zoologist at Turpentine Creek, a refuge in Arkansas that rescues unwanted or abused big cats, has taken in several deformed cubs. "People don't want these tigers because they don't look perfect," she says. "Who's to say how many have been born with deformities that have been killed instead of rescued?" Activists also campaign against so-called white-tiger-conservation programs, whose very descriptions, says McCormack, are misleading: "They will never be returned to the wild. They don't really exist in the wild."
Stop inbreding endangered tigers to produce white cubs for profit. It's ruining the gene pool of tigers and guarenteeing their extinction.
SOURCE:http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/03/white-tigers-conserving-a-lie/
Department of the Interior
Sally Jewell
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240Phone: (202) 208-3100
E-Mail: feedback@ios.doi.gov
Web: Feedback form
Rowan W. Gould
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
E-Mail: http://www.doi.gov/public/contact-us.cfm
White tigers are rare genetic mutations, not a different species. According to the San Diego Zoo, every American white tiger is descended from a single father. New cubs must be inbred further. For every healthy, valuable cub, it is thought that many are born with ailments like shortened tendons, club foot, kidney problems, malformed backbones, contorted necks, and twisted faces.
Emily McCormack, a zoologist at Turpentine Creek, a refuge in Arkansas that rescues unwanted or abused big cats, has taken in several deformed cubs. "People don't want these tigers because they don't look perfect," she says. "Who's to say how many have been born with deformities that have been killed instead of rescued?" Activists also campaign against so-called white-tiger-conservation programs, whose very descriptions, says McCormack, are misleading: "They will never be returned to the wild. They don't really exist in the wild."
Stop inbreding endangered tigers to produce white cubs for profit. It's ruining the gene pool of tigers and guarenteeing their extinction.
SOURCE:http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/03/white-tigers-conserving-a-lie/
Department of the Interior
Sally Jewell
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240Phone: (202) 208-3100
E-Mail: feedback@ios.doi.gov
Web: Feedback form
Rowan W. Gould
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
E-Mail: http://www.doi.gov/public/contact-us.cfm
