What the f*ck is the matter with some people?

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

On Siegfried and Roy's web-site it says: "For more than 20 years, we have been entrusted with the care and preservation of the Royal White Tigers. There are now 200 of these precious creatures roaming the earth, 38 with us in Las Vegas. The good news is that the white tiger will make it into the new millennium, and we are blessed that they will continue to thrive in this century."

There are approximately 6000 bengal tigers in the world and that so many of them are inbreed by cynical entertainers is sick!

Loss of habitat from expanding human population is the biggest problem. I am not confident that tigers will survive outside of captive breeding programs. With such a small population, inbreeding (and the resulting genetic problems) is a real problem.

They would surely be illegaly poached and wiped out if they were let out into the wild. I dont see whats stopping them from buying a large plot of land and letting them all roam free there so they wont be forced to resort to incest.

The white tigers are inbreed by humans for the purpose of entertainment, not survival of the tigers. Unlike what most people think, white tigers are NOT a sub-species of tiger, but a mutation that occurs in one out of 10,000 bengal tigers. The white tiger genotype is double recisive and therefore it's only possible to make a white tiger with severe inbreeding (brother-to-sister, father-to-daughter, and so on). As a result of this, all white tigers share the same bloodline.

If two closely related white tigers mate, only 25% of the cubs will be white, 80% of the cubs will be stillborn, and the surviving cubs will usually be mentally ret*d, disfigured etc. 4% (i.e. those who are not blind, deaf, severly ret*d or physically disfigured) of all live born white tigers can be used for entertainment. Even those who are used are often cross-eyed (called "stargazing" by certain magicians), have poor immune system, hip dysplasia, and small mental retardations.

I always thought that white tiger is a rare sub-species of tigers . That's so sick!

I agree that this is a sad picture of human ego.

It goes with just about any animal humans can get their hands on... domestic dogs, cats, horses... to name three others.

At the very least, they could introduce some genetic variability into the line. It would take time, though.

Suppose you have four male white tigers... why not do them thusly?

White tiger #1 (aa) + normal tiger #1 (AA) = all offspring are normal-colored, but are "carriers" of the recessive white gene (Aa).

White tiger #2 (aa) + normal tiger #2 (AA) but which is from a different genetic line than normal tiger #1. (AA) = all offspring are normal colored, but are "carriers" of the recessive white gene (Aa).

White tiger #3 (aa) + normal tiger #3 (AA) but which is from a different genetic line than normal tigers #1 and #2. (AA) = all offspring are normal colored, but are "carriers" of the recessive white gene (Aa).

White tiger #4 (aa) + normal tiger #4 (AA) but which is from a different genetic line than normal tigers #1, #2, and #3. All offspring are normal colored, but are "carriers" of the recessive white gene (Aa.)

Massively breed all resulting offspring (Aa) with normal tigers of entirely unrelated genetic stock (AA). Half of the resulting offspring will be AA, and half will be Aa. Again, mate all the offspring with normal, entirely unrelated stock. Then, allow this generation of tigers to interbreed with one another, taking care to make each breeding pair as unrelated to one another as possible.

AA + AA = 100% AA offspring.

AA + Aa = 50% AA, and 50% Aa offspring.

Aa + Aa = 25% AA, 50% Aa, and 25% aa offspring.

Take all aa offspring, and once again mate them with normal tigers of entirely unrelated stock. All resulting offspring will be Aa, and functionally unrelated to one another for all interbreeding intents and purposes.

Since all the tigers of this generation are Aa, when you interbreed them (again, taking care to ensure that the individuals of each breeding pair are as unrelated to each other as possible), the chances are that one fourth of the offspring will be AA (normal colored), one half will be Aa (normal colored but carriers), and one fourth will be aa (white).

Take all the white (aa) offspring from these pairings, and once again mate each one with a completely unrelated normal tiger (AA) of different genetic stock. Once again, all offspring will be Aa.

Repeat the process. Make it a point to have each "white producing" generation interspersed with a couple "carrier" generations. In the "carrier" generations, new stock will be introduced into the line, and this will ensure that each individual in the next "white producing" generation will be genetically fit.