Tigers for sale – 2022 – it needs to be banned

‘Tigers for sale’ is a phrase that I do not want to read when it concerns private sales from unscrupulous traders selling to naive customers. This page is not about inter-zoo sales which are bad enough. Humankind should not be trading tigers online. It should be entirely banned across the globe. Sadly, that is asking too much of humankind to organise. This long page is broken down into 2 parts; the second page contains the comments.

This page was initially written about 13 years ago. I’m going to add some words to it today, January 12, 2022. Actually, it’s quite interesting to do this to see what has changed over those intervening 13 years.

This page is characterised by the fact that there is a huge number of comments below this article. I have not counted them but it must be in the hundreds. This page including comments is over 16,000 words long ??. Put the kettle on ?. Perhaps the comments are more interesting than what I have written. Often times comments are more enlightening because you find out what people really think about this sort of marketplace. The marketplace in the trade of wild animals is obnoxious. It severely damages conservation and supports the notion that precious wild creatures are simply possessions of humans to do as they will with them. This is not the kind of relationship that humankind should be having with nature.

Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

Baby tiger for sale online. Pic in public domain.

You will find that the sort of person who wants to trade in tigers and other exotic cats and iconic species live in developing countries where, I regret to say, there is a degree of ignorance about conservation and protecting the planet. That is not to say that educated people in the West are entirely innocent. Far from it. Many rich Westerners indulge in trophy hunting which is worse than selling tigers or lions.

I very quickly bumped into an online advert for the tiger cub (above). It’s on the Exotic Wildcat website. I don’t know whether this is a genuine sale. This cub is for sale as US$1500. The description of this cub is that she is 3.5 months old. On the same website they have other wild exotic animals for sale such as a pet jaguar at US$2500 and an adult tiger at US$2000. I suspect that this website is based in Asia somewhere or perhaps Africa.

On another website selling tigers they provide the address which is 3 Dundas Road, Lower Kololo, Kampala, Uganda. They are selling baby tigers to sell at “affordable prices”. They present pictures of two white tiger cubs and a picture of white lion and tiger cubs. They offer a 10% discount if you buy animals in large quantities!

White tiger and lion cubs for sale online from Kampala, Uganda

They deliver wild animals as pets to customers worldwide. They say that baby tigers can be kept at home if they are tamed. Comment: what about when they grow up ?. The price of these white tigers is US$3000 each. Bengal tiger cubs are at US$2000 each.

They say that their animals are vaccinated “by professional veterinarians”. That implies that sometimes vaccinations in Africa are not carried out by veterinarians! They insist that their tigers are “tamed making them harmless to owners and caretakers”. What about when they grow up?

You will have to pay a US$300 commitment fee when booking a tiger.

What do people think about tigers for sale? Are you upset, appalled or OK about it? Is it a bad thing or acceptable? What is bad about it? How is an individual able to sell Siberian tiger cubs from a residential location? Well, here is one person doing that it seems.

It just all seems very odd to me. This is a white Siberian tiger cub in what seems like the person’s bedroom. He (I presume he is the seller but I could be wrong) is asking $1,500.

“We have three lovely potty trained tiger cubs for sale. email me at ch************@ya***.com”

$1,500.00 — Ad placed 9/16/2009
Item location Agoura Hills

This is the web address — Los Angeles Super Ads. Link broken Jan 2022.

Here is another advert for Gorgeous Siberian Tiger Cubs for sale. This is for 4 orange tiger cubs and it is the same person as above selling (or the same email address) although the advert is on a different site. The contact email is: chao.tigercubsatyahoo.com. I have not checked this at 2022.

These tigers for sale have the shots, vet checked and are “purebred” blah, blah. This means someone is breeding them in the USA, probably very common. The gene pool will be shockingly small and the tigers inbreed, almost certainly. This also has to be an unhealthy operation. And they seem to be selling to anyone with facilities or not. No one seems to care.

Here is another odd thing. A sick thing really. These cubs are described as “used” in the advert. Ah well, they are products aren’t they. No different from a used car and a similar price actually. A car is easier to maintain though. And it is dead.

In the UK there is an advert that is still on the internet (Oct 2009 but posted: 26 Jul 2008) advertising Home raised Tiger Cubs for sale. They are

“AKC registered, current on shots and dewormed records and are from champion blood lines and pedegree” (the spelling is as is).

They sell for £1,000 and a Google map shows that they are or were (see advert – this might end up a broken link – it has at mid-July 2010) in London (Lewisham, which is south-east London). There is a warning under the ad that warns visitors that a person(s) has already complained.

Finally, I’d like to refer to a one-page website dedicated to selling tigers online Buytigers.com (new window). They proudly claim to be the first real tiger store and “breedings” come from India, they say. A “pack” that includes a tiger cost $13,400 (at Oct 2009). Very consumer orientated. Just like buying a car. The website is still online on January 2022. It is a one-page website. They provide an email address where you simply contact them for details. They are still selling tigers.

Let’s try and figure out why it is bad to advertise tigers for sale, to sell tigers. These are my reasons; there must be others:

1. The tiger is badly endangered in the wild. Selling tigers creates a culture that gives the impression that a tiger is a commodity no different to any other product. It cheapens an animal that is very valuable to the world. The tiger is an asset to the world.
2. Selling tigers encourages trade in tigers, which can only be detrimental to their survival in the wild.
3. There are many thousands of captive tigers in the USA but far less living naturally in the wild. Some captive tigers live in totally unsuitable conditions (see Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse, LA). Selling tigers to anyone as if they are domestic cats is wrong as it ignores all the maintenance and legal issues of keeping such a large wild animal. Are there any legal requirements in the USA or is it that laissez faire? Some states ban keeping exotic animals while others have very loose regulations it seems. The legislation seems to be in a mess.
4. The whole sordid business feels like a reflection of what is wrong with the “consumer society”; the throwaway society and these tigers are not infrequently thrown away (see Texas tigers are unwanted)
5. The people who advertise tigers for sale (like the person above) have a complete disregard for the tiger and must have a low level of probity and decency. They completely lack respect for this animal.
6. They make no mention of their breeding program, of inbreeding, of health problems etc.

Some tiger links on its endangerment in the wild and in captivity:

• Inbreeding of Wildcats
• Sumatran Tiger
• Texas tigers are unwanted
• Poisoning tigers
• Tiger Population in India
• Tiger Farms

Read the comments by going to page 2 please: