What is cub petting?
The practice of selling interactions with baby tigers to the public, including holding, petting, feeding, and taking photos. Cub petting may appear to be harmless, but it causes terrible suffering for the animals. These operations may be found at roadside zoos and attractions, fairs, and shopping malls.
Is it abusive to pet and take a photo with a tiger cub?
Yes! These are babies who should be with their mother. Instead, they are torn away from her, subjected to long hours of rough handling by the public, and may be denied rest and proper nutrition. Cubs often pitifully scream when forced to interact with people. Those who resist handling may be slapped, dragged, and punched by their keepers.
Aren’t tigers born in captivity domesticated animals?
No. Captive tigers are biologically the same as those in the wild. They remain dangerous and unpredictable wild animals with their natural instincts and reactions intact.
Where do the cubs come from?
Cub petting operations need a steady stream of babies to maintain their business. Some places buy cubs from unscrupulous breeders; others breed their own tigers. Neither care about the well-being of the animals – and both traumatically separate mothers from their newborn cubs shortly after birth. (In the wild, tiger cubs remain with their mothers for about two years before leaving to establish their own territories.)
How long can the cubs be used for?
Big cat cubs can be used for public contact for only a short time – maybe four to six weeks. They can legally be handled by the public between the age of 8 and about 12 weeks.
What happens to cubs who can no longer be handled by the public?
Once the cubs grow too big and dangerous for public handling they may be kept for breeding or sold to decrepit roadside zoos. Some may be sent to private owners, exposing communities and the animals to harm. Other cubs simply “disappear.” No agency tracks the cubs and where they go.
How are adult tigers treated?
Adult tigers are often confined in small, barren cages with no opportunity to engage in natural behaviors. Mother tigers are subjected to “speed breeding”, meaning they are bred as quickly as possible after each litter of cubs is taken from them. Eventually, they become depleted and their babies born sick or dead.
Are the cubs in good health?
Facilities have no incentive to provide proper care for the cubs since they will only have them for a short amount of time. Cubs may suffer serious health problems that can develop early or later in life. Those fed a nutritionally deficient diet – sometimes purposely done to stunt growth so cubs can be used longer – often develop metabolic bone disease. This extremely painful condition causes the cubs’ bones to easily fracture and can cripple them for life. Cubs also may suffer debilitating health conditions due to inbreeding, including physical abnormalities and neurological defects.
Can I get sick from handling tiger cubs?
Yes. Cubs are removed from their mothers soon after birth, so they are unable to nurse and receive protective anti-bodies. The stress of constant handling further impairs the immune system. This leaves cubs vulnerable to diseases that can be transmitted to people, such as ringworm, roundworms, hookworms, and toxoplasma.
Can tigers get COVID-19 from people?
Yes. Tigers and other big cats have been infected with COVID-19, becoming ill and sometimes dying. There is no evidence that the disease can pass from big cats back to humans.
If a tiger mother rejected her cubs, is it okay to pet them?
No. Cub petting facilities may falsely say that a mother rejected her babies. This is done to make people feel better about paying to interact with a cub. In fact, cubs are cruelly separated from their mothers shortly after birth so the mother can quickly be bred again and produce more cubs. Even if a litter was rejected, it is still wrong to use baby tigers for cub petting.
Do these operations ever use rescued cubs?
Don’t ever believe a facility that claims to have “rescued” a cub and then uses the animal for interactions with the public. Unfortunately, many facilities call themselves sanctuaries or rescues in order to fool the public and raise money.
Do sanctuaries offer cub petting?
A true sanctuary would never offer cub petting. They do not buy, sell, breed, trade, or make their animals perform, and the public is not allowed to interact with wild animals of any age. A sign of a true sanctuary is accreditation by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS).
Does a U.S. Department of Agriculture license mean the
animals are treated humanely?
No. Facilities displaying wild animals to the public must have a USDA license to operate. Licensure does not guarantee that a facility is in compliance with the extremely minimal regulations under the federal Animal Welfare Act.
Do cub petting operations help conserve tigers in the wild?
Cub petting actually harms genuine conservation efforts by causing people to think that tigers are abundant and not at risk of extinction. In fact, there are fewer than 4,000 tigers remaining in the wild due to poaching and habitat fragmentation and loss.
Are tigers the only wild animals used for cub petting?
Other wild animals include lions, bears, and smaller cats such as servals (an African wild cat) and bobcats. Exotic animals such as monkeys, lemurs, and sloths are also used for interactions with the public.
What should I do if I already posted cub petting photos on social media?
Remove the photos and explain why cub petting is inhumane. Urge your friends to never handle or take selfies with captive wild animals.
What can I do to stop cub petting?
Support the Big Cat Public Safety Act, a federal bill that would end the private ownership of captive big cats and prohibit direct contact with these animals. This would effectively put an end to cub petting. Click here for more information on how you can take action.
Be part of the solution, not the problem!
- Never touch, handle, or take a photo with a baby tiger or any other captive wild animal.
- Avoid circuses and traveling shows that exploit big cats and other wildlife.
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Report cub petting and big cat acts in your area here.
- Share what you’ve learned with your friends, family, and colleagues.
