White Lions

White Lions
08-09-2006

Just wondering what everyone here thinks of the White Lions. Mogo Zoo has some they obtained free of charge from Joburg Zoo but with conditions. I have been offered a few from a friend and private breeder in South Africa. Pure whit lions 1:2:0 and Tawnies that carry white genes 1:2:0. In all six lion cubs all hand raised of varying ages. As of yet I don't have my park established. My original plan was to buy the Lions off Mareeba if it did not sell and move them down to my property in new south wales for temporary holding until I could find a larger property to build a lion and big cat park. but the cost for building this could run into millions and millions. So yeah, I was just wondering what you all thought of White Lions. If you want to know about my plans please contact me privately as I am trying to keep this pretty low until I am ready to open. In this thread I am mainly interested in knowing what you think of the cats.

Thanks again

08-09-2006

i think they are great, and if you have an intergrated pride of twanies and whites, even better, thou they may not accept each other, i think we should be trying to preseve variants of species as well, but as long as we go species first than variants, and not for money

08-09-2006

I personally have problems with the display of unusual color variants of any species. It's bordering on the freak show mentality in my mind. However, I have even bigger concerns with attempting to "integate" them with tawny lions - why display a color mutation, and then encourage them to interbreed with animals of the normal color phase. This drags zoos down to the level of some private aviculturists who choose to hybridise various parrot species.

Mogo Zoo are supposed to be keeping the white lions separately from the tawnies, and the ARAZPA breeding program specifically reccommends AGAINST housing and breeding white lions. The major zoos in the region have been working very hard over the past 10-15 years to eliminate any lions carrying white genes, and it is unfortunate that Mogo went again regional reccomendations and imported the white lions from South Africa.

08-09-2006

hang on, mate, white lions are a naturally occuring breed much like tigers, so theres nothing wrong with it, and breeding with twany is normal, it happens in wild, its just to maintain the recessive gene.

08-09-2006

ahhhh,

that'd be why mogo stated when they impoted them, that they were def not for a breeding program within the region and that only mogo would be only zoo to ever house them..

makes sense!

09-09-2006

Has anyone watched the show on the ABC Lion Man about the bloke in NZ with Zion I think it is called. On this program it was stated that the white lions in the breeding program in South Africa where inbred and he showed a white cub which had come from tawney lions. Breeding the white lions with others would increase their genetic diversity and as they are the same species there should be nothing wrong with it.

I can not see why any group would be for elimenating animals which carry the white gene if it is naturaly occuring in the wild population.

09-09-2006

I saw one episode last week - was quite interesting, although I came in half way through and missed a lot of the context ... I didn't realise the guy was a kiwi until half way through (although his accent should have given him away).

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White Lions
09-09-2006

Hey guys,
Originally I had no plans to display the lions to the public as this will add considerably to the huge amounts to obtain the cats and build a breeding facility. I am however still considering this and leaving my options open until I return from a trip to SriLanka and South Africa to work with Elephants and Lions respectively. The Lions at Mogo Zoo indeed are in a breeding program. Not within Australasia but with the African breeders. I would be breeding mine not with pure tawnies but with white gene carriers that are tawny... I will also breed them them with my own stock... As was mentioned by another person in this thread the purpose of breeding whites with tawnies is to spread the genes out. A white lion can only pass on the white gene therefore any offspring of a pure tawny and a pure white will carry the genes and have the potential to producee white offspring when bred with another gene carrier. The physical colour of the cat doesn't affect the cubs colour. The gentic makeup, as I'm sure your all aware is what gives them that colour. I am very interested in what you have said and would like to hear more.

Thanks

09-09-2006

Jarkari, this is very interesting. Do you think you'll be given permits to import additional lions? And do you have plans for any offspring you breed? Since most of the zoos in the region that have lions aren't interested in white lions, or animals that carry the white gene, what would you do with any offspring that you breed?

09-09-2006

well i would like to add, that jakari has told me he has many acres which he could house many big cats and elephants on. i hope this comes sbout, will be a fantastic place

09-09-2006

But what is the value of breeding loads of lions, and keeping them on acres of land, but not open to the public? That's my point.

09-09-2006

If you could afford to do it and the animals are well looked after I dont see anything wrong with it

10-09-2006

animals would be better away from public, any animal lover would see that in full, most zookeepers would love to have zoos closed, quite for breeding, more room , so much better for animals

10-09-2006

i think you'll find that the benifits of displaying white lions (such as increased interest by the public) are far outweighed by the costs of importing and exporting lions due to the fact that you can't have a co-operative breeding program with other australian zoos.

they are great looking cats but really, is it worth it?

10-09-2006

Originally I had no intentions of exhibiting lions. I would probabl;y keep the first generation of whites I bred then any following litters would be sent back to south africa and the white lion projects over there. I also said originally I had no intentions of displaying the white lions, I was however planning on opening a big cat education centre with Lions, tigers, puma and leopards purchased from within australia and cheetah from south africa (unforuantely australia's cheetah population is already too large and the goverment won't let any more dewildt's cats in but that's another story and elephant sanctuary on my property, with the white lions off exhibit in a private breeding facility, however I thought this would deprive the public of a unique oppurtunity so i have also considered opening the white lions for special private guided tours. Someone mentione that the cost would be huge for importing them. I am not worried if I end up having to pay millions to build a place to house the world beautiful cats and save the elephants. Money is not what worries me. I only need enough to support the park, I am into this industry because I love animals, not money. I have also been approached by a few parties asking me if i would be interested in hiring out the animals i obtain for film and television. I know that I will be able to support the programs I embark on, financially anyway. Any Tawnmy Lions that come from my australian bought cats will be separated into bachelor prides and eventually placed in a large drive through safari. There are also plans for twenty individual cats so there will be plenty of room to separate animals that may breed if breeding is not wanted. Things are still only being planned and we are looking for an even larger site and the perfect locatio. Actually, does anyone know where a zoo might be good. I have dubbo two hours to one side of me, taronga three hours away on another and canberra three hours away on the other side.

Cheers