And an actual picture of him from the 70s:
Link: http://www.africahunting.com/content/2-ahmed-elephant-marsabit-927/
Posted on 09/26/2012 9:02:20 PM PDT by chessplayer
Police in India's north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh are looking for a gang of poachers who entered a high-security zoo in the capital, Itanagar, and hacked a tiger to death.
The arrival of security guards prevented the poachers from carrying away the mutilated animal.
Tiger numbers have shrunk alarmingly in India in recent decades.
A 2011 census counted about 1,700 tigers in the wild. A century ago there were estimated to be 100,000 tigers in India.
The poachers tranquilised the six-year-old tigress before entering its enclosure and cutting it into six pieces, officials at the zoo say.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
None of the animals in the animal kingdom, no matter how ferocious, stand a chance against the worst of us. Heck, WE might not stand a chance against the worst of us.
I hope she got some of those bastards before her end came.
Horrific! I hope they find these sociopaths and toss them under the jail! Too bad the tiger didn’t win!
I hope she got some of those bastards before her end came.
Nope. She was tranquilized before they went in. She was parylised and couldn’t fight. But she could feel the pain as they chopped away at her. Sickening. Only 1700 left in the wild. Highly doubtful they survive another 10 years.
Poor things aren’t even safe from us in zoos, much less in the wild.
I don’t understand the story nor motive. What exactly was the objective? The fur, the teeth?
Obviously it wasn’t the thrill of the hunt.
It would have been nice for that tiger to take out at least one of those a-holes. Hopefully the zoo employees will be waiting in ambush for hear on out.
If nothing else, the zoo could auction “sniper” positions here in Texas.
I don’t understand the story nor motive. What exactly was the objective? The fur, the teeth?
Obviously it wasn’t the thrill of the hunt.
It would have been nice for that tiger to take out at least one of those a-holes. Hopefully the zoo employees will be waiting in ambush for hear on out.
If nothing else, the zoo could auction “sniper” positions here in Texas.
This makes my heart just ache.
Filthy 3rd world animals.
The day this world loses all it's big cats in the wild and in captivity will be a tragic day indeed. And I'm not an animal rights person but I do believe in conservation.
You can blame Chinese 'medicine' for that. According to traditional Chinese 'medicine' tiger bones, like rhinocerous horns, have magical curative properties when ground up and mixed with wine. Considering tat only 250ml of tiger bone wine (some ground bones mixed with cheap wine) sells for US$300, it is no wonder that tigers don't seem to be facing a bright future. The Chinese who believe in that magical crap believe that the bones will give you more 'energy' as well as cure fevers and rheumatism, that tiger claws will cure insomnia, that tiger teeth will cure fever, the fat will treat rheumatism and cure leprosy, the eyes will treat malaria and cure epilepsy, the tail is good for skin conditions, the bile from the liver can treat meningitis in kids, whiskers are good for toothaches, the brain will cure pimples as well as treat laziness, the penis will make you into a porn star, and the dung (yes, even the dung is used) will treat boils and hemorrhoids, as well as stop alcoholism.
Result = lots of dead tigers. (As well as Rhinos in Asia especially, where the Asiatic rhinos aren't exactly having a good time).
What makes it worse is that these 'cures' have always been demanded by the rich Chinese, which was not a problem when there were not too many of them (remember a time when China was known for Kung Fu, rice, funny hats, and lots of people on bicycles?). Not any more ...as their economy rises there are a lot of new rich who also want to take tiger penis soup for their wee-wees. It has gotten to a stage where the demand is so huge that not only is the tiger and (Asian species, especially the Javan and Sumatran) rhino facing a really tough time, but they have also started looking for substitutes in Africa.
Apparently lion bones work just as well.
Anyways, there has been a huge increase in poaching in Asia and Africa to meet Chinese demand. African rhino and elephant populations were improving, and the main cause of death of lions was disease and old age. With the Asiatic rhino species down to only the Indian rhinocerous (the Javan and Sumatran are too few in number to have long term viability in the wild ...too many 'cousin' rhinos mating) the only alternative is African rhinos. Already elephants in Africa have started giving birth to offspring with no tusks. Both male and female African elephants have tusks, unlike the Indian species where only makes have tusks, but over the last couple of years a larger and larger number of new births in Africa are tuskless ...both male and female. Speculation is that since the first elephants to get killed are the ones with the largest tusks, progressive breeding generations have led to breeding between elephants with smaller tusks, and I guess this is the result. (AS an aside there is a group that is trying to reverse breed the huge jumbos that used to exist in Africa in the late 1800s ...same species of Bush elephant, but with huge tusks that are a wonder to see. There was one called Ahmed in Kenya that died decades ago of old age - because the then president had it guarded with its own Wildlife Service Ranger group - and looking at its mounted skeleton, and tusks, is still awe inspiring). As tiger poaching declines (due to a shortage of tigers) look for lion poaching to increase.
Anyways - the rangers that guard the rhinos at a wildlife preserve in Kenya I frequent (Sweetwaters ...really nice place) have shoot to kill orders. No arrests, no questions, just a 7.62 NATO round from a G-3 battle rifle if you are caught with anything resembling a wire snare.
And an actual picture of him from the 70s:
Link: http://www.africahunting.com/content/2-ahmed-elephant-marsabit-927/
Must have been an inside job.
Must have been an inside job.
Possible, but not necessarily.
Yup. And no amount of education is going to change their superstitious beliefs. Thats why the poachers have to be targeted. Kill them on sight.
Very interesting but also disheartening that these animals are killed for mere superstition. I don’t even know if education can help these people realize how ridiculous these beliefes are.
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