Lion in exhibit with white tiger

This Lion was beautiful, he had a great mane and the zookeeper made him call for us!

In case anyone is wondering why a male lion is housed with a female white tiger (not pictured) in a rescue center, here is the story as I remember it from their newsletter.

The pair were housed together at a run-down facility in hopes of breeding "white ligers." When the place was shut down due to its bad condition, the pair (and I think other cats) were rescued by BCR. Since they obviously did NOT want them to breed, they tried separating them. But the cats were miserable, especially the male who missed his mate immensely. So the female was given an operation to prevent cubs and the two were put back together and started acting normal.

Yes, that is exactly why they have the lion with the tiger. The Big Cat rescue is not for keeping lions and tigers together for breeding and such, but because the lion and tiger grew up together and are so attached they kept them in the same pen. They are very nice to eachother and play together but I am sure there is a bit of a language berrier.

I have seen a male lion housed with a tiger (Sumatran, judging by its size) in a small regional zoo on the Spanish island of Mallorca, when I was a kid. But I have the feeling that the purpose was not as noble, i.e. to breed and get hybrids.

They actually had three cat cages; one housing two leopards (one normal colour and the other black) and the other a single lioness. My young brain pondered a lot as to why the lion was not housed with the lioness and concluded that it had to be for breeding. I had heard of such hybrids but was young and didn't find the practise wrong at all. But when I think back, it is possible that the lioness was pregnant and they were seperated to give her peace.