Hand-rearing Captive Predators

JonnyS18

JonnyS18

Well-Known Member
I've read a few scattered debates on this subject & thought it would be good to start a thread based on the subject of hand rearing predatory animals. I think most people would agree that 'owning' a predatory animal as a pet (such as a tiger) is wrong in so many ways and serves no conservation value, however im referring to the more experienced method of predatory animal handling.

Facilities such as the Tiger Island exhibit in Australia's Dreamworld zoo, are known globally for their excellent hands on approach with their captive bred tigers. The tigers seem more laid back, much easier to work with, they get much more enrichment & exercise which is good for mental & physical development: the fact that they get to interact with other hand-reared tigers is also great, as bonding with others of the same species is essential for any young predator.
More tourists are also attracted to the hands on approach method, as it allows them to see predators in a different light. Speaking from experience on most occasions i have visited zoos, predators such as the big cats, bears, wild dog/wolf species etc.: either spend most of the day sleeping or pacing (or other repetitive/bored behaviour) Although i, myself, could spend hours just watching a lion sleep, not everybody has the same interest, especially when they are paying more than £15 per person just to enter the zoo. So the fact that people get to see these animals in a different light, helps to raise awareness, concern & also raise funding for the species as a whole.

This is just my own thoughts and opinions based on what i have learnt & researched. It would be interesting to hear other points for & against hand-rearing young predators & any input from anyone with or without experience in this matter, would be greatly appreciated :)
 
I have not been to Dream World although have seen some of their stuff on youtube, and its basically a touristy gimmick IMO.

I have worked with a hand reared Sumatran tiger and a hand reared Asiatic lioness, both of whom successfully bred and reared their own cubs with no need for any assistance, so if they need to be hand reared for a justifiable reason and its done in a proper manner, i.e. contact is phased out at a suitable time line and the animal is integrated back with their own species ASAP (and you'd be surprised how easily instinct kicks in!) then it should be carried out.

I'm dubious about the need to use any large carnivore in handling sessions, you might be ok 99% of the time but that 1% is usually fatal, why take the risk.

You are also falling into the trap that pacing is always a sign of boredom, sadly in some cases it is, but there are many other reasons for it, its usually a sign of expectancy, dinner arriving etc This can usually be solved by giving the cats a vantage point where they can sit and watch for the keepers coming, otherwise they pace by the fence of the enclosure looking for the keepers and then the public crowd round the fence to get near to the animal, disrupting its already limited view of the keepers approach route. Or it might be that their are keepers already in the area and the animal is trying to have a look whats going on.
In some cases it can be a sign of ill health, tooth ache upset stomach etc, I worked with a snow leopard that suddenly developed a major pace almost over night after a chat with the vet she was given a large dose of a drug (buscopan i think it was) that settles digestive systems and stuff, she passed a huge turd over night and was right as rain the next day.
 
I think that, while there are reasons other than boredom/stress as to why a large cat may pace, the fact that it reverts to a pattern of pacing along well-worn boundary paths when faced with anticipating food, or physical health issues causing it discomfort suggest that there are limited behaviours it can exhibit in order to process these sensations, or indeed deal with the frustration of having no control over a situation.

I think there is a qualitative difference between a group of lions pacing a line of fence near the service area at Longleat just before being let in/out, or fed, to a tiger pacing the visitor window at London zoo, even when the tiger may pace more several hours before feeding takes place, given that the keepers won't be entering with food from that side of the enclosure.

The connectedness of the behaviour to the percieved reason for it (by humans) I think is key.

I suspect you do have a point though, although I do not have any research at hand to distinguish this kind of behaviour in say, bears and small cats, from large cats, it is something I would be interested to compare with some research over the next few years. For example, I have never seen the head twists that small cats often incorporate into their pacing behaviour, in large felids.

As for hand-rearing, is is really more limiting than being mother-reared by a captive animal? The repertoire of skills and behaviours needed for a captive environment is not vast and, as long as young animals are sufficiently socialised to be able to relate to other large carnivores ideally of their own species, both lions and tigers, as you say, have gone on to reproduce and rear their own cubs successfully. Compare this to primates which are more socially complex as we know. However, I wonder how difficult it would be for hand-reared animals reintroduced into the wild.

