A century ago, there were one lakh striped cats in the wild. Today, only 3,200 are left all over the world. Some suggest breeding them, keeping them in zoos and farms or even creating temples is the answer. But the horrors that stare these magnificent animals in captivity are many tigers being fed together, being drugged so that visitors can play with them and urine being sprinkled to confuse them. Is this the future of this big catIJ SHAlINI SAKSENA speaks to a conservationist who says that there is still hope for this animal in the wild, that breeds quickly, provided that there is a protected habitat and plenty of prey
living wild species are like a library of books still unread. Our heedless destruction of them is akin to burning the library without ever having read its books
— John Dingell, Balancing on the Brink of Extinction: The Endangered Species Act and lessons for the Future
A tiger is sleeping in a cave. A man walks up to it and pulls it by the tail. The animal barely reacts — it just lifts its head and looks at the person lethargically and closes its eyes once again. The man then takes a bottle filled with what appears to be water and sprinkles it on the tiger. The bottle filled with urine confuses the animal. In other words, the animal remains dazed. Welcome to the world of the tiger in captivity. And this is just one example of how this king of the jungle suffers in confinement. In some places — so called tiger farms — the visitors are allowed to walk the animal in a leash — like one would take a dog for a walk for a fee. If this was not torture enough, the solitary animal, in some farms in China live in groups — up to 60 at times!
The condition of white tigers is even worse.They are only bred for zoos and it is said that around 20 to 30 per cent of the cubs are killed each year because of genetic reasons. According to Chris Slappendel, a Dutch management professional, who spent the last six months travelling 24 countries to know more about the tigers and create awareness about the animal says that genetic diversity is vital to the health of tigers. “Not only individual tigers but for whole species as well. The white tigers that live now however, are genetically not divers as they all originate from one tiger and the cross-breeding with brothers and sisters. This causes severe health problems. Their immune system is not working properly which results in all kinds of problems. They live shorter, there are neurological disorders, they have spine and hip problems and most of the time their eyes are protruding, even bulging,” Slappendel tells you.
Besides the health issues other problems occur as well — even bigger problems. At birth many white tigers are stillborn. From the ones that survive many don’t look like tigers and because of this they can’t be used in zoos and are being killed instantly. The ones that survive the birth and do look like a tiger, just a very small percentage performs like how a tiger should perform. It all began in Bandhavrgarh in the early 50s when a young white tiger cub was taken away by a maharajah from its mother.
Though there are no exact figures it is said that around 40 per cent of all white tigers are still born. Some say even 60 per cent. It is said that 20 per cent of all white tigers that survive are killed instantly, others claim 80 per cent meet this fate. There are some people that claim that only one out of 30 born white tigers live up to the age of 15 years. The others are killed because they are not beautiful enough for the rich people. The plight of the tiger is worse.
For an animal that roams the jungle marking a distance 60 to 100 sq km for males and 20 sq km for females as its territory, the cage is an existence worse than death. In some zoos visitors can pay money for teasing the animal with pieces of meat and sometimes even live chicken that is dangled in front of the tiger. And considering that it is estimated that there more than 30,000 tigers in captivity — with more than 20,000 in the US alone — one can only imagine the horrors these animals are put through in the sometimes 12x12 cages. The advocators of tiger farms say that breeding of tigers is the only way to ensure the survival of the animal and that with proper survival training given to the cubs, they will be released into the wild. But from the time such farms have come into existence, not even a single tiger has been released into the wild. In fact, The Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Sri Racha, on the outskirts of Pattaya, pigs are used for illegal breeding of tigers.
In fact, the zoo has tiger entertainment programmes. First, the visitors can get a picture with a young cub (three-month-old). The cub is kept in a mellowed state by giving sedatives and the visitors can feed the cub milk from a bottle. Second, people can buy a piece of meat which they can put on a fishing rod so they can tease tigers. Third, is a programme of shoot ‘n’ feed one can pay for shooting with a gun (using peas) at a small cage of flesh, which hangs in the air. If they hit this cage, it opens and the tigers get their meat. Tigers are kept hungry so they fight the minute the meat falls in their cage. Sometimes the visitors shoot at the tigers directly to have some extra fun. Finally, the cubs are allowed to roam freely in public areas, with no supervision, so the visitors can play with them. In most cases people end up troubling them.
