...the goddess of love
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...the goddess of love
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...the goddess of love
Click Here to visit the web site of a Travel Agent you may wish to use to visit India: Uday Patel Other TIGER sites we support: The ROAR Foundation - Shambala Preserve Everything you need to know if you think YOU want a tiger: This is a site that holds a
'questionnaire' and a wealth of other vital information for those who think
they'd like to raise a tiger or other large exotic felid.
It is an absolute must read.
'Captive
Husbandry' is excellent because it forces the
99.999% majority of people to hopefully recognize, if not acknowledge, that
very, very few people (including themselves) are suitable pet 'owners' of any
creature, let alone a tiger. I'm sorry people, but my opinion generally is that if it
has to always be caged, it is probably
better off dead. I know that I
wouldn't want to live out a sentence of 'life behind bars' with 'no chance for
parole', and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone or anything else. It’s not the size, or even the 'reality' of the cage -
we all live in cages of a sort. It
is freedom of choice - our cages are generally ones we construct for
ourselves; compromises and trade-offs we make voluntarily to share in the
'benefits of a mutual society'. 'Captive'
animals are forced to accept trade-offs involuntarily,
exchanging the challenges of surviving in the wild (after all, even
without the threat of poachers, it is certainly not a life without hardship) for
the comfort and security of life in captivity.
I make the argument that the pivotal factor - for any species, including
our own - is the 'quality of life': security of
body (food and shelter) and mind (the freedom from threat: the sense
of peace that one can live through any circumstance with, and that without, life
is miserable, regardless of how idyllic all other considerations might be); and socialization
- the opportunity to love, and to feel loved.
I think Qadesh, the 12-year-old female Siberian tiger that lives with my
family and myself, enjoys that 'quality of life'. As a species, I think our greatest weakness is our
arrogance, our conviction that we are the only sentient creatures on earth. Why?
Because we're capable of communicating verbally?
I know lots of birds, for instance, that can speak (and I mean
communicate intelligently). I don't
know of anyone that can speak in chirps or whistles, or even 'chuffs' - my point
is that I personally see no evidence of our superior intellect; if anything, I
think we must be the stupidest species on earth because there is a significant
risk we're not only going to probably wipe out ourselves, but all other life on
earth as well. Anyway, enough already.
I'll climb down off the soapbox and let whoever wants to be next take a
turn, after closing with this: NOTHING is simply black or white; everything is varying
shades of gray. Just as there are
horrific private owners, there are equally horrific public zoos.
Just as there are exemplary public zoos and game farms, there are
exemplary private owners. Private
or public is not, and never should be, the criteria.
It is the specifics; the details; the reality.
Is the animal well and truly healthy, happy and contented?
It’s very difficult, in my mind, to find fault with any
situation if the answer to that question is 'Yes'.
It should be at least equally difficult to approve of any
situation if the answer is 'No'. That said, I have to run.
Please feel free to write with your questions or your comments.
If we have made you think, to ponder the plight of these creatures, and
to consider how we might change our priorities so as to offer our children at
least as good, if not a better world in which to live in, we're satisfied. My short answer to the question from those who ask about
raising a tiger as a pet is that the only people who should even consider tiger
'ownership' must first be able to afford doing NOTHING else in their life
except caring for ONE such animal and have the resources to afford at
least two to four others to assist them in the undertaking, not counting their
mate, and be able to provide and control an environment that affords the
animal the opportunity to regularly (meaning many times each day) and
consistently experience every (un)imaginable interaction in the human (urban)
environment. And I do mean every
imaginable scenario, because it is that baseline of experience that will make
the animal comfortable and secure (read 'safe') in whatever circumstance
it finds itself in. All life has the 'survival instinct' that people refer
to as 'wild'; trigger that 'survival instinct' and you are probably going to be
in trouble. I tell every person who
says they are even considering this idea, that unless they are convinced
that they are going to die in the attempt and accept that as
reality, and are still adamant to proceed despite that expectation,
they have no business even thinking about it.
That goes for everyone else involved, as well, until the tiger is at
least four to five years old. Then,
and only then, will you know what you're dealing with; that is, be able to have
a reasonable degree of confidence as to the predictability of the tiger's
behaviour that no matter what the circumstance it won't put anyone, including
yourself, at risk. And let me tell
you, that first four to five years is quite a ride! I hope I've convinced you to instead devote your
energies to saving them in the wild, and/or to reducing the incidence of their
irresponsible and indiscriminate breeding in captivity.
EMAIL
The meaning of Qadesh's name
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