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Siegfried & Roy's Furry Fun

It has been four years since the pitter-patter of tiny paws were heard at Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden but the sound is back, multiplied by five.

In June, a litter of tiger cubs -- Svengali, the only boy, and his four sisters, Cosmo, Chakra, Star and Celestial -- were brought in when they were 5 weeks old from a Florida breeding program to help strengthen the garden's tiger bloodlines.


Even though Siegfried & Roy haven't performed since Roy Horn was seriously injured after being bitten by a tiger onstage during a performance in 2003, they have continued with their breeding program and The Mirage attraction. The new tiger blood is needed to diversify the gene pool because the last cubs born were the Secret Garden's fourth generation of tigers.

Forty-three big cats live at the Secret Garden, including white lions, white tigers and leopards. None of the tigers born at the Secret Garden have ever left. During 25 years, 18 litters of tiger cubs have been born at an average size of three cubs per birth.

Source: Las Vegas Review Journal

Today's awwww

Photo credit: Berthold Stadler / AFP

The temple of tame tigers

The Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Monastery in Thailand is home to a family of tigers raised by a monk and living alongside human visitors. Villagers brought the first tiger cub to the monastery in 1999 after poachers killed its mother.

There are around 40 tigers in the temple which is a wildlife sanctuary where tourists can touch resting tigers.

Source: Telegraph

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Golden retriever adopts tiger cubs

A dog at a southeast Kansas zoo has adopted three tiger cubs abandoned by their mother. Safari Zoological Park owner Tom Harvey said the tiger cubs were born Sunday, but the mother had problems with them.

A day later, the mother stopped caring for them. The cubs were wandering around, trying to find their birth mother, who wouldn't pay attention to them. That's when the cubs were put in the care of Isabella, a golden retriever.

Source: Yahoo News

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Tiger smugglers in Texas?

Federal authorities continue to investigate the parking lot sale of six Bengal tigers they believe were bound for Mexico.

49-year-old Michelle Ashton of Calvert, TX, was charged with misdemeanor interference with public duties, after she allegedly became disruptive with police Sunday.

The investigation started when a police officer spotted Ashton exchanging pet cages with people at a store parking lot. The astute patrol officer moved in and noticed that the animals inside were no ordinary kitties.

They were six endangered Bengal tiger cubs.

Investigators believe the cubs were possibly headed to Mexico without proper permits.

The tiger cubs are now at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. Zoo officials say the cubs are in excellent condition.

The three male and three female cubs, believed to be two to eight weeks old, are receiving veterinary care at the zoo.

Source: chron.com

Triplet tiger cubs surprise Auckland Zoo

Three Sumatran tiger cubs have been born at Auckland Zoo.

The zoo's big cat keepers are celebrating after discovering the proud mother, eight-year-old Molek, has given birth to triplets nearly a week after the event.

They had been keeping their distance since the birth last Thursday, not wanting to disturb Molek for at least a week.

On Tuesday, they discovered what they had thought was one cub from afar was actually two.

Then, on Wednesday afternoon, they saw a very relaxed Molek lying back with one cub suckling and two others cuddled into her coat.

In light of the fact that there are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers in the wild, and just 160 in captive facilities, the birth of these cubs really is a huge deal, not just for New Zealand, but internationally.

Zoo officials concerned about tiger cub

A tiger cub born on Mother's Day at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium is not getting much TLC from its mother.

Tiger-keepers are working around the clock to find out why the cub's mother, Toma, isn't being receptive to her newborn.

Zoo officials think Toma might be sick or possibly carrying another cub.

The two-pound cub is being kept at an animal hospital. If the cub does not receive attention from its mother, it can be raised successfully by tiger-keepers at the zoo.

Source: KDKA

A Legendary Hunter

Between 1907 and 1938, Jim Corbett killed a dozen large cats who were collectively blamed for more than 1,500 human deaths. While being hailed as India's most celebrated hunter of man-eaters, Corbett developed a vast respect for tigers and leopards. Years spent stalking intelligent and powerful predators through the forests convinced him that these were graceful creatures that deserved respect. Even these man-eaters held his respect, for he understood that they were merely adapting to their desperate circumstances. "The stress of circumstances is, in nine cases out of ten, wounds, and in the tenth case old age," Corbett once wrote, "Human beings are not the natural prey of tigers, and it is only when tigers have been incapacitated through wounds or old age that, in order to survive, they are compelled to take to a diet of human flesh." Indeed, Corbett admired the wild tiger as "a large-hearted gentleman with boundless courage", and he urged India's people to rally for the conservation of "the finest of her fauna."

Read the rest of this fascinating biography at Damn Interesting.