Tiger Mills Exist All Over America. And They Must be Shut Down
In the US alone, there are more than 7,000 tigers in captivity, and it’s a major problem.
Tigers are not supposed to be in cages. They are wild animals with a free spirit, and should not be enclosed in small spaces for the benefit and entertainment of humans.
Tiger mills exist all across the US, but they disguise themselves as zoos and other amusement parks. But the shocking truth of tiger mills needs to be exposed.
A wild female tiger may have up to twelve cubs in her entire lifetime. But in tiger mills, females are forced to deliver up to twelve cubs in just one year. They’re essentially being bred to death.
And after a cub is born, they’re taken from their mother at just two days old, while they’re still blind and finding their feet in the world. This is unbelievably traumatic for the mother.
After bottle feeding the cub for a couple of weeks, the mill then puts them up for sale. They can fetch upwards of $1000 for a tiger cub in good health.
The cubs are sold to entertainment venues where humans can pay to interact with tigers. This business is incredibly lucrative, as guests pay around $10 for a simple photo with a tiger, and then pay up to $500 for advanced ‘playtime’ with the animal.
When the cub grows into an adolescent, he or she is no longer suitable for these petting purposes. They’re then sold off to roadside zoos where people can view and feed them, before dying prematurely from a range of perfectly treatable conditions.
The life of a tiger in captivity in modern day America is not a pleasant one.
When Bill Nimma, the founder of Tigers in America, saw that a tiger ‘sanctuary’ called Serenity Springs was up for sale in Colorado, he went to investigate.
Seventy-five tigers were being mistreated at the facility, and many of them had a range of medical conditions that were a result of the abuse that they had suffered over the years.
Bill, alongside a number of other rescue groups, purchased the facility and freed the tigers. They transported them to fifteen different facilities in the US, each of which actually serve as sanctuaries and have the best interests of the tigers, as opposed to profit, at heart.
While rescues like this are undoubtedly great to see, we all need to do more to stop this horrendous trade in tigers from occurring. At the very least, you can boycott roadside zoos and refuse to visit any site that promises interaction with tigers and other wild cats.
For more information or to support the work of tiger rescue in America, you can visit the website of Tigers in America.
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