“A world without huge regions of total wilderness would be a cage; a world without lions and tigers and vultures and snakes and elk and bison would be — will be — a human zoo. A high-tech slum.” (Edward Abbey)
So much of what we are conditioned to accept as “normal” is, in reality, a monstrosity. It doesn’t have to be like this.
The name “tiger” — assigned by humans to the largest species of the cat family — is derived from the Greek word tigris, which in turn, is a derivative of the Persian word for arrow. Since a running tiger can reach velocities of 35-40 mph, “arrow” perhaps refers to such speed.
Will knowing any of this make you appreciate tigers more?
What if I told you how most tigers have over 100 stripes and the stripe patterns are unique to each animal — like a human's fingerprints?
Would it make you less likely to spend your money at a roadside zoo?
How about if I wowed you with the fact that a tiger’s striped pattern is also found on its skin? All you’d have to do is shave a tiger to find out.
Will such info inspire you to take action to protect this majestic creature?
A beast that weighs up to 720 pounds, stretches to six feet in length, can swim up to four miles, leap a distance of 10 meters, and has night vision six times stronger than that of a human — and it needs us to protect it.
There are currently about 5,000 tigers living in captivity in the U.S. (mostly in roadside zoos) and only 3,900 tigers exist in the wild across the entire planet.
The Animal-Prison/Industrial Complex
For context, here’s a little of what typically is ignored about zoos:
Zoos are mostly focused on "cute babies" and ultimately create unwanted animals.
They can reduce genetic diversity and do not contribute to increasing robust animal populations in the wild.
They do little to nothing to seriously address the underlying causes of habitat loss and thereby let the perpetrators off the hook.
Captive breeding can create a false sense that the battle to save endangered species and habitats is being won.
Animals are obviously not meant to live in captivity and, as a result, often display stress and/or psychological dysfunction, and just as often, these animals are abused.
Encountering animals in a zoo setting teaches the wrong lessons about how our ecosystems work. Wrong lessons only serve to sustain a completely corrupt system.
As nightmarish as large zoos and “wildlife centers” inherently are, America’s ubiquitous roadside zoos aren’t even accredited or regulated by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
One illustrative example is the Wild Wilderness Drive-Through Safari in Gentry, AR. As writer Sara Wittenberg explains:
“Wild Wilderness reportedly feeds its animals expired Little Debbie snack cakes it receives for free from a nearby plant; additionally, visitors may bring whatever snacks they would like to feed the animals. Monkeys throw dead cage-mates around while visitors watch, some in horror, some more amused; many residents are housed in wire-bottom cages whose mesh is too large to accommodate their feet so that they fall through the bottom just moving around their enclosures.”
The folks at Tigers in America add: “A roadside zoo can be 20 animals in adjacent pens or a single tiger in a cage. What these facilities have in common are barren cages, inadequate food, water, shelter, and veterinary care. The animals are often crowded into conflict-prone groupings. A declawed tiger in a cage with tigers with claws cannot fight for food or defend itself.”
Consider the tiger once known as “Tony the Truck Stop Tiger.” One of the many large cats born over the past 20 years at the Tiger Truck Stop Tiger on Interstate 10 in Louisiana, Tony spent his entire life in this cell breathing diesel fumes 24 hours a day for the amusement of customers who stop for fuel.
Whether you call it a cage, a cell, a jail, a pen, a ward, a prison, a wildlife center, or an enclosure, captivity is captivity. A culture that confines and abuses animals for profit is highly likely to regularly promote and engage in other forms of violence and exploitation.
Temporary solution: Tiger sanctuaries
Serious solution: A collective dismantling and re-imagining of all aspects of the dominant human culture
Humans are just one of 8.7 million species sharing [sic] a planet. Tiger-like cats have lived on Earth for about two million years. In just the last century, humans have wiped out 97 percent of the world’s wild tigers.
For a species designed to provide stewardship to the earth, we have a long way to go. Today feels like a great day to start turning that around.
It doesn’t have to be like this. If enough of us reclaim our inherent power, it will stop being like this. A big part of learning to respect each other is learning to respect all forms of life.
I don’t wanna live on a planet without tigers. Do you?
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I so appreciate that you love and ŕespect animals, Mickey. Beautiful, important write-up. Thank you.
Most zoos are a tragedy. Makes me think about an excellent book about their shortcomings:
Thought to Exist in the Wild: Awakening from the Nightmare of Zoos
by Derrick Jensen
https://www.amazon.com/Thought-Exist-Wild-Awakening-Nightmare/dp/0972838724/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3E85BLUFD5Y6D&keywords=zoos+tweedy-holmes&qid=1707564454&sprefix=zoos+tweedy-holmes%2Caps%2C373&sr=8-1
this makes me think of the brave new world again, where 'wild' people are kept in zoos. IN a way that is what has been done to the native people of America as well. And in a way, it is done with all of us who live in large cities in cubicles... and with all those that want a manicured lawn and trimmed trees. Most humans seem to be unable to see nature as nature - wild. Yes I am afraid of the wild boar that roam my yard, but they keep their appearance to night time. I am not really afraid of snakes anymore, when I see them I am rather curious, they are beautiful. I carefully watch and step back. Tigers can be dangerous. So can your back door step. There are stories of little children playing outside the hut when tiger passes by and does not even look at them, and then a fearful adult appears and the tiger knocks him down. We are not afraid of driving a car, while many more get killed in car accidents than in tiger accidents or snake accidents. No one is afraid of mosquitoes (most consider them just a nuisance) while mosquitoes kille most humans of all animals. May be we should 'zoo' all humans that refuse to keep nature natural!!!