The Tiger is under severe threat through loss of habitat and poaching to supply an illicit trade in animal parts.
We are lucky in that there are six Tiger sub-species still surviving. These are the Bengal Tiger Panthera tigris tigris, the Amur Tiger Panthera tigris altaica, the South China Tiger Panthera tigris amoyensis, the Indochinese Tiger Panthera tigris corbetti, the Sumatran Tiger Panthera tigris sumatrae and the Malayan Tiger Panthera tigris jacksoni.
Sadly, very sadly, in my lifetime we have lost the Javan Tiger Panthera tigris sondaica, the Bali Tiger Panthera tigris balica and the Caspian Tiger Panthera tigris virgata.
None of these Tigers is a WHITE species. There is NO species or sub-species of white tiger!
Today people. through zoo education and TV documentaries are much more of aware of the threats that Tigers are facing and more is being done to protect them in the wild. The South China Tiger is just hanging on in the wild and with luck may well be saved.
Zoos today offer the tigers best hope with excellent scientifically managed breeding programmes. These will ensure that we have captive animals for many years to come.
White Tigers are NOT rare! White Tigers are NOT endangered! White Tigers are NOT a species! They are not even a sub-species! White Tigers have no conservation value.
The White Tiger is a mutant, a freak of nature, an aberration of the Bengal Tiger Panthera tigris tigris. The Tigers are not albinos but are leucistic. They do occur in the wild, but only rarely. There are a number of records of animals being hunted and shot over the past one hundred years or so. Left to their own in the wild they could possibly survive but they would be disadvantaged by their colour. Their prey would see them coming!
There are no White Tigers in the wild today. The captive White Tiger population has been deliberately 'manufactured' by man. There is a huge population consisting of hundreds of unmanaged White Tigers in Texas and China alone.
Keeping animals in captivity today revolves around Breeding Programmes and Conservation. It is a long term project involving co-operation between reputable 'good' zoos, the world over. The aim is to have strong, genetically viable populations for release into the wild at some point in the future.
This can NEVER happen with White Tigers. White Tigers ancestry has been now so messed about with that they can almost be considered a 'domestic' breed. White Tigers are now sub specific hybrids and carry a host of genetic defects. They cannot be released to the wild.
ALL captive white tigers, yes all, every last one of them are as a result of man. Man has deliberately crossed brother with sister and daughter with son to produce more and more white tigers. Past, previously wild born white tigers have all been Bengal Tigers. This is not good enough for the Frankenstein zoo breeders and so they have crossed the white tigers still further with another sub species...the Amur tiger and so give a bit of size.
Because of this inbreeding many of the captive white tigers are born with genetic faults which means the cubs are put down shortly after birth. Some of course are born normal coloured (but still inbred and so of no conservation value) and these are put down too (not because they have no conservation value but because they are the wrong colour...that is not white!).
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