White Tigers and Lions Currently in Captivity

BigNate

BigNate

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Due to concerns over inbreeding, most zoos have stopped breeding these feline color variants. The purpose of this thread is not to discuss the ethics of the movement because that has already been discussed on many different threads on this site, and a general consensus seems to already have been reached.

Instead, the purpose of this thread is to attempt to create a database listing the current populations of all white tigers and white lions in captivity worldwide, and then to maintain this list as they get phased out over time. As far as I can tell, no such database currently exists.

Attempting to find information thus far has proved to be difficult, with most sources being either too vague or too outdated to be taken seriously. Lucky for me though, I have this site full of people worldwide who I hope could help me out. :)

With all that said, can you all please list the zoos, aquariums, wildlife parks, casinos, etc. that you know for sure currently exhibit either white tigers or white lions, as well as how many of each they hold (including those that aren't on display)? Those two bits of information are the most important of what I’m looking for, but any additional information such as age or sex would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance everyone!
 
Are you sure zoos want to phase out white Lions where are you getting this information from?
 
In the AZA (and possibly EAZA) they are being phased out. However this is not necessarily the case worldwide, or even in non-accredited facilities in the western world. Here are a few I know of. (I will leave off the word "white" but that is what I am describing).

Mirage Hotel (Las Vegas, Nevada, USA) lions & tigers (several)
Wildlife World Zoo (Litchfield Park, Arizona, USA) lion (one) and tigers (a few)
Project Survival's Cat Haven (Dunlap, California, USA) lion (one) and tiger (one)
Toronto Zoo (Toronto, Canada) lions (a couple or a few)
Cincinnati Zoo (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) lion (one?) and tigers (a couple?)
Out Of Africa (Camp Verde, Arizona, USA) tigers (a couple or a few)

There are several others for tigers and a few for lions (especially if you go outside USA) but I don't have the time to look them all up. A compete list I think would be surprisingly long.
 
In the UK, just off the top of my head -
Tigers - Hamerton, West Midlands SP, Big Cat Sabctuary (private, tours only)
Lions - WMSP, Paradise Wildlife Park, Lincolnshire Wildlife Park

There's probably others I'm forgetting.
 
Six Flags Great Adventure & Six Flags Discovery Kingdom both have white tiger. Great adventure has been phasing them out though, and is focusing on siberian tigers.

Edit: Actually Odin died last year at SFDK, leaving the park with 8 tigers, none of which are white.
 
Here's my list of places that are open to the public and have them on the east coast, USA (every state that touches the Atlantic Ocean, plus VT and PA).

Lion:
Capron Park Zoo
Metro Richmond Zoo
Pittsburgh
Animal Adventure
Tiger World
ZFW Miami

Tiger:
DEW Haven (Maine Zoo)
York's Wild Kingdom
The Wild Animal Park
Popcorn Park Zoo
Six Flags Great Adventure
Plumpton Park
Virginia Safari Park
Tiger World
Tregembo Animal Park
Aloha Safari Zoo
Cherokee Bear Zoo
Natural Bridge Zoo
Creation Kingdom Zoo
Living Treasures (New Castle and Laurel Highlands locations)
Myrtle Beach Safari
Chestatee Wildlife Preserve
Tiger Stripes Inc
Noah's Ark
Myrtle Beach Safari
Big Cat Rescue
Carson Springs Wildlife Foundation
Catty Shack Ranch
Central Florida Animal Reserve
Dade City's Wild Things
Everglades Outpost
Genesis Zoological Center (call theirs a white Siberian tiger)
Kulaqua Christian Retreat
McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary
Octagon Wildlife Sanctuary
Wooten's Everglades Airboat Tours
ZFW Miami
 
Here's some others. I haven't worked on my zoo maps for the left half of the USA yet, so only have a few listed from there.

Tigers:
whatever the hell Wynnewood is calling itself this week
Noahs Lost Ark
Roscommon Zoo
Wilderness Trails Zoo
DeYoung Family Zoo
West Virginia Zoo
Alexandria Zoo
Montgomery Zoo
Zoosiana
Wild Wilderness Drive-Through Safari
Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge
Tigers For Tomorrow
Tiger Haven
Memphis Zoo
Wild Animal Safari
Wild Animal Adventures
National Tiger Sanctuary
Exotic Feline Rescue Center
Wildlife In Need, Inc
Fort Worth Zoo
Keepers of the Wild Nature Park
Houston Aquarium
Elmira’s Wildlife Sanctuary
Priderock Wildlife Refuge
Safe Haven Wildlife Sanctuary
Lions Tigers & Bears (CA)
Wildcat Ridge
In Sync Exotics

Lions:
Cincinnati Zoo
Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo
In Sync Exotics
 
Thanks everyone. I've spent the past couple hours tracking down the locations everyone has posted and trying to figure out how many of each species each has. Here are the links to the excel files, and I hope I've done it correctly and everyone will be able to view them, and that they will update as I add more.

