The White Tiger Fraud

[Lace Neil Singer]

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/cats/wild/white_tigers.htm

The pictures make me sad. I did have an inkling about this, but I didn't know everything.

[ImadeYouACookie]

this is from wikipedia:

"It is a myth that white tigers did not thrive in the wild, where small groups had bred white for generations. India once planned to reintroduce them to the wild.[2] A.A. Dunbar Brander wrote in "Wild Animals In Central India" (1923): "White tigers occasionally occur. There is a regular breed of these animals in the neighborhood of Amarkantak at the junction of the Rewa state and the Mandla and Bilaspur districts. When I was last in Mandla in 1919, a white tigress and two three parts grown white cubs existed. In 1915 a male was trapped by the Rewa state and kept in confinement. An excellent description of this animal by Mr. Scott of the Indian police, has been published in Vol. XXVII, No. 47, of the Bombay Natural History Society's journal."[3]

However, most white tigers are now bred in captivity, often by inbreeding parents and cubs to ensure the presence of the recessive gene. Such inbreeding often also leads to birth defects.[4]"

I know wikipedia isn't the most reliable source, but there are citations, and one from a book from 1923.
So according to this book, there are (or probably were ) white tigers in the wild and that thrived.

What they are doing with the inbreeding is messing with nature. If these tigers were meant to exist, we would most likely have or have had a large population of them in the wild.

I must admit, I think white tigers are very pretty, but I certainly do not condone the actions of those breeders.