After Their Mother Refused To Feed Them, Two White Tiger Cubs Were Nursed Back to Life by Humans

Oct 04, 2018

The world is in a state of crisis. With more than 7 billion people on the planet, there is relatively little natural habitat left for sizable wildlife, such as big cats. But they often do not thrive in captivity.

They weren't designed for captivity. They often find it terribly stressful and may suffer from boredom and depression, among other things. One zoo tiger had cubs named Kai and White. She was simply not providing them the care they required. They were visibly malnourished and their fur coats were essentially absent.

The zoo could not resolve it themselves, so they finally contacted a Russian couple named Eugenia and Mikhail who are known tiger enthusiasts. They are knowledgeable and wealthy. They were uniquely positioned to take the cubs in, provide the care they needed and nurse them back to health. It takes substantial money to do something like this. Among other things, tigers need space and lots of it. Mikhail and Eugenia are able to provide that and more.

The cubs recovered and grew up strong and healthy. They are now gorgeous specimens. Still, plenty of people were critical of the move, questioning their motives and suggesting the Tigers were being exploited. No, they don't run a sanctuary per se, but they aren't exploiting the Tigers either. The Tigers are getting very good care and are thriving.

They do share their love of tigers via Instagram photos and videos. This has garnered them aggressive criticism from some individuals posting on Reddit. But others have defended them. Think about it for a bit. Where else would the Tigers go?

Many large animals are endangered today and loss of habitat is a primary cause of that status in most cases. So there simply isn't adequate wilderness, to begin with. On top of that, animals born in captivity rarely are able to be successfully released back into the wild. Without such intervention, we could soon find ourselves living in a world where there are no large, wild animals. The loss of diversity is a serious concern for the health of the world.

It would be wonderful if we could find more ways to prevent habitat destruction and even restore lost habitat. But hoping for such outcomes in the future wouldn't have saved these two cubs at the time that they were in desperate need of help. The generosity of a couple of Russian tiger enthusiasts did save these two cubs.

We don't live in a perfect world. Call it the "lesser evil" if you like, but this was the best available solution given the circumstances. It helps preserve biodiversity. It was compassionate for the two cubs in question. It helps keep these magnificent animals on this earth a bit longer while we work on sorting out better long term solutions.

Sometimes, just not dying today is the best way to keep future options alive. What would have you done if it were your call to make? Ask your friends what they might have done instead.