Their piercing blue eyes and striking monochrome fur have made white tigers a sought after attraction all over the world.
But wildlife charities have revealed the ugly truth behind the stunning creatures.
White tigers are so rare in the wild that those in today’s zoos and attractions are a result of generations of inbreeding – leading to horrific deformities, Big Cat Rescue reports.
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Video: ‘Ugly’ while tigers get new home at wildlife Refuge
Only one in every 10,000 wild tigers are born with leucism – a lack of pigment in the fur which creates the distinctive white and black coats, and blue eyes.
The condition is linked with a series of health problems – exacerbated by intense breeding programs.
Many born in captivity have immune deficiencies and are cross-eyed, while some are born with neurological issues, cleft palates, bulging eyes and other facial deformities.
Even healthy white tigers are unable to be released into the wild again as their white coats make it impossible to hunt without being noticed.
Kenny the tiger was just two years old when he was rescued from a private breeder in Arkansas by Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in 2000.
Born with a short snout, broad face and teeth jutting out at separate angles, he was being kept in a filthy enclosure as he was not pretty enough to sell.
The team also rescued an orange Benghal tiger named Willie, which had crossed eyes, and was believed to have been Kenny’s brother.
Both tigers’ deformities are thought to have stemmed from generations of inbreeding.
‘These are not a species, they are not endangered, they don’t need to be saved, they shouldn’t exist,’ Susan Bass, PR representative for the Florida sanctuary Big Cat Rescue (BCR), told The Dodo.com.
‘[Breeders and owners are] duping the public into thinking that they need conservation, and paying money to see them.’
Another white tiger at Big Cat Rescue, Zabu, was left with a permanent ‘smile’ after she was born with a cleft palate.
‘To get that one perfect, pretty white cub, it’s one out of 30,’ Bass explained. ‘What happens to the other 29 … euthanized, abandoned … who knows.’
For Kenny, he was lucky enough to live out the last of his days at the animal sanctuary until his death aged just ten in 2008 from melanoma.
It is not clear whether his disease was a result of his breeding.
‘Everybody loved Kenny,’ she added. ‘He had a great personality … he loved all the keepers, loved all the animal care staff.’
The last reported case was in the 1950s when a light cub taken from a family of normal orange tigers to be used for breeding programs.
All white tigers seen today are a result of breeding programs at zoos around the world – often between Bengal and Siberian tigers.
The white coat is a double recessive gene so most of the cubs born through this inbreeding have normal coloring but suffer the same defects such as crossed-eyes and deformities and are referred to in the trade as ‘throw away tigers.’
Around 80 per cent of white tiger litters are stillborn while those who survive usually have a reduced life span.
William Conway, director of the Bronx zoo warned as early as 1983 that zoos should not be showing or breeding ‘freaks.’
‘It’s not the role of a zoo to show two headed calves and white tigers,’ he told the American Zoological Association (AZA).
Due to the myriad of issues surrounding the breeding of white tigers, the board of directors for the AZA eventually banned the practice in June 2011.
The breeding of white lions or king cheetahs was also prevented at their member zoos.
A report by the Association found: ‘Breeding practices that increase the physical expression of single rare alleles (i.e., rare genetic traits) through intentional inbreeding, for example intentional breeding to achieve rare color-morphs such as white tigers, deer, and alligators, has been clearly linked with various abnormal, debilitating, and, at times, lethal, external and internal conditions and characteristics.’
Despite the ethical issues around the breeding of white tigers, they continue to be a popular attraction in resorts such as Las Vegas.
Magicians Siegfried and Roy, who bred the animals with Nashville Zoo, are famed for their use of the majestic creatures as part of their act.
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