White Tigers

Still remember case of Kenny the White Tiger? That's the reason why I think White Tigers are a scam and serve no conservation value.
White tigers are extremely rare in the wild and therefore roadside, zoos and private breeders attempted to get more cubs through inbreeding and crossing with other tigers (usually bengals or siberians). The inbreeding caused the white tiger cubs have no pure genes, considered generic, and therefore, have no value on conservation. Because of their beautiful white coats and people thought they were extermely rare, people starts to breed them like crazy. And because of that, the white tigers have so many health deficiencies such as crossed eyes, clubbed foot, spinal issues, and kidney issues. Susan Bass, the PR representative of Big Cat Rescue said "They are not a species, they are not endangered, they don't need to be saved , and they shouldn't existed."
And because of that, AZA banned the white tiger, white lion, and king cheetah breeding in their facility.

 

The genetic issues are to do with inbreeding and poor genetic management not because they are white and you need to separate the two issues. It is claimed that they serve no conservation purpose and the same could be said of the greater majority of captive tigers. Will many of these or their progeny ever go back to the wild?

 

Indeed, if they weren't so severely inbred and hybridized then white tigers probably would serve some sort of conservational value. I never really understood the banning of white Lions and especially king Cheetahs. The Lions, to my knowledge, haven't been hybridized with any other subspecies but have been inbred so that's a bit more understandable. The Cheetahs, though, represent a pure subspecies and haven't been inbred at all, it's just a rare genetic mutation and I'd imagine unrepresented genes would be valuable to the captive populations.

~Thylo

 

West Midlands safari park in the uk have both white tigers and white lions. I’m sure I read somewhere they had 8 whites at one point and also 16 white lions.