Cub Bottle-Feeding And Selfies: Malta’s Tiger Numbers ‘Exploding’ With No Oversight, Animal Rights NGO Warns
A new report looking at the living conditions of captive tigers around Europe has come down hard on Malta’s approach to keeping big cats.
“Europe’s Second-Class Tigers” by Four Paws, a Belgian animal rights NGO, revealed the “out-of-control captive tiger numbers and commercial trade” throughout Europe, visiting Malta in 2019 to see the situation on the ground and lack of oversight that was leading to “exploding numbers”.
“There are two facilities with big cats (one operating as a public zoo and the other with the apparent intention to do so in the future) which were illegally built and then legalised, setting a precedent for future unplanned and unwanted big cat keeping,” they said in their report.
“One facility with wild animals does not have a permit for private or zookeeping of wild animals, but nevertheless keeps big cats,” they continued. “One zoo offers commercial activities such as selfies with adult tigers and bottle-feeding of tiger cubs. The zoo houses a high number (at least 20) of adult tigers and cubs, which indicates intensive breeding and trade.”
According to the report, Malta exported 10 live tigers between 2014 and 2018.
Throughout Europe, the breeding and trading of captive tigers for commercial purposes goes against the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) recommendations, which the European Union (EU) has consistently supported.
However, throughout the EU it remains “legal to breed and commercially trade in captive tigers” and member states continue to import and export live tigers and tiger parts registered under the CITES code of commercial trade, Four Paws says.
Investigators visited a Maltese zoo to see for themselves how the tigers were treated.
The zoo “allows visitors to take selfies with tiger cubs and adult tigers. Tourists can also pay to pet and bottlefeed the young cubs. The zoo owner showed two-week and four-week-old cubs to any tourist interested, risking the health and survival chances of the cubs”.
The NGO condemned the exploitation of the animals.
Under Maltese law, it is prohibited to privately own a big cat, however, anyone who had an exotic animal prior to 2016 was given amnesty and allowed to keep them.
Four Paws said this situation had created a “loophole and will only lead to more surplus animals that either end up in unsuitable places or must be killed”.
Four Paws met with Malta’s Animal Welfare Commissioner, who they said is writing a report on the topic of captive tigers and other big cats.
The NGO appealed to European governments to shut down “substandard zoos” and ban all commercial trade of tigers as the “only way to truly protect both wild and captive-bred tigers”.
The topic of captive tigers and tiger breeding was put in the global spotlight earlier this year after Netflix’s compelling show Tiger King delved into the mad and often emotional world of tiger zoos… and the drama involved in keeping them.
What do you think of captive tigers in Malta?
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