Despite The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, that came into force in 1975, illegal breeding of tigers continues in countries like Thailand and Indonesia. london-based Environmental Investigation Agency earlier this year had uncovered a legalised domestic trade in sale of tiger parts in China. Although a 1993 State Council order had banned the use of tiger bone for medicinal purposes, new evidence surfaced on the use of bones of captive-bred tigers in tonic wines which is sold in the market for over £100 per bottle.
“This is not surprising at all. Tiger products are very much in demand. As long as there is demand, the animal will continue to be killed — whether in the wild by poachers or in illegal tiger farms. And it is all about the money that comes from black tiger market estimated at $100,000,000. With so much money at stake, there is no hope for the tiger given the present situation. let us take an example of 10 farms with 6,000 tigers and 500 visitors per day in each farm. The entrance fee is $20. This takes the fee to $100,000 with an yearly turnover of $36.5 million. Out of the 6,000 tigers around 4,000 are female with 2,000 cubs born each year. But the number of tigers in the farms remains at a constant. So, where are these extra tigers goingIJ Obviously, they are killed,” Slappendel explains adding that it is his dream that every commercial company in the world that uses nature pay a one per cent conservation charge to ensure that nature is conserved in a way that future generations will also benefit from it. “The money so collected should not go to the Governments but should go to an independent fund which will invest in a number of activities to save the animal,” Slappendel tells you.
And what kind of money generation will this one per cent will bringIJ Well, top four Malayan palm oil corporations in 2012 had a turnover of $75 billion with $9 billion gross profit. In the last five years the profit stood at $40 billion. looking at the one per cent conservation charge, one is looking at $4 billion fund from just four companies. There are thousands of corporations that use tiger as either a symbol or have the product named after the animal like Tiger Eye, HiperTiger.com, TigerCasino, Tiger Balm, etc. One can only imagine the amount of money that will be generated.
“And it is only one per cent that we are talking about and that too of the profit. Considering the amount of money that corporations are making, it is a negligible sum for them but for the tiger, it can mean to thrive in the wild again as opposed to becoming extinct as have a number of sub-species over the years,” Slappendel says who has given 50 interviews, travelled 95,000 km, spent around 100,000 euros and only spotted tiger in the wild once and that too in India.
“It was an experience that I am not likely to forget — to see this majestic animal in the wild, in its natural habitat — was out of the world. I had travelled extensively in 24 countries and not seen one in the wild, I was so crestfallen. But then I was told that if I really wanted to see the tiger in its original habitat I should make a trip to Ranthambore in Rajasthan. I had booked a ride on the canter and gone twice into the jungle with no success — not that I was expecting it — the vehicle makes so much noise and passengers continuously talk. That evening, I was introduced to a person who works for the tiger conservation in the Ranthambore National Park. The next day as soon as we entered the park, there was some talk about a tiger being sighted. We immediately headed in that direction and there it was — standing. It was huge, a male, I was told. It was the most beautiful sight ever. It then walked away into the bushes and disappeared,” Slappendel recounts.
While the tiger in the wild had the freedom to walk away, those in captivity brings them nothing but misery and disease. Zoochosis is very common. It can be described as a depressed or psychotic state of mind of the animal in captivity. Symptoms are nervous pacing, head locking and self-mutilation. Tigers tend to walk back and forth in their cages all of the time. A common sight in most zoos if one paid attention.
THE HORROR
Tiger farm in China
HaRbin: Tigers here are forced to live in groups. This results in lots of animosity. But the most humiliating thing for tigers here is where 20 tigers fight for a piece of meat.
Tiger temple in Thailand
Kanchanaburi: People can be close with tigers in a small gorge. In that gorge, where the temperature can be up to 50 degrees, the visitors walk the animal on a very short leash. The tigers are there for one purpose only (to be part of the photos visitors click). If the walk in the heat was not torture enough, the tiger must lay in the right position so that the visitors can get the perfect picture. For this, the employees even pull the animal’s tail This tail pulling is extremely painful. However, the tiger is sedated (a conjecture considering that the animal doesn’t react at all). Sometimes, the employees flick their finger on the tiger’s nose to show who is in control.There have seen instances where a stick has also been used.
If visitors more entertainment and want to get up and close with the tigers, they can, by paying money, play with three or four tigers. They stand in a small pool with the animals (6-8 months old) and tease them with plastic bags attached to the end of the fishing rod. Others can cuddle with three-month-old cubs who are terrified of being left with hundreds of people around them.
Tiger kingdom in Thailand
Chiang Mai: People pay lots of money to get into a cage with baby tigers and use them as a pillow. These cages are no bigger than 4x3 feet.
Major Gaps
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