How many pet tigers?!

They may be facing extinction in India, China and Siberia, but in the US, tigers have found a new lease of life — after a fashion. According to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, more than 12,000 tigers are kept as pets — double the number thought to exist in the wild. The craze persists, despite concern among politicians and animal-welfare groups.

Michael Jackson and Mike Tyson each have one; the magicians Siegfried and Roy are known for their specially bred white tigers in Las Vegas; the internet and specialist trade magazines advertise exotic-animal auctions and 'jungle-cat reduction sales'. The National Alternative Pet Association — 'Do people put you down because your pet isn't a socially acceptable cat, dog or goldfish?' — promotes ownership of endangered species. Prices are not particularly prohibitive: $1,000 for a generic cub, $3,500 for a pair of Bengal tigers, then rising to $15,000 for a more fashionable white tiger. . .

Today in Texas there are said to be 4,000 pet tigers, more perhaps than the number that roam free in India, and because captive tigers are just as fertile as domestic cats, the numbers are likely to grow. Some private owners simply like being different, while others find the sleek feline almost erotically intoxicating. There are even stories of tigers being used as 'guard cats' by drug dealers. . .

Conservationists are also worried at the level of inbreeding. There are so few regulations regarding the trade of tigers that records of a big cat's origin are few. And because of the relatively low numbers available, the gene pool is impoverished and blindness and kidney problems are increasingly common. . .

The kitten-for-Christmas syndrome is magnified when applied to tigers. . . former pets are beginning to fill up animal sanctuaries across the US, and zoos say they already have more than they can take. Unwanted tigers are found chained in basements, starved in makeshift back-yard cages, or wandering the streets after being set loose by bored, frightened or broke owners. . .

In October 2001, a three-year-old boy was killed in Texas by his grandfather's tiger. The year before, a four-year-old put his arm through the bars of a cage housing a Bengal tiger kept as a pet by his uncle; his arm was torn off. The Humane Society of the United States has compiled a list of three dozen such attacks in the past 12 years. At least seven people have been killed by tigers in the US in the past four years.

Posted by David on May 11, 2003 7:14 PM