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What do you think? Are big cats being constantly abused by their owners (especially in circuses!?)
Last year Rhaegar and I went to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Bowling Green, IN to shoot a documentary film for our media class. They have over 150 big cats there. Many have been rescued from circuses, and some even from people's homes! One adult male lion was found chained up behind a meth lab, used as a "watch dog"! I was just wondering about your guys' opinions on this subject. Big cats are purchased by everyday people a lot and constantly abused or abandoned....
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There are 150 cats there, really wow, that makes me want to go see it, never have, and I am so close.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I don't think the majority of big cats in circuses get mistreated, however circus life is hetic (or so i've come to beleive, never actually being in a circus) but I guess some animals require more care than a meal every now and then. But to use one as a "watch dog" for a meth lab! That seems not only cruel but rather superflous because well it doesn't seem like anyone would rob a meth lab, and wouldn't a nice electronics system be cheaper and more effective than a lion or a tiger that might up and fall asleep?
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I think it is more cruel what people are doing with wild pets. They are breeding lions and tigers for house pets. People abandon them all the time. These poor, beautiful animals!
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Wow, that would be quite a "watch dog". I didn't know that big cats were frequently abandoned. I sure wouldn't want to come across one!
My opinion is that big cats are extremely dangerous. I don't care if you raised/trained them yourself. Wild animals are wild. It's in their genes. If you are a well-trained professional, then you are probably OK. My first boyfriend is raising big cats, mostly tigers, now. It is his dream to have lots of land and raise these cats for, well, anyone who needs big cats for something. He has a real passion for it, but I worry someday he's gonna be mauled.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I've been to the circus once, when I was six. I cried the entire time - the animals just made me so sad (plus I'm terrified of clowns). I think it's wrong to take animals out of the wild and force them to do tricks for our amusement. I don't think that circuses are good environments for wild animals, even when they are properly cared for.
Having big cats as pets is an idiotic and repugnant idea. I read somewhere that Texas has the largest tiger population outside of Asia. Texas! They also have the most tiger attacks. I just don't understand why anyone would want a wild animal for a pet.
I feel very passionately about this - I won't go to any circus that has performing animals (or clowns) and I won't go to any zoo that doesn't have animals in habitats. If I had any aptitude for science, I'd be a wildlife vet.
drumsntolkein, thank you so much for letting us know about this amazing rescue center! I am definitely making a donation.
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Mrs M, you ar right about Texas, but get this. There are more tigers in texas than there are in the wild, anywhere! Egads!
And yes, it is wrong to keep them as a house pet, even if they are bred in captivity. One thing they do is "play" like cats do. You know how they pounce on each other? Well, they do that with the kids in the family. They think they are having fun, and they tear the child(or adult) apart.
And circuses are nasty. And clowns are eeeeevile.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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There are no wild tigers in Africa. Probably read that Texas has the largest lion population outside of Africa. Then again, knowing of journalists' total disinterest in science combined with editors' haphazard science-fact-checking, I wouldn't be surprised to find that you've read articles talking of wild tigers in Africa.
While I agree that keeping large cats as pets, exhibits, or performers is repugnant under normal circumstances, the reality is that tigers, lions, and other large cats are going extinct in the wild. That being the case, Americans owning more big cats than exist in the wild is the lesser of two evils.
It may well be that after humans mature a bit more inre our responsibilities as stewards of the Earth -- which doesn't look likely to happen until after the big cats are extinct or near-extinct in the wild -- those semi-domesticated big cats can be returned to the wild, to refill emptied ecological niches, and to broaden the gene pool in the localities where a few wild cats may have managed to survive the mankind's extinction agenda.
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aspectre, it was Asia, not Africa. I'm going to edit my post. Thanks.
I see your point, but the problem is that most of the people who own these big cats are completely ignorant of how to care for them. I'm very much in favor of habitats and breeding programs, but people who have big cats as pets are a different matter entirely.
quote:semi-domesticated big cats can be returned to the wild
Much easier said than done. For example, big cats who have been pets or circus performers can never be returned to the wild.
quote:However, the circus experience had taken its toll. All of Zavata's canines had been broken off causing severe infection.
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I suppose if it's important to some people whether cats do tricks for their food or hunt the old fashioned way, then they can worry about it. I think it's a bit more worrisome that current rates of habitat destruction will actually force the issue rather soon.
Posts: 1839 | Registered: May 1999
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You know, when I was very young I had this total fixation on clowns. This was back when clowns were "cool" for some reason. People would seriously decorate their house with clowns! I remember having a clown puzzle and there was a framed picture of a clown on our wall....
I began drawing at 18 months, or so my Mom tells me. I would draw a big circle, make circles for eyes a nose, and then draw a big smile and say, "CLOWN!" I guess my fixation began long before I can remember. You will never hear me claim to have been a "normal" child.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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There's a difference between domesticating and taming an animal. Taming is merely training the animal to act in a way suitable for it to be around humans, with whatever safeguards are desired. Almost any wild animal can be tamed. Cheetahs were tamed for hunting. The key is that individual animals are tamed.
Domestication involves the transofrmation of a species, with selective breeding to produce desirable traits. Domestication requires many different attributes, any one of whose absence will prevent it. Cheetahs have not been successfully bred in captivity (unless it happened in the last decade). All the cheetahs used for hunting in ancient times were captured from the wild and tamed.
Even animals bred in captivity in zoos can't be said to be domesticated yet - although some probably will be at some point in the future.
Dagonee *All the above from Guns, Germs, and SteelPosts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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About introducing domesticated cats to the wild: it would be difficult, and as it was mentioned, if the habitat issue is not cleared up, it is a moot point. Tigers, anyway, have a HUGE range.
I watched Cats: Caressing the Tiger on PBS. I learned that there is really no difference between a domesticated cat and a wild cat.(behaviorally) If a house cat is born and raised in the woods(or streets) their behavior is identical to those of big cats. And vice versa, except that the domesticated big cats are just...big.
[ April 13, 2004, 03:56 PM: Message edited by: Elizabeth ]
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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The Google ad is currently for Elk Hunting. I guess because of the references to Cheetahs for hunting?
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I think that is sooo creepy. I was wrting to someone on yahoo once about paradigm shifts, and seconds later, a pop-up came for paradigm something-or-other.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Hey Drums! I was going to start this thread, I went up their again last week, you still thinking about volunteering up their with me?
Posts: 1900 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I disagree that big cats can be tamed enough to be safe around humans without restraint. Think of your small cat and then make it the size of a lion or tiger. Our small cat has jumped our kids, in play. It tends to think of us as one big cat family. It will also curl up next to our kids to sleep.
Posts: 3495 | Registered: Feb 2000
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If you are talking about my post, I agree. Cats' BEHAVIOR is the same, no matter what kind of cat they are. But, as you say, the play of a large cat is very dangerous. (Siegfried and Roy)
When I lived in Phoenix, my friend lived across the street from Kitty from Gunsmoke(forget her real name. She had a lion, and it would roar. It was so odd to hear that in a residential neighborhood. She had other animals, too, but I do not think they were house pets.
I also saw a picture of some guy who has a pet buffalo(bison). The pic was of the buffalo in his kitchen.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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