White Lions and Tigers - Yay or Nay

ptig said:
However the average zoo goer does not fully appreciate the difference and likes to see big tigers and white ones even better. This may not be the scientific analysis that you were wanting but lots of guests make comments as we are with the cats all day long.
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Hello,

It is great to hear from somebody who has so much experience.

I observed quite different thing. People want most to see human interacting with animal, second - active animal, and quality of animal comes something the last. So if you have white and sumatran tigers side by side, people will consider white to be more interesting. But for a zoo director who has only one tiger exhibit, he will do best to make feeding talk with sumatran tiger, rather than change to white tigers. What is you opinion about that?

I also wonder if you noticed, that people - most of all - wish themselves to have interaction with animals. With tigers it is naturally difficult, but e.g. tug-of-war with long rope with meat on it might be possible. What would be your opinion about this?

And can you tell what were these projects for tiger protection?

all the best,
 
Hello-

Not sure about everything you asked Jurek7. As I previously stated white tigers are populat with zoo guests. We exhibit both Sumatran and Bengal tigers in the same exhibit. mIt does give a great talking point to talk about both sub-species. Especially when the Sumatran cubs we have are only 60 kilos compared to the other tigers being 180-215 kilos.

As we are always with the cats on exhibit certain aspects are made far simpler. The cubs were introduced tot he adults at about 7-8 weeks of age. I cannot imagine most zoos doing this type of introduction to adult tigers.

People spend a great deal of time watching the tigers at Dreamworld. The factors of human/tiger interaction, more activities than static zoo exhibits, and white tigers all play a role on keeping people's attention. I am not telling any facility what to exhibit. If they have Sumatrans I would expect that they would stick with that exclusively. I think that they are fantastic but I am lucky enough to work with both.

I am not crazy about the idea of tug-o-war. I can see a few problems with it, which includes eating a blood soaked rope.

We support the following organisations: 21st Century Tiger, Phoenix Fund, and Flora and Fauna International with tiger projects. We jsut sent 40K to Phoenix for support for anti-poaching and village education programs in Russia.
 
Thanks for info!

I would put meat in some bag attached to the rope, so tiger would pull it inside enclosure. Or ribs without blood.

Or apporting stick... Just random thoughts ;)
 
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