TAIPEI (AFP) - A private zoo in Taiwan has become the first on the island to see the birth of "ligers", hybrids of lions and tigresses, with the owner facing a fine for violating wildlife rules, officials said Monday.
The three cubs were born Sunday at the "World Snake King Education Farm" in the south, but one of them died almost immediately, the farm's owner Huang Kuo-nan told AFP.
"The pregnancy of the tigress caught me totally unprepared," Huang said. "The lion and the tigress have been kept in the same cage since they were cubs more than six years ago, and nothing happened."
But the Tainan county government said Huang will face a fine of up to 50,000 Taiwan dollars (1,600 US dollars) for breeding wildlife without prior approval from the authorities.
According to the Taipei-based Apple Daily, there are only around 10 surviving ligers in the world, with adult ligers capable of growing much larger than average lions.
Courtesy of Paul McCarthy
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4 comments:
Wade - I saw this on the news and the keeper was saying we didn't breed them on purpose, we just kept them in the same cage.
Jeannie
Jeannie,
I noted that also, and it was indeed a world class alibi. LOL
Wade
Do you remember a few decades back, I guess it was, a man in Italy was keeping a lion and a leopardess in the same cage. They produced a cub. He said that when he first saw the cub he thought that a domesticated cat had climbed into the cage. The cub some how lost its tail, and it was put up for sale. I never heard anything more about it. Sincerely Paul
Paul,
I don't recall hearing about that particular cross, but I have heard of others that we discussed a while back on the blog. Retched creatures from the photos I have seen.
Wade
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