With the world's wild places
shrinking at an alarming rate, beautiful and mysterious creatures like
the Jaguar are finding it harder to survive. If we are going to
help them using captive management, we have to understand all their
physical and emotional needs.
More thought must be given to the
emotional needs of animals in captivity. Help, to be effective,
must be offered at an early age. |
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The material in this website
is based on research by Dr. James W. Prescott, PhD. It is rather
technical at times, but is well worth reading. No animals have ever
been harmed or subjected to stress at Tiger Touch. Our research is strictly on ways to make
the lives of the cats happier, healthier, and longer. If you have questions,
EMAIL me and I will do my best to reply quickly. -- John Burkitt, Educational
Director
SAVING THE GREEN JEWEL:
The Earth is home to millions of
different animals and plants. From orbit, astronauts can see the lush
green color of life covering the land masses. The world looks much the
same from space as it did a thousand years ago, but the view from down here is a
lot less hopeful. Many of the Earth's living things, from the tiny to the
tremendous, are threatened with extinction by man. Loss of forests and
pollution of the environment are destroying the natural habitats they need to
survive.
As natural habitats continue to
shrink and the impact of human activity has continued to grow, attempts have
been made to prevent animals from becoming extinct through keeping and raising
them in captivity. But to be successful, there has to be more in it for
the animals than food, water, and a place to live. This paper is about
what extra steps we need to do take to save big cats like the tiger, lion, and
jaguar, though it also be about many other types of animals such as the
chimpanzee or wolf.
THERE ARE NO QUICK FIXES:
Some people have tried to help big cats survive
by replacing a bit of their natural habitat with a specially built
"unnatural habitats" in Zoos around the world. It was hoped that
cats could breed there in safety and rebuild endangered species'
populations to a less threatening state. Their success has been very
limited, even though food, water, and a safe place to live had been
provided. Because zoos cannot provide all the elements found in a
species natural habitat, they interfere with successful pairing and
raising of young. Very often, the newborn animal has to be taken
from its natural mother to protect it from harm. Zoo mothers are
likely to give very poor parental care or none at all. This sort of
breeding, which emphasizes the physical needs and neglects the emotional
needs, is no way to save a species. In the following pages we'll
look at some of what we've learned about parental care, then we will
recommend some ways to improve the life of animals raised in captivity and
help endangered species survive.
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