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The resident felines at the Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida may not know what Thanksgiving is, but they sure know how to celebrate! Watch as these big ole kittehs chomp down on some turkeys and chickens, loving every minute of it and proudly strutting their poultry prize around for all to see.
–via Break
Have you seen a tiger skin rug made out of half a million sticks of cigarettes? Chinese artist Xu Bing created this massive art installation for his Tobacco Project series: Link
A marauding tiger was spied sitting on a lawn near a golf course in Hampshire, UK. A passerby saw the beast and called the police. The police, taking no chances with a wild ferocious animal, rang up the local zoo and got a team of keepers in the air with tranquilizer rifles. As the helicopter approached, the tiger suddenly fell over from the force of the rotor wash. The tiger you see was stuffed, as in a kid’s toy. Yes, someone left a stuffed tiger sitting on the lawn and the police in Hampshire mobilized in force. I feel bad for the next person that really does see a tiger on the prowl. Feel free to laugh now. link
What do you give a 200-lb lean, mean killing machine to keep ‘em cool and happy during a hot day? A lollipop … made of blood!
That’s what the keepers at the London Zoo gave their tigers to help keep them cool: Link
John Varty founded Tiger Canyons reserve in South Africa. His goal is to start a population of wild, free-range tigers outside their natural habitat. He began with two zoo-born tigers, and now has 15 cats running loose in the reserve. This clip is from Tiger Man of Africa: The Mating Game, which aired last night as part of Expedition Week on the National Geographic channel. Link -via Buzzfeed
Tambun Gediu