I am fascinated by the story of Tara, the Bengal-Amur hybrid tiger, hand-reared at Twycross and then sent to India in the 1970s. She was released into Dudhwa National Park, where now some of the tigers are showing phenotype traits common to Amur tigers, and mitochondrial DNA sequencing has shown that there are indeed wild-born hybrid tigers in the park. Its an interesting story demonstrating the individual success of a hand-reared large cat in the wild. I'm not sure how much 'training' she received from her owner in India before her release, though.
 
I agree entirely on the Aspinall Method of Zookeeping.The Close Bonds with the animals are very important to me and show two of the most important things in zookeeping to me:
Respect
Trust
The Tigers and other animals at Howletts had human friends which Aspinall and other Keepers treated like any other friend regardless of being human or not.This way the Tigers are treated by keepers instead of just coming in to feed them but as a friend.The Tigers all had different personlities and were treated differently by all the keepers.The Tigers were always kept with their own kind and not completely hand reared as such but hand great bonds with humans and other Tigers so they are still with their own kind very much so.
The Close Bonds are a very important way of looking after an animal, trusting an animal and respecting it can help alot when trying to get along with it and for quite alot of the time the animals are going to be looked after by the same keeper all their lives.
If these methods can be brought back safely i would be honoured to help continue them in the world of zoo-keeping one of thing i intend to do when i start zoo-keeping.
Sorry i have not explained it very well, it means so much to me but very difficult to explain.
Kind Regards,
 
Riziki said:
If these methods can be brought back safely i would be honoured to help continue them in the world of zoo-keeping one of thing i intend to do when i start zoo-keeping.
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The thing is there is no guarantee of safety when working in with cat..even with cubs, no matter how 'friendly' they are at the time. I was recently at a cat breeding park in Africa and had a year old lion cub turn in an instant and had my arm in her mouth, yet we had been playing fine moments before...there is no way that working in with adult cats can be done safely and risk free
 
johnstoni said:
I think that, while there are reasons other than boredom/stress as to why a large cat may pace, the fact that it reverts to a pattern of pacing along well-worn boundary paths when faced with anticipating food, or physical health issues causing it discomfort suggest that there are limited behaviours it can exhibit in order to process these sensations, or indeed deal with the frustration of having no control over a situation.

I think there is a qualitative difference between a group of lions pacing a line of fence near the service area at Longleat just before being let in/out, or fed, to a tiger pacing the visitor window at London zoo, even when the tiger may pace more several hours before feeding takes place, given that the keepers won't be entering with food from that side of the enclosure.

The connectedness of the behaviour to the percieved reason for it (by humans) I think is key.

I suspect you do have a point though, although I do not have any research at hand to distinguish this kind of behaviour in say, bears and small cats, from large cats, it is something I would be interested to compare with some research over the next few years. For example, I have never seen the head twists that small cats often incorporate into their pacing behaviour, in large felids.

As for hand-rearing, is is really more limiting than being mother-reared by a captive animal? The repertoire of skills and behaviours needed for a captive environment is not vast and, as long as young animals are sufficiently socialised to be able to relate to other large carnivores ideally of their own species, both lions and tigers, as you say, have gone on to reproduce and rear their own cubs successfully. Compare this to primates which are more socially complex as we know. However, I wonder how difficult it would be for hand-reared animals reintroduced into the wild.

I am fascinated by the story of Tara, the Bengal-Amur hybrid tiger, hand-reared at Twycross and then sent to India in the 1970s. She was released into Dudhwa National Park, where now some of the tigers are showing phenotype traits common to Amur tigers, and mitochondrial DNA sequencing has shown that there are indeed wild-born hybrid tigers in the park. Its an interesting story demonstrating the individual success of a hand-reared large cat in the wild. I'm not sure how much 'training' she received from her owner in India before her release, though.
Click to expand...

Just a little story with reference to Johnstoni´s very interesting post:

In Sweden we had a fantastic wild life filmmaker called Jan Lindblad, who, despite suffering from diabetes and other physical problems, made the most wonderful films on wildlife all over the world. He climbed the highest mountains and went deepest into the jungles. He was a bit of a legend in our country but sadly died all to young.

In the 1970s he and his wife made an experiment with a litter of tiger cubs - I do not remember the sub-species or the background to the story, but in short it went like this:

Two or three (probably two) cubs were raised by him and his wife. Most of the cubs upbringing occurred on a big island in the Stockholm archipelagio. No efforts were made to "teach" the tigers to hunt but eventually they started to hunt and kill rabbits etc.

In the end the tigers were released somewhere in Asia - I think it must have been in an Indian national park - and apparently the experiment was successful. The tigers thrived and went on with their lives in the wild.
 
