Breeding and Selling
There
is NO reason to breed tigers (or any other big cat) for lives of confinement
and deprivation. The
only sanctioned international breeding plans for exotic cats are called
Species Survival Plans (SSP) and they are ONLY carried out in accredited
zoos.
Ron Tilson, director of conservation at the Minnesota Zoo and coordinator of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association’s captive breeding program for tigers says, “For private owners to say, ‘We’re saving tigers,’ is a lie,” Tilson says. “They are not saving tigers; they’re breeding them for profit.”
Tilson says the exotic animal market is a multimillion dollar industry, ranking just below the illegal drug trade and just above the illegal gun market.
Tilson says tigers are the most charismatic animal on earth. Their appeal is universal. “They are the alpha predator who used to kill and eat us,” he says. “We cannot help but be in awe of their power and grace. Tigers represent everything fine and decent and powerful. Everything those people would like to be. It’s all an ego trip—big guns, big trucks, and big tigers.”
Big Cats Make Bad Pets
This is the most frequent email we get from exotic cat owners:
"Hey, I'm really in over my head here! I got this thing as an infant. I bottle-raised it. Everything was great. But I can no longer handle this cat. I cannot housebreak it. It tries to attack people. I just don't know what to do with it.'" This
was an actual quote about a Serval, but we have had hundreds of similar
letters about every kind of exotic cat.
We do not breed, sell nor trade cats. We have neutered all of our male cats or house them separately to ensure no accidents. We have successfully managed more than 100 exotic cats with no accidents for a decade or more. The horrible sounds you hear playing is the sound of a cougar in heat and they stay in heat year round.
Below are some zoos and pseudo sanctuaries in Florida. These places breed and sell while lying to the public and saying they are doing it for conservation. The file is large, so you may have to wait a bit for it to load fully and then hit play again. These are the ones that are open to the public. Many are much worse, but do not allow the public in to film.
Lots
of places claim to be breeding cats to save them from extinction when in
fact they are not involved in any real conservation effort and rather are
justifying their breeding to have babies who will bring in paying visitors
and worse yet to sell. Many people contact us each week
saying they want to start a captive breeding program to save the cats from
extinction, but the only viable programs currently being operated in such a
manner as to accommodate this goal are being run by accredited zoos who will
not work with the private sector. Unless you can trace your cat's
pedigree all the way back to the wild and you have been accepted into the
Species Survival Plan for that specific breed, you will not be aiding conservation,
but rather will be contributing to the over abundance of unwanted animals.
All of the cats in the above video are hand raised "pets" doing what comes natural as they mature. You may have to click twice to start the video.
Please do not ask us to sell you a kitten, nor to refer you to a broker, dealer or breeder. These animals do not make good pets and if you have the experience and expertise to care for one for the rest of it's life, then you should be donating your time to caring for the hundreds of unwanted ones who have ended up in real sanctuaries. Real sanctuaries do not breed.
We receive requests every week from people who are looking
for some place to take their "pet" cat. Each year we have to turn away more
than 100 such "pets".
These unwitting owners
have discovered that all exotic cats, both male and female, 
neutered
or not, spray and bite when they reach sexual maturity. (They don't just
spray a little either. We are talking about buckets of the foulest smelling
urine, all over your house, your things and you. If you don't believe me, watch
this clip of a neutered lion HERE) Moving
them out to the yard means your neighbors will soon be complaining that your
place smells like a zoo. By the time they find us they
have discovered that the zoos do not want their animals, that no one is willing
to buy them and that they can't even give them away. Refuges are usually
full to capacity and cannot take in another hungry mouth to feed. All too
often, these "pets" are turned out to fend for themselves, where they
surely die of starvation or are euthanized.
There is no reason to try and make a pet of any wild animal. Both of you will suffer.