Unfortunately, there are very few legal constraints preventing anyone from acquiring a tiger - in most jurisdictions, only local municipal or county by-laws similar to those prohibiting people from keeping roosters or other farm animals. And you must be able to document that all of its ancestors were born domestically (to, at least, pre-dating 1976 when Canada and most other countries became signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and thereby prohibited the buying or selling of such animals for profit, or their import or export unless so documented).

 

I say "unfortunately" because the individuals who acquire such an animal, almost without exception, fail to appreciate what is involved, particularly the sacrifices necessary to truly domesticate such a creature. Almost invariably they end up changing their minds after the acquisition, and at best the animal lives out its life being caged, in varying conditions, from soon after birth until it dies or, more often, is put down. I am convinced the only way to successfully domesticate one is to have it live with you, almost from birth - say ten days of age, or so - from when its eyes are just beginning to open. Bottle-feeding he or she, nurturing it, playing with it, teaching - by example - what is "okay" and what is not, for  just as with children, they mimic our behaviour and attitudes, not what we "preach" - regardless of language, or the absence thereof.

 

I am also convinced that it is imperative that they be in your company, and that of your mate or assistants, 100% of the time, awake or asleep, seven days a week. I include "mate or assistants" because I believe it to be near impossible for any one person to have the strength and energy to achieve this solo, even if they be independently wealthy, incredibly fit, and have no other commitments or demands upon their time whatsoever... It means you have to welcome (or at least tolerate - and afford) their sharing your bed, your home, your car - and I don't mean in the back of your SUV or your truck, I mean right beside you, on top of you, or beating you up (albeit playfully) while you try to avoid having - or causing - an accident.

I say afford, for just as small kittens will destroy at least a modicum of bedding, upholstery, and furniture (and scratch you up at least every now and then) while they learn how to live in a home with human companionship, so will these "kittens" - but these kittens are already in the neighborhood of a hundred pounds at four to five months of age while you're still bottle-feeding them! And you had better have enough bottles ready for each of those feedings - as many as sixteen, at least four or five times a day, or else! And they're not just a mixture of water and KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement) - after just the first couple of weeks you need to start mixing in Zoopreme (a poultry-based product in four-ounce tins, looking just like regular cat food, only incredibly more expensive), vitamins, antibiotics (because they're not getting the anti-bodies their mother's natural milk would normally provide), and then a gradually increasing percentage of Nebraska Brand Feline Carnivore Mix (mostly a mixture of fine chopped whole horses, with fish, poultry, soy beans, vitamins, minerals, micro-nutrients, amino-acids, etc., and all itemized on every package of analyzed product).  Granted Qadesh grew up in four and five star hotels, but by the age of three years she had averaged nearly $2500 a month in damages, let alone the equal or greater monthly cost of food, veterinary care, horse-tails and other toys to chew on, crew expenses, etc., etc., etc!

You say you realize they grow big, but do you realize how quickly? That by six to seven months they will be approaching two hundred pounds - and still very much "kittens" in their demeanor - meaning full of piss and vinegar, wired for sound, bouncing off the walls! And that, at least until they are seven or eight years of age, they are going to need you, and/or somebody they have grown up with, to "play" with them for an hour to an hour and a half at a time, at least three or four times a day, seven days a week. And do you have any idea how "rough and tumble" that play must be? After all, they're pretty much full grown by three years of age and, depending on gender, will weigh anywhere from four hundred to eight hundred pounds! Have you really thought this through? I think not...

 

I could go on for many, many pages - perhaps one day I will write a book (any ghost writers out there looking for a project?), but right now I'm just trying to impress upon you that there are very good reasons why fewer than one in hundreds is ever kept for all of its natural life by its owner, even if only in a cage, and why there are fewer than one in many thousands that (like Qadesh) get to live in a home, domesticated, with a loving family. Do you want to be responsible for keeping an animal caged, any animal, for all of it's natural life? Or worse still, having to put it down because you simply can't cope, nor can you find a Zoo or a Game Farm that will take in another when they already are having to put down some of their own because of overpopulation and failure to find more favorable alternatives?

Please think this through very thoroughly. It takes an incredible commitment of resources and energy - far, far more than even raising a child - there is never a school to send it away to, nor a baby-sitter to hire while you "get a break", let alone a vacation. If you go on a vacation at all, it is because you've done a good enough job of 'domesticating' your pet that it will be welcome at your vacation destination. Think about this reality - it cannot be left alone for more than seconds for at least the first eight to ten years of its life without it suffering from such separation anxiety that it will destroy whatever environment it has been left in (your home remember? not a cage...), and after you return from even an hour's absence, first you will be "aggressively smooshed" (rubbed against vigorously, in almost panic welcome of your return), and then, as sure as rain falls from the sky, you will get a swat to the side of the head that will make you see stars - because you were such a jerk as to abandon your poor kitty for so long!

 

I'm sorry to be such a wet blanket on your dream - it can be done; after all, there is very little, if anything, that absolutely cannot be achieved - if you are willing to dedicate your entire life and all of your energies to achieving that specific goal. But that is what it takes, so please think about it very seriously. I am a parent, but I consider my duties and responsibilities in raising and caring for Qadesh to have far exceeded - and continue to exceed - the effort required to be a good parent, and I'm proud to say that I - and all that know me - consider me to be a better than average parent.

 

I was going to wish you "Good Luck", but I've decided instead to wish any and all tigers out there that get adopted the good luck because I'm afraid that they're the ones that will most need it .

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