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How important the Siberian tiger is to Iranian wildlife fans ??

Lately there has been much controversy whether to set free or keep quarantined a Siberian tigress which has gone four years in such conditions.

Related organizations keep accusing each other. One side points the finger at the Department of Environment as the main culprit, while someone else accuses the Veterinary Organization; and yet a third one accuses the Health Ministry.

Some say that the tigress is infected and has to be done with immediately. Yet, some others say that it is healthy and has to be turned to the zoo.

Recently, Dr. Dariush Jahan-Peyma, the director of Livestock Diseases Department of the Veterinary Organization, in interview with Mehr news agency said that the only way to remove the animal from quarantine is to find an isolated place where there is no public visit.

Whether it has been a good thing to import Siberian tigers to Iran is a long story which cannot be addressed here. But, besides all such controversy, and without regard for animal rights, the Siberian tiger is so important to Iranians that the officials may not know its limits. So, by knowing this, they may abandon their brawl and think more about the tigress.

Nine species of tiger used to live around the world: The Caspian (also called Hirkan or Mazandaran), Bali, Java, Siberia (aka: Amor), Bengal, Indochina, Malaysia, Sumatra, and South China. The three former species have gone extinct.

Jamshid Parchizadeh, an expert in zoology, tells the Tehran Times that researchers at Oxford found in 2009 that the Siberian tiger is only one nucleotide different from the Caspian tiger, and that the two had shared ancestors less than 10 thousand years ago.

Parchizadeh says Kazakhstan is trying to launch its National Park of the Caspian Tiger in 2019 to revive the tiger subspecies in 15 to 20 years, and to use genetic engineering to raise some 200 tigers of the species.

Abasalt Hosseinzadeh, faculty member at Mazandaran University, says reviving the Siberian subspecies is only at the verbal level for now, but maintains that it could be possible in the future provided that appropriate funding is there.

Now, the question is while a little hope remains among wildlife fans to revive the Caspian tiger in Iran, and in case the tigress is healthy, would it be wise to do away with the tigress or keep it under quarantine?

Maybe the best answer can be derived from related officials.

credit to: http://tehrantimes.com/society/122252-ho...dlife-fans Reply