[glopomcyte]

"There are more tigers living in the United States than anywhere else in the world. Estimates range from 10,000 to 15,000 animals. By comparison, experts believe that there are at most 7,000 tigers living in the wild worldwide."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...453035,00.html

It's quite sickening, when wild populations are struggling with low numbers and a stagnant gene pool, 10,000 animals are being domesticated and kept in cages for rich Americans. How many of these I wonder have been captured through the pet trade? All of them at some point must have had ancestors that were. If the owners are attacked they get what they deserve, it's not just a matter of animal cruelty, but the conservation of an entire species essential to it's natural environment.

Many of these are probably hybrids of different subspecies, destroying thousands of years of genetic isolation and evolution (and possible future speciation). These hybrids also have problems with disease and retardation, meaning they will likely not survive if released back into the wild (much like the mass-bred 'white tigers').