The Beauty
Picture courtesy: Internet (Santa Rosa Lioness Club
Yesterday I finally was able to make it to In-Sync Exotics a facility which cares for exotic cats. "Exotic cats" are those Tigers, Lions, Cougars, Leopards and similar wild animals that have been bred in captivity to satisfy the whims, fancies and satiate an individual's pride. Some of them have even been subjected to cruel treatment such as getting de-clawed, de-toothed etc and they obviously don't have the capacity to get back and live in the wild.
Recently I heard a statistic which made my jaw drop... "There are more Royal Bengal Tigers in captivity in Texas, than there are in the wild". After visiting In-Sync and listening to the stories of these large, adorable cats I am more than convinced that this statistic is quite true. Apparently there are several Petting Zoos and amusement parks in Texas where they bring in 2-week old tiger cubs and have visiting children take pictures with these cubs. Once these cubs reach an age of 3-3½ months, they are too large to be carried by children and too dangerous too. At this point in time they are just discarded, and this is when In-Sync and other similar shelters come into play.
These shelters are permanent residence for these cats till their death. Committed volunteers help the non-profit take care of the animals. Funding is completely by private donations. Looks like I will be spending a substantial amount of my weekend time at In-Sync soon....
