http://www.bloggernews.net/113133 High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news. Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:37:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 http://www.bloggernews.net/113133#comment-1453524 Peter Dickinson Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:54:21 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/113133#comment-1453524 You are right. The white tiger does occur in the wild as a rarely occurring freak. I have no problems with this and if such an animal was born and survived I would be happy. Not so in captivity where there is selective breeding to create these subspecific hybrids with their multitude of birth defects. It is cruelty, plain and simple with the only aim being commercial profit. I feel the same about colour morphs in other animals. Natural ok. Man made not ok. You are right. The white tiger does occur in the wild as a rarely occurring freak. I have no problems with this and if such an animal was born and survived I would be happy. Not so in captivity where there is selective breeding to create these subspecific hybrids with their multitude of birth defects. It is cruelty, plain and simple with the only aim being commercial profit.
I feel the same about colour morphs in other animals. Natural ok. Man made not ok.

]]> http://www.bloggernews.net/113133#comment-357589 Beyond the Hype Wed, 28 May 2008 18:58:32 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/113133#comment-357589 I TOTALLY disagree with this editorial. Animal racism, give me a break!! How about the breeders that breed for white and discard every orange tiger they produce is that not racism??? I think the author is confused about what conservation really is. Conservation is not just more tigers in the world period, it's about more tigers in the world living in their natural habitat. "We don’t know how many wild ones survived to adulthood and how many were killed by hunters or predators, guessing that would be a pure speculation." The fact that the author was then able to say there are 2000 tigers left shows that there are people out there actively studying and tracking these animals. That being said the last white tiger seen in the wild was shot in 1958! That SHOULD tell you something. So then how is this breeding any form of conservation. Comparing an albino alligator to a white tiger? Albinism is a lack of pigmentation. White tigers are not albinos, they have blue eyes and stripes! The article also conveniently forgot to mention the numerous health defects white tigers can have due to the severe INBREEDING that goes into creating them such as strabismus (cross eyes), retinal degeneration, cleft palates, scoliosis of the spine, clubbed feet, immune deficiency, and kidney abnormalities. So lets get to the REAL reason why your self proclaimed wildlife experts do not condone white tiger breeding because it has nothing to do with racism. I TOTALLY disagree with this editorial. Animal racism, give me a break!! How about the breeders that breed for white and discard every orange tiger they produce is that not racism??? I think the author is confused about what conservation really is. Conservation is not just more tigers in the world period, it’s about more tigers in the world living in their natural habitat. “We don’t know how many wild ones survived to adulthood and how many were killed by hunters or predators, guessing that would be a pure speculation.” The fact that the author was then able to say there are 2000 tigers left shows that there are people out there actively studying and tracking these animals. That being said the last white tiger seen in the wild was shot in 1958! That SHOULD tell you something. So then how is this breeding any form of conservation. Comparing an albino alligator to a white tiger? Albinism is a lack of pigmentation. White tigers are not albinos, they have blue eyes and stripes! The article also conveniently forgot to mention the numerous health defects white tigers can have due to the severe INBREEDING that goes into creating them such as strabismus (cross eyes), retinal degeneration, cleft palates, scoliosis of the spine, clubbed feet, immune deficiency, and kidney abnormalities. So lets get to the REAL reason why your self proclaimed wildlife experts do not condone white tiger breeding because it has nothing to do with racism.

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