Standpitpony
Well-Known Member
Just wondering if I'm the only person who's heard about it, Any takers?
Tiger Canyon's
- Thread starter Standpitpony
- Start date
Heard of it (being a cat fanatic) and not very impressed. This is one of two (unrelated) projects in South Africa to breed tigers in large natural spaces to teach them to live and hunt in the wild for potential reintroduction to Asia. The other project is Save China's Tigers and deals with the highly endangered (extinct in the wild) south china tiger. That project (the China one) is much more respectable than this one IMO.
Tiger Canyons has I think generic tigers and there is virtually no chance they could ever be reintroduced to Asia. Furthermore, from what little I have seen of them (on an American television show and on their website), they don't talk much about Asia and some people could get the impression from them that tigers are actually native to Africa!
The founder, Mr Varty, still goes into the immense fields and plays with the tigers - which is the most ludicrous thing anyone would ever do with animals being trained for reintroduction to the wild. He even said in a video clip on their website (where a tiger was playing and climbing on him) that "everyone should have a tiger on their head once in their life." What a crackpot! This project deserves zero support and as far as I can tell has no conservation merit whatsoever. If anything, it is anti-conservation because they have such a huge plot of land (hundreds of hectares I believe) that should be used for a true game sanctuary with native African predators instead.
The south china project, on the other hand, is much more reasonable and I believe truly could result in their reintroduction into the wild. This project has the support of the Feline Conservation Federation (and possibly other conservation groups), whereas the Tiger Canyon project has no such support as far as I know.
Tiger Canyons has I think generic tigers and there is virtually no chance they could ever be reintroduced to Asia. Furthermore, from what little I have seen of them (on an American television show and on their website), they don't talk much about Asia and some people could get the impression from them that tigers are actually native to Africa!
The founder, Mr Varty, still goes into the immense fields and plays with the tigers - which is the most ludicrous thing anyone would ever do with animals being trained for reintroduction to the wild. He even said in a video clip on their website (where a tiger was playing and climbing on him) that "everyone should have a tiger on their head once in their life." What a crackpot! This project deserves zero support and as far as I can tell has no conservation merit whatsoever. If anything, it is anti-conservation because they have such a huge plot of land (hundreds of hectares I believe) that should be used for a true game sanctuary with native African predators instead.
The south china project, on the other hand, is much more reasonable and I believe truly could result in their reintroduction into the wild. This project has the support of the Feline Conservation Federation (and possibly other conservation groups), whereas the Tiger Canyon project has no such support as far as I know.
Peter Dickinson
Well-Known Member
Tiger Canyon's myth
I am in 100% agreement with Arizona Docent. Tiger Canyons caught the worlds attention a couple of years back when they laid claim to the 'first white tiger born in the wild since 1954'. The wild??!! Simply untrue. You can read more of this here:
When Is "Bred in the Wild" Actually in the Wild?
I am in 100% agreement with Arizona Docent. Tiger Canyons caught the worlds attention a couple of years back when they laid claim to the 'first white tiger born in the wild since 1954'. The wild??!! Simply untrue. You can read more of this here:
When Is "Bred in the Wild" Actually in the Wild?