Posts tagged "Tigers"

It's universally understood that cats hate water. I remember being a kid when my father gave my first cat a bath after she'd taken on some fleas. He had red scratch marks up and down his arms for weeks.

Maybe you don't believe me. Maybe you want to test it out for yourself. After all, there are exceptions to every rule. And although he doesn't look like it based on his expression in the photo above, Odin--a white Bengal tiger at Six Flags "Discovery Kingdom" Vallejo, California--is one of these exceptions. Of course, a white Bengal tiger isn't the same a house cat. But you wouldn't want to take a tiger inside of your home, now, would you?

There's an element of fantasy at play here that makes this photo so darn adorable. It's fun to pretend, but let's all remember one of the most crucial tenets from the Paw Nation Book of Regulations, Edicts & No-Nos (borrowed freely from the well-known list of Daily Squee Decrees):

Never, never attempt to snuggle, cuddle, nuzzle, wuzzle, or otherwise hug or be hugged by any Panthera tigris--also known as tigers--including Bengal, Indochinese, Malayan, Siberian, South China, or Sumatran subspecies, or any varieties as yet undiscovered by humans.

Not that I have to repeat that for you; we all memorized it as schoolchildren.

And yet the desire to cuddle the uncuddleable, to be wuzzled by the unwuzzleable--well, there wouldn't be an official rule against it if it wasn't so powerful. But we can live vicariously through photos like these, through men like the one pictured here, whom we assume is a highly-trained professional, or perhaps a crazy idiot with a death wish.

Tigers could be extinct within two decades. That's the horrific prediction from experts, including James Leape, director general of the World Wildlife Fund. Although there were 100,000 tigers living in the wild a century ago, that number has dwindled to 3,200 and is falling fast due to poaching and loss of habitat.

This dire situation is being discussed right now in St. Petersburg, Russia at what's being considered the most significant meeting on the fate of a nonhuman species, reports ABC News. The four-day pow-wow, led by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has officials from 13 countries in attendance and will run through Wednesday.

So what exactly is the goal of this tiger summit? It is to launch a plan to double the tiger population by the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac, 2022. And that is no simple feat.

The first five years of the 12-year plan will require an estimated $350 million in outside funding, reports the Associated Press, which will go toward enforcing stronger action against poaching (both of tigers and the animals tigers prey upon) and creating more protected areas for tigers in the 13 countries in which the big cats still roam wild: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia. This involves not only creating and implementing a plan to benefit the tigers, but finding a way to make it work for local communities as well, says Leape.

But that's not all. The summit is also an opportunity to discuss other areas that need focus, such as "source sites" -- the areas where tigers still breed -- which Joe Walston, the Asia director for the Wildlife Conservation Society, tells ABC News needs to be top priority.

For some good news about endangered animals, check out GNN's piece on the panda baby boom.

Hope comes in many forms. In this case, it comes with eight adorable little paws and a whole bunch of stripes.

Two rare Sumatran tiger cubs made their television debut this morning on NBC's "Today." The pair was born May 25 at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Wash. Including these new additions, there are just 74 Sumatran tigers in captivity in North America and only a few hundred exist in the wild.

The birth of these cubs is particularly remarkable because their mom and dad, Jaya and Bali, were pretty clueless when it came to continuing their critically endangered species: "Neither one could seem to understand what needed to be done," Andy Goldfarb, staff biologist at Port Defiance, told "Today." Eventually, though, the couple figured it out, and after much ado, it was confirmed that Jaya was pregnant.

The timing of the conception was fortuitous as Bali, the father, has since been diagnosed with cancer. He's showing improvement now that he's undergoing chemotherapy, says "Today," but his future, like that of his species, is uncertain.

These furry babies are facing tough odds, but you can give them a boost by helping the zoo choose the right names for the pair. All you have to do is cast your vote at the Point Defiance Zoo website!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Who will play Toto? Charlotte Church might be helping select an actress to play Dorothy on Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Over the Rainbow" talent show, but she's jokingly hinted that someone in her family might just audition for another part in the musical. She told Digital Spy that she's looking forward to the Toto auditions, and has two little puppies she just might bring along.

Thanks to the efforts of a few, three big cats have made a roaring recovery. Two tigers and a lion were rescued by In-Sync Exotics, a big cat sanctuary in Texas, a year ago. Now, they've shown such improvement that they're barely recognizable. Trust us, it's a good thing.

Female vets now outnumber their male counterparts. Just a couple of generations ago, women were dissuaded from even attending vet school, but in 2009, for the first time, the majority of practicing veterinarians were women.

Tippi Hedren won the 24th HSUS Genesis Award for her outstanding service to animals. At 80 years old, Hedren has dedicated over half her life to animal rights. Other honorees included CNN Headline News journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell, the movies "Up" and "The Cove" as well as "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

According to wildlife experts, tigers in the wild could become extinct in two decades. As shocking as it is, native tiger populations could be in big trouble if something isn't done soon.

While 100,000 tigers roamed in the wild in Asia and Russia 100 years ago, today there are only 3,500. Interpol reports that the illegal wildlife trade is worth more than $20 billion a year, with people killing tigers for their body parts and selling skins on the black market. Destruction of the animals' habitat has also been a factor in their dwindling numbers.

Save the Tiger Fund's Mahendra Shrestha told Reuters that a "business as usual approach in tiger conservation will doom the tiger population in the next 15 to 20 years." According to the organization's Web site, "Tigers need extensive, intact landscapes and to act as an umbrella species - by saving tigers you save other plants and animals that share their range."

For more on what you can do to help these beautiful animals, visit savethetigerfund.org.

In case you hadn't noticed, Paw Nation totes loves tigers. So when we saw this video about TJ the swimming tiger, we knew we had to share. TJ is a rescued tiger living at the Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Tampa, Fla. He came from a white-tiger breeding facility that was shut down. It's a real hoot watching TJ splash around, defying the conventional wisdom that cats hate water.

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