01/12/08 Tiger Promotes a Night Club
Animal Friends condemns the exploitation of wild animals in marketing activities
People who know the basics of natural behavior of tigers, about their way of life or about habitats they live in, were saddened to see a tiger which spends three hours lying down in a cage in front of the night club Jungle. This time the tiger did not walk around the club, as it had previously, but waited in a cage in front of it, once again promoting entertainment and business.
This time the organizer of this sad event made sure he got the permission from the veterinary inspection. The same inspection unit isn't able to bring charges of animal cruelty but is very keen to issue a document which allows the presence of a wild animal in front of a night club.
It is also quite sad that the organizer called this event humanitarian because they raised funds to help an illegal tiger breeder to legalize his job and to microchip all of his eleven tigers. Raising funds for the microchipping of these tigers only is a smokescreen - the sum of money needed for feeding the tigers for only one week is far bigger than the price of eleven microchips. It is only in Croatia possible to "punish" lawbreakers by legalizing their activities.
Why do the responsible authorities allow the tiger breeder, who constantly complaints and begs for donations from citizens and companies, to keep 11 tigers that cost him about half a million Croatian Kuna per year? It already was problematic when this breeder had just one tiger, and now eleven tigers are doomed to lifelong prison as unfortunately they will not be returned to the wild.
We believe that the organizer of this event had good intentions but there is nothing humane in supporting the hobby of tiger breeding or in bringing a tiger in front of a night club. We assume that the organizer is now aware of it. Siberian tigers are beasts that evolved to survive in vast forests where they control a territory of couple of hundreds of square kilometers. Doesn't it make sense that wild animals belong to the wild, and by taking them away from their habitats we turn them into prisoners? By using them for the promotion of night clubs they are further tortured and humiliated.
The Animal Protection Act was drawn up by the will and conscience of Croatia's citizens, and bans circuses and animal acts with wild animals. Now they surely don’t want to watch tigers promoting night clubs. Tigers neither belong in night clubs nor deserve to have their habitats destroyed or to be exploited for entertainment or promotion.