What do tigers eat?

The fact its the Daily Mail makes it laughable. Question should be why are millions of Cows, Pigs, Chickens etc being slaughtered each day for our needs?
 
Ah, the English-speaking world's horse-fetish rears its head again.

It's no different slaughtering horses to feed to tigers than slaughtering cattle. No problem there. When I was last at Port Lympne there were a few very recognisable horse parts in the big cat exhibits - including suspended from a tree for enrichment purposes. I really don't see a problem.

Rare domestic breeds need to be seen as useful to survive. Looks like they found a use for Dartmoor Ponies.
 
Farm breed meat from modern breeds is far to rich in fat for zoo animals and there for another source of protein is required. Horse is a good source of cheap lean protein and is used at most zoos.
 
I don't know which way around we should do this, but conservation efforts must be set up for any of the following species:

Sumatran zebra (Equus asiaticus sumatrae)

or of course the Masai Mara tiger (Panthera tigris masai)

(of course, these are just two examples, we have at least another 5 ssp of Asiatic zebra, and probably a few other ssp. of African tiger).

Unless of course the article is wrong, and it isn't closer to the protein-content of the zebras that tigers eat in the wild :p
 
Javan Rhino said:
I don't know which way around we should do this, but conservation efforts must be set up for any of the following species:

Sumatran zebra (Equus asiaticus sumatrae)

or of course the Masai Mara tiger (Panthera tigris masai)

(of course, these are just two examples, we have at least another 5 ssp of Asiatic zebra, and probably a few other ssp. of African tiger).

Unless of course the article is wrong, and it isn't closer to the protein-content of the zebras that tigers eat in the wild :p
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A fair point - that was a bit of a gaffe. But as LLM points out - these horses' meat is much closer to the fat-protein balance of a wild ungulate than that of a farmed one, which was Mr. Mee's main point.
 
Maguari said:
A fair point - that was a bit of a gaffe. But as LLM points out - these horses' meat is much closer to the fat-protein balance of a wild ungulate than that of a farmed one, which was Mr. Mee's main point.
Click to expand...

I know, just thought I'd have a bit of a pedantic moment :D, one of those times where you really can't resist a little joke :)
 
Native Ponies are very much at the mercy of the whims of the current economic climate. In good times the demand for them rockets and the price does too. In recessionary times its the opposite. New Forest Ponies experience similar fluctuations and I think like the Dartmoors are at a similarly very low price again now. They used to be sold for horsemeat to France and I've never heard of Marwell, the only zoo in the area with Big Cats, taking them.

I doubt that the Dartmoor pony breed is in any serious danger though as I think there will always be some breeders who maintain their pure herds, until better times roll round again, but it is a sort of irregular cycle.
 
The tiger angle is fairly insignificant really, the headline makes it appear as though they are being killed in their hundreds to feed voracious tigers.

At Woburn there was a notice saying they were feeding the lions a deer that had been knocked down by a car. When I looked at my photos the deer seemed to have hooves!
 
I love the bit about the terrible costs that are causing these ponies to go to meat. £15 for a passport and chip: if you can't afford that, you can't afford a pony! Even a cheap to keep Dartmoor is going to need a field or stable, tack etc which is going to cost a hell of a lot more than £15!

As for making it more expensive to export to the continent... I get the impression that the reporter doesn't realise they used to be exported for the meat trade. Probably much better for them to be slaughtered here: UK regulations are tighter and there's been massive problems with that trade in the past. Remember the massive raid by the RSPCA a few years ago when they seized loads of starving horses off a farm? That farm was a holding point for horses destined to be sent for meat to the continent.

I certainly want to see ponies staying on Dartmoor. Like many things, they'd have a better chance without a growing human population fighting to get every scrap out of the land. Meanwhile, if we are going to keep tigers, they have to eat something.
 
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