Unnecessary hand-raising is cruel, it messes animals up for no good reason. Hand-raised animals are often the most dangerous anyway. A tiger will respect you, even be your friend, but asking it to go against its nature & not kill you when you're face-to-face is unfair on the animal - asking too much of a friend, if you will. That's my opinion =^-^=

''God gave us cats so we could stroke the tiger'' (Victor Hugo).
 
Wow a lot of interesting comments, & opinions, & i agree with quite a lot on both sides. On the one hand, most predatory animals become naturally solitary when they reach independence, so maybe hands-on approaches should be slowly decreased & eventually cease once they reach independence as would happen naturally in the wild with the animal and it's mother. However still being able to have a less hands on approach with the captive animal throughout it's life, as it already trusts humans.

Panthera Puss your opinion is justified, we've all heard of captive predators ''turning'' on their keepers in the past & casualties/death is nearly always the outcome. However maybe this is not because hand-raising is wrong, maybe it's because people have been doing it wrong. Don't get me wrong i don't think it's right to see adult predators playing with adult humans, i don't think thats the way it should be at all. However i think there should be a definite trust and respect on both sides & if you are forcing a wild, majestic animal 2 spend it's lifetime behind bars and glass, then there is no trust and no respect on both sides.

(I)Man is not the lord of all the world's animals. He is the protector.(I) ~John Forsyth

P.S thanks for the pacing advice i wasn't fully aware on the different reasons for it :)
 
I agree with you completely mr Felidae the Aspinall Mehods have to be used in an extremely safer way.And one thing i do believe is unnesecery hand raising is cruel (Lion Man Methods).
But one thing we have to remember is we dont have to hand raise animals to get on well with them. At my local Zoo i know Their eldest Leopard really well and she will come out to see me, i didnt hand-rear her but i am a regular visit and i will sit by her enclosure for about half an hour or so when i visit.I have got to know her and she is one of the most inspiring leopards ive known! - The lions i have known all their lives also recognise me when i walk around the zoo and will occasionally come to say hello at the fence.
 
Same with katavi. She always exhibits naturalistic trates but she remembers people too which for me is a great experience.

I find Lion-mans methods cruel and morally wrong. Changing an animals personalituy so people can go in with them is just wrong. Why take away their claws, their wild instincts. Even if they are hand reared it is no way acceptable for an animal to have such harsh restrictions put upon it.
 
johnstoni said:
Its an interesting story demonstrating the individual success of a hand-reared large cat in the wild.
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I believe 'Tara' was thought to have died quite young, but it is evident that she did breed before her death. Billy Arjun Singh who raised her had previously successfully done the same with a Leopardess, as you may know.
 
I hadn't heard about the Leopardess.....lets hope it wasn't from the UK?!

I'm not sure I'm so confident about the 'Aspinall method'.......keepers died interacting with animals at the parks, I wouldn't say this approach was therefore successful. As things have evolved, we are now seeing a widespread adoption of basic protected contact training methods with many otherwise dangerous species, which not only benefit from the interaction, but become more trusting and accustomed to humans with a far-reduced level of risk.
 
johnstoni said:
I hadn't heard about the Leopardess.....lets hope it wasn't from the UK?!

I'm not sure I'm so confident about the 'Aspinall method'.......keepers died interacting with animals at the parks, I wouldn't say this approach was therefore successful.
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Two female Leopard cubs were brought to him from the wild- the other died as a baby.

I've never really been a fan of the Aspinall approach of 'going in' with their tigers and Gorillas- particularly with the Tigers I couldn't quite see the point of taking these risks. And the policy with the Tigers eventually cost lives(though not his!)
 
The first two deaths were caused when the female tiger Zaya climbed over the fence from her compound and into her enclosure whilst it being cleaned out.I dont quite know what happened with the more recent Trevor Smith and the Tiger Balkash-Balkash (who happened to be a descendent of Zaya).
I do believe in these methods but if they are brought back more precaution and safety measures will need to be taken.However some of the old Tiger incidents to do with keepers have been when drunk keepers have gone to see their tigers late in the evening - something which the tigers cant help if a drunk person is wandering about in their enclosure they are bound to feel uncomfortable.
The deaths of these great keepers Brian Stocks and Robert Wilson along with Trevor Smith and they were pioneers of the Aspinall Tiger Breeding Programme and in Trevor Smith's case as said by Aspinall one of the finest wild cat keepers ever at Howletts.All three died doing what they believed in and its their legacy we need to keep alive but it in alot more of a safer manner - With higher fences te chance of escaping from a compound is now more unlikely and most people getting killed by tigers are now member's of the foolish public in the USA aswell as in Zion - But these were under entirely different cirumstances from that of the Aspinall Parks.
Kind Regards,
 
Riziki said:
I do believe in these methods but if they are brought back more precaution and safety measures will need to be taken.

and most people getting killed by tigers are now member's of the foolish public in the USA aswell as in Zion
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You may believe in these methods now, but its not until you actually work with cats yourself that your views can change...if you are ever lucky enough to become a cat keeeper you may and probably will find, that it would be a very bad idea to go in with an adult tiger even if it has been hand raised and is friendly.

And you say that most people getting killed are members of the foolish public in the USA aswell as in Zion, but wouldnt a paid cat keeper over here in the UK who gets him/herself killed be deemed as being foolish too? Dalu at Zion had been working free contact with Cats for many years, and had alot of contact with the tiger that killed him which had always appeared 'friendly'..things change, and animals especially cats are unpredictable!
 
I really do understand what you mean. But the members of the public i was reffering to such as latest ocurences throwing rocks,stones at tigers.
Aspinall Methods dont just mean going in with animals, Yes at a certain age and other circumstances going it will have to stop for the best of the animal and the keeper.Gaining friendship with an animal that wants to be friends can happen with a fence in between.
Animals are do know are unpredictible which is why i say if these methods are continued safety precuations will have to be taken to a new level.You cant just shove a keeper and a tiger together.Things take alot of time and what i am trying to get across is Animals can still be treated to the same manner of repect and trust as we do with humans when a fence is inbetween.
 
ok, so just one death was caused at Howletts by going in with the tigers - that of Trevor Smith. He was playing with Balkash, a male Amur tiger. I don't believe it was the evening, and I don't believe he had been drinking. What are these accounts you speak of with Howletts keepers going into tiger compounds in the evenings after drinking alcohol?

At an aquarium I worked at some years ago, the aquarist above me at the time, who had keys to the building, got drunk and took a girl he had met swimming in the ocean tank. I recieved a panicked call at 7am the next day asking me to brush clean the 'ocean tunnel' of hand and foot marks before the displays manager arrived that day. So I can well believe the temptation of keepers to want to access enclosures after drinking alcohol.

I actually think the practice of going in with Gorillas is hugely beneficial to them, and in stark contrast to Elephants and Tigers has never resulted in any fatalaties.
 
ok, so just one death was caused at Howletts by going in with the tigers - that of Trevor Smith. He was playing with Balkash, a male Amur tiger. I don't believe it was the evening, and I don't believe he had been drinking. What are these accounts you speak of with Howletts keepers going into tiger compounds in the evenings after drinking alcohol?

It still goes to show that you cannot expect large cats to be unnaturally more gentle with a human than if they were engaging in play with another tiger.

At an aquarium I worked at some years ago, the aquarist above me at the time, who had keys to the building, got drunk and took a girl he had met swimming in the ocean tank, where we had several common stingrays. I recieved a panicked call at 7am the next day asking me to brush clean the 'ocean tunnel' of hand and foot marks before the displays manager arrived that day. So I can well believe the temptation of keepers to want to access enclosures after drinking alcohol.

I actually think the practice of going in with Gorillas is hugely beneficial to them, and in stark contrast to Elephants and Tigers has never resulted in any fatalaties.
 
In the Book 'Best of friends' there are accounts of keepers on new years eve i think it was being somewhat 'merry with drink'.I will dig out the book and qoute it to you if you would like me to.
The death of Trevor Smith was admitedly Aspinall's fault for employing these people to work with the animals and opening up Howletts but it was the keepers who choose whether to take part in the Animal Bonding or not.
The Fact is - Things happen and we cant stop that. It was the late Trevor Smith's choice to work with the tigers in this manner and he knew the risks.
This is a particular thing i believe in so please respect that.And in a perfect world no body would of died,Balkash would not of mauled him but its not - we dont know the exact reasons for the attack something might of startled him?,Trevor Smith might of ingaged with play to rough for him? - Or was he just the unpredictable blood thirsty beat we all have set in our minds?
Theres not much else i can say regarding this matter but thanks for all your opinions after all a good contrast in decisions gives us all a better look into the world from different angles.
I am not deffending Aspinall at all, these deaths shouldnt of happened but the thing is - they did.
Kind Regards,
 
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