John Varty & Tiger Canyon

[Sanju]

Interesting Conversation in the Comment Section:

DragonFae16: I approve of the idea of rewilding tigers. However, what I can't approve of is how inbred the population at Tiger Canyons is. Ron and Julie, brother and sister, were allowed to have a litter. Seatao was allowed to have a litter with Shine, his daughter. And Ussuri's litter from three years ago was fathered by Sariska, her cousin. Having this happen once could be called an accident. However, for it to happen repeatedly shows a total lack of regard for the long term health and well being of the tigers at Tiger Canyons. A population this inbred would be considered functionally extinct, as the lack of genetic diversity is at a point where the individuals would struggle to find an unrelated partner. If JV truly cared as much about tiger conservation and really did one day want to have his tigers released into their ancestral homeland, he wouldn't allow ANY inbreeding to occur. After the birth of Ussuri's cubs, I emailed him, expressing my concerns about the inbreeding that had happened, and he said that this wasn't inbreeding. Meaning he only sees sibling/sibling or parent/offspring matings as inbreeding, meaning he hasn't done any research into maintaining a stable population. If this inbreeding isn't halted, within a few generations, the tigers born here will be so compromised that they'll be incapable of sustaining themselves. I feel that until JV clearly states on his website the exact parentage of every cub born in the park and gives a guarantee that he will not allow any inbreeding to occur, people shouldn't go to visit Tiger Canyons. Otherwise it's just another case of a park exploiting their animals for their own gain while spouting pretty words.

JohnVarty: 1. The offspring of Ron and Julie (Tiger Boy and Shy Boy), were sterilised. Both died without any cubs.
                  2. Shine was killed by Corbett before she had any cubs. She never mated with Seatao. He was her father and Julie was her mother!
                  3. Ussuri is the daughter of Seatao and Julie. Sariska was the son of Ron and Shadow. Ron and Julie were brother and sister. They have one daughter, Jameez. Have you ever  been to Tiger Canyons? What is your name?

DragonFae16: In the obituary to Seatao on the Tiger Canyons website, it says he mated with Shine. The video about Ussuri's cubs says Sariska is the father. As Ron and Julie were siblings, this makes Ussuri and Sariska first generation cousins. That means that if he really was the cubs' father this would be inbreeding. If the cubs were fathered by an unrelated male, that's all well and good then. However, there is no excuse if those cubs really were the result of a first generation cousin to cousin mating. Many think inbreeding only talks about sibling/sibling or parent/offspring matings. That's wrong. It is when any two closely related individuals reproduce. If the tigers at Tiger Canyons are there to be an insurance population of wild tigers in case tigers in other parts of the world go extinct, having a high level of genetic diversity and carefully controlling the breeding is a must. Populations of wild big cats that have been cut off and only consist of a few individuals show the devastation inbreeding can cause. I'm not a scientist who has done research on genetics, but as a layman's opinion, animals no closer than third cousins should breed. The fact that there isn't even a list on your website of each tiger living within Tiger Canyons brings doubt to this. If conservation was your true goal, you would be open and transparent about the number of tigers you have, their parentage and which other tigers they are being partnered with. The info on your website for the tigers for the most part is from 2009 and the family tree is from 2013. Your regular updates to the website shows that you are definitely active online and that the site hasn't fallen to the wayside due to lack of time. If conservation was your one and only goal, all female tigers would be fitted with contraceptive implants and all breeding would be tightly controlled, with the parents being as distantly related to each other as possible. Meaning that for every tiger you planned to breed from, an unrelated individual should be brought in from the outside. And to answer your fourth question, no, I haven't been to Tiger Canyons. When I first learned of it back in 2013, I did think that if one day I could get enough money to travel overseas, I would visit. But over time I became doubtful and suspicious that it was yet another park exploiting its animals for money under the guise of conservation. Though me not having been there doesn't mean I can't be concerned about the tigers and question things. If you wish to clear up those questions and prove you truly are just about conservation, be transparent. Make up to date bios including photos of each of the tigers and a complete family tree. Make regular updates to the bios, and even put the tigers up for adoption, being clear where the money from that goes. This would also likely increase the traffic to the website, thereby increasing the visitors to Tiger Canyons itself. I can't speak for everyone, but I personally read the newsletters that involve the tigers and far less of the newsletters involving other things. I already know poaching is bad. So bad it makes me feel sick everytime I think of it. Unless you have some brand new fact or figure, going over ground already tread can cause people to tune out. The tigers are something people can connect to, something hopeful. There was a white tigress called Tibo. If she's still alive, talk about if her white coat causes her difficulties. One day when you can procure a mate for her, talk about any difficulties her white colouring have brought to raising her cubs. Talk about the plight of tigers in the wild. Not elephants, not rhino. Talk about other big cat species, sure, but your focus should be on the tigers. There are plenty of others talking about what poachers are doing to elephants and rhinos. Rather than having your voice drowned in the crowd, speak up about something others aren't. I don't want what I've said to make you to think that I hate you or Tiger Canyons. I fully support any attempt to take captive born animals and rewild them. But if it isn't done right, it will just give critics a stone to throw on the whole idea. And I am aware that acquiring unrelated mates for your tigers is are more difficult for you than a zoo because you first have to train the tiger to be able to live wild. So, why not try artificial fertilization. If you were able to get it to work, not only would you be able to increase the genetic diversity of your population, you could show the world that it is a viable method to increase the world-wide population of tigers and other big cats.

JohnVarty: Thanks you for your input. I will send your post to John Varty. Just a few things: Seatao's obituary states he bred the white tiger Shine - he was her father. Shine died before her first estrus. Shine never mated with anyone. Most of the females have contraceptive devices. We have done several vasectomies on male tigers. Reply