White Lions: White Lions.xlsx
White Tigers: White Tigers.xlsx

As I type this right now, I have everyone's list except for @TinoPup 's last post for tigers, where I haven't gone through it yet. A couple other notes

  • According to this link from 2018, Cincinnati Zoo no longer had white tigers, does anyone know if this has changed? Saying Goodbye to Popsy - Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden®
  • I’m having trouble trying to find the current population of white lions at Toronto. I know they have three males, but they had 4 white cubs that were born in 2015, thus suggesting there’s at least one white female. I do know that the cubs have since been moved to Parc Safari.
  • @TinoPup - I can’t find any evidence of Pittsburgh or Cameron Park having white lions, am I missing something? I also can’t find evidence of White Tigers at Carson Springs Wildlife Foundation.
Thanks again everyone, keep the lists coming and I'll continue adding them to mine
 
BigNate said:
  • @TinoPup - I can’t find any evidence of Pittsburgh or Cameron Park having white lions, am I missing something? I also can’t find evidence of White Tigers at Carson Springs Wildlife Foundation.
Thanks again everyone, keep the lists coming and I'll continue adding them to mine
Click to expand...

Carson Springs: Carson Springs Wildlife – Wildlife Conservation Foundation The third image in the slide show at the top of the home page is of a white cub and says '"Tank" is our latest tiger'.

Didn't Pittsburgh used to have them? I thought for sure they did.

Cameron Park, I'm not sure. Based on my files that I was using to make my post, that zoo doesn't make sense because it's in Texas and I didn't look at Texas Zoos. So now I need to figure out wtf I meant!

Thanks for double checking my stuff :)

Edit: Ah! I didn't say Cameron Park, I said Capron Park ;) White Lion
 
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Wonder how many of them claim they are "saving" "rare" white lions and tigers?
 
MRJ said:
Wonder how many of them claim they are "saving" "rare" white lions and tigers?
Click to expand...
By far the worst I've seen is DEW Haven DEW Haven | Maine zoo and rescue

In the FAQ section, someone asked if white tigers are a result of inbreeding. They answered by saying "No, white tigers are a subspecies of the Bengal tiger." They then shame other zoos for choosing not breed to breed their white tigers. They then say, "While DEW Haven has bred our white tiger twice, she was bred with an unrelated Siberian tiger (to broaden the gene pool even further)... Our goal in breeding these magnificent creatures is to prevent their extinction."

I'm still struggling to get over it.
 
BigNate said:
By far the worst I've seen is DEW Haven DEW Haven | Maine zoo and rescue

In the FAQ section, someone asked if white tigers are a result of inbreeding. They answered by saying "No, white tigers are a subspecies of the Bengal tiger." They then shame other zoos for choosing not breed to breed their white tigers. They then say, "While DEW Haven has bred our white tiger twice, she was bred with an unrelated Siberian tiger (to broaden the gene pool even further)... Our goal in breeding these magnificent creatures is to prevent their extinction."

I'm still struggling to get over it.
Click to expand...

Note that DEW claims to be a rescue, yet breeds tigers and donates cubs to "facilities with similar standards". And their "standards" were good enough to get theme a national tv show.

Did you follow the GW Animal Park thread? Some stuff has since been deleted, but it looks like most of what I copy/pasted from their old website is still there: GW Animal Park Discussion [GW Exotic Animal Park]
 
Southwick's Zoo in Mendon, MA has a white tiger and her non-white sister. Funny enough, at least last I was there, the signage was pretty clear that white tigers are a genetic color morph often propagated by inbreeding, not a rare subspecies. Considering that they're a private, non-AZA zoo, I was surprised.
 
The excel files should now be updated to show all information that has been listed in this thread thus far
 
Well, here is for Poland - not a long list though.

The only white tigers and white lions in Poland zoos live in ZOO Safari Borysew (in Borysew, near Łódź city). I visited that facility some years ago and remember the pair of white lions and a few white tigers. Of course tigers signed as White Bengal Tiger.

Borysew has 3 adult white tigers now (according to they site) - a male Aaron and females: Manji and Safran. The zoo had 14 cubs of white tigers till now and some can be seen interchangeably with group of trio-founders and some in second enclosure (again - according to a site, when I was visiting some years ago - there were only adults in one enclosure).

According to a zoo's site - a pair of white lions is a male Sahim and a female Azira. Officially since 2014 till now the zoo has 10 cubs. 4 (Karim, Kira, Laari and Luna) lives in Borysew and "create" their own pride. The zoo mentions that a cub(s) went to South Korea also.
One lioness went to Hodonin zoo, Czech Republic, and for sure had at least one litter yet (with a white male from Africa - according to the Hodonin zoo).

+edit: Zoo is quite clever in a way of communication. You can read a whole description about White Bengal Tiger and White Lion, but in a "conservation" they write something like that: "a lion is vulnerable species with VU status, additionally a white form is even rarer". Similarly with white tigers - Bengal tigers are at risk of extinction and white form is even rarer.

Not so long ago also zoo Świerkocin had white lions but the zoo is closed now - so it's only a historical fact.

***
Anyway, "white tigers are a subspecies of the Bengal tiger" is the funniest (and quite sad) quote I have seen for a loooong time.
 
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