Tigers are not animals. It cannot be said more clearly than this. But, for some inexplicable reason, people insist on keeping it.
A three-day hunt after a leopard escaped a private farm in the south of Johannesburg culminated in the animal being shot dead after killing two dogs and wounding a man. As always, the animal pays for the human’s stupidity.
A healthy male tiger in the wild can weigh up to 300kg. It was bigger than the male lion and the Walkerville farmer was involved in keeping the female – now dead – and the male.
WATCH: Sheba the escaped tiger is killed
In August 2020, the Sandton SPCA warned Houghton residents of two white tiger cubs believed to be in custody in breach of the Animal Protection Act.
There are other incidents where the line between humans and tigers has been blurred and now someone is injured.
There will likely be a court case – if the owner can’t buy his way out of the threatened legal action.
Because tigers are not native to South Africa, there is no incentive to manage their entry into the country. Listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as endangered, the tiger once covered central, eastern and southern Asia.
As horrifying as it is to see cheetahs on leashes in other countries, we should do the same when all wild animals are kept as pets.
Also read: Search for Sheba tiger complete, big cat killed
According to panthera.org, 4,500 tigers are expected to exist in 2022, a potential increase of 40% from 3,200 in 2015. Increase or not, like the beloved rhinoceros attacked by poachers, the tiger population is under real threat. . Shooting females of breeding age really doesn’t help the global population.
Private ownership must end and the government has many warnings, with close shaves from these foreign predators.
For the love of nature, let the government do something now before we have to write, he said.