John Varty & Tiger Canyon

[sanjay]

Another post by John, Important to note the weight of tigers



Hello Friends

On the 22nd of June 2016, the male tiger Seatao was found dead in the bush at Tiger Canyons. There were no visible injuries on Seatao and no signs of a fight. It appears that Seatao died of natural causes, he was 10 years old.

Seatao came to me as a 3 weeks old cub. The breeder who bred Seatao, never told me that he was a carrier of the rare white gene. (Seatao’s father was a white tiger and his mother was a normal tigress.)

Seatao came with a female cub called Shadow (DNA profiling later proved Seatao and Shadow were not related.)

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I named him by merging my two boys names Sean and Tao = Seatao. As I walked with Seatao and swam in dams, two things became apparent, Seatao had a very nice nature and secondly he was going to be big, very big!

One day I took Shadow and Seatao down to the Wilderness to show to the pupils at Hoekwil school. (Sean and Tao went to Hoekwil.) On the way down I was stopped in a roadblock to inspect my vehicle. (The license had expired.) While the traffic inspector was inspecting my truck, Seatao began to give a distress call in the back. The traffic officer asked me what was crying in the truck and I replied “A tiger”.

Not believing me, the traffic officer opened the back of the truck and out jumped Seatao. This sent the traffic officers scattering in all directions. Having assured them that he was only a cub, all the traffic officers posed for pictures with Seatao (The traffic officers used their speed camera to take the pictures.)

After the photo shoot and having given each officer a DVD copy of “Living with Tigers”, I went on my way (The traffic officers forgot to fine me for having an expired motor vehicle license.)

When I arrived in the Wilderness, I put Seatao and Shadow in a box in the bedroom where I was staying. Seatao cried so hard that I took him in to my bed. Here he regained his confidence immediately, took a short cat nap and then he and Shadow proceeded to destroy the bedroom.

Unlike Ron and Julie who I had hunted with for 4 years, Seatao and Shadow had their own boma stocked with game. Seatao became a very good hunter, although he mostly pirated the kills from Shadow.

One day Shadow killed two blesbuck. The first one Seatao pirated, the second Shadow hid in a pool of water. Seatao followed the drag and then using his feet, located the kill in the water. Seatao dragged the blesbuck to where he had left the first kill. Here he proceeded to eat both blesbuck and never shared with Shadow.

On one occasion, I witnessed Seatao and Shadow co-operating in a hunt. The two tigers surrounded a Cape Clawless Otter in a pool. The otter was too quick for the tigers to catch. Seatao walked out of the pool and positioned himself on the top of the bank above the pool. Shadow maneuvered the otter to a position beneath Seatao. With a dramatic leap, Seatao dropped onto the unsuspecting otter, killing it with a bite to the neck.

Ron my original tiger who came from Bowmansville Zoo in Canada, was in one large area and Seatao was in another area.

Dividing the 2 male tigers, was an electric fence with an automatic gate which worked on remote control. One day the gate opened on the remote and then closed and then reopened. Ron moved through the open gate and into Seatao’s area. I knew I must prepare for the “Rumble in the Jungle”.

I have filmed male lions fighting. It is nothing compared to male tigers. Although only 3 years old and up against a more experienced fighter, Seatao eventually had Ron down and was throttling him. Determined not to let Seatao kill Ron, I fired shots into the ground next to the fighting tigers. Fortunately they separated and I was able to get Ron back to his area. (Ron had not been in a vehicle for four years, yet I was able to load him and take him back).

Five years later Ron was killed in a territorial fight. Seatao found the body and attacked it for 20 minutes. Seatao picked up Ron clean off the ground and shook him like a rag doll. (I estimated Ron’s weight at 200 kg.)

I remember vividly when attempting to weigh Seatao, it took 12 strong men to get him onto the scale. Seatao tipped the scale at 229 kg.

Seatao readily jumped onto the bonnet of the Mahindra vehicles. One could physically feel the vehicle sag under Seatao’s weight.

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Many guests at Tiger Canyons were sprayed with marking fluid as Seatao marked his territory. One lady from the USA admitted to me that the highlight of her trip was being sprayed on by Seatao.

Seatao was the most productive of all breeding tigers at Tiger Canyons. He fathered Julie's second litter. (This litter consisting of Sundarban, Shine and Zaria was abandoned at birth.) Seatao fathered Julie's third litter which consisted of Indira, Ussuri, Tibo, Mahindra and Runti (Runti died 12 weeks after birth.)

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Shadows second litter consisting of Oria and Ardene, were also fathered by Seatao. Seatao bred the first white tiger, Shine, and the second, Vivienne Tiger Bomb Player(Tibo).

Seatao’s death was a shock to me. He was 10 years old, his teeth were in good condition. I suspect, although the vets tell me otherwise, that every time a tiger is darted, it lessens their life. Seatao was darted twice in his life, once when I weighed him and once when I vasectomized him.

Seatao’s death opens up opportunities for the young male Khumba, who will be moved into Seatao’s territory (Khumba is not related to any tiger at Tiger Canyons and is therefore extremely valuable.)

James Corbett, the "Tiger Maneater Hunter" described a male tiger as a wholehearted gentleman and indeed this is what Seatao was.

His size was awesome, his nature was gentle. I estimated that a half a million images decorate the walls of houses in over 50 countries. I myself shot several hard drives of Seatao.
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Picture: Yvette van Bommel

Seatao's death is as painful as Shingalana and Tigress Julie. I will mourn him deeply, he enriched my life greatly.

R.I.P. Seatao.

Tread Lightly On The Earth
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