World's ugliest tiger: why white tigers should not be bred
- 5 years ago
EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS — Kenny is said to "the world's ugliest tiger", reports The Sun, and is one example of why they should not be bred.
Kenny's short snout, abnormal underbite, eye placement and white fur are all results of cruel inbreeding. He was born in 1998 on a tiger farm, he and his cross-eyed brother Willie are the only two cubs that were not stillborn or who died at birth.
According to The Sun, Kenny, Willie and their parents, Loretta and Conway were taken away from their breeder after he contacted The Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.
The man claimed that Kenny's snout looked that way because the tiger used to hit its head against the wall constantly. He was asking for roughly $10,000 USD each for Kenny and Willie. But, the Refuge wouldn't pay.
Kenny died at age 10. Regular tigers can live up to 18 years in captivity.
Currently, white tiger cubs can be sold for up to $5,000 USD each. Their skin and fur are turned into rugs while their body parts are sold to make health potions.
According to animal news website, The Dodo, white tigers are most likely all descendants from a single male that was stolen from its mother as a cub for breeding.
Big Cat Rescue, a sanctuary dedicated to protecting large felines, explains that white tigers are born only through inbreeding via brother to sister or father to daughter.
The sanctuary says this level of inbreeding can cause severe mutations.
A gene mutation makes all white tigers cross-eyed. Depending on the cat, sometimes this can be seen and on others, it cannot. They can also be born with cleft palates, club feet, spinal deformities, and deficient organs.
These gene mutations do not only affect white tigers.
They are also prevalent in other big cat mixes such as ligers. That's a female tiger, and a male lion mix, and tigons, that's a female lion and male tiger mix.
SOURCES: Big Cat Rescue, The Dodo, The Sun, PETA
https://bigcatrescue.org/why-white-tigers-should-go-extinct-2/
https://www.thedodo.com/truth-about-white-tiger-breeding-1492535969.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7959952/kenny-inbred-tiger/
https://www.peta.org/blog/ligers-tigons-frankencats-shouldnt-bred/
Kenny's short snout, abnormal underbite, eye placement and white fur are all results of cruel inbreeding. He was born in 1998 on a tiger farm, he and his cross-eyed brother Willie are the only two cubs that were not stillborn or who died at birth.
According to The Sun, Kenny, Willie and their parents, Loretta and Conway were taken away from their breeder after he contacted The Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.
The man claimed that Kenny's snout looked that way because the tiger used to hit its head against the wall constantly. He was asking for roughly $10,000 USD each for Kenny and Willie. But, the Refuge wouldn't pay.
Kenny died at age 10. Regular tigers can live up to 18 years in captivity.
Currently, white tiger cubs can be sold for up to $5,000 USD each. Their skin and fur are turned into rugs while their body parts are sold to make health potions.
According to animal news website, The Dodo, white tigers are most likely all descendants from a single male that was stolen from its mother as a cub for breeding.
Big Cat Rescue, a sanctuary dedicated to protecting large felines, explains that white tigers are born only through inbreeding via brother to sister or father to daughter.
The sanctuary says this level of inbreeding can cause severe mutations.
A gene mutation makes all white tigers cross-eyed. Depending on the cat, sometimes this can be seen and on others, it cannot. They can also be born with cleft palates, club feet, spinal deformities, and deficient organs.
These gene mutations do not only affect white tigers.
They are also prevalent in other big cat mixes such as ligers. That's a female tiger, and a male lion mix, and tigons, that's a female lion and male tiger mix.
SOURCES: Big Cat Rescue, The Dodo, The Sun, PETA
https://bigcatrescue.org/why-white-tigers-should-go-extinct-2/
https://www.thedodo.com/truth-about-white-tiger-breeding-1492535969.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7959952/kenny-inbred-tiger/
https://www.peta.org/blog/ligers-tigons-frankencats-shouldnt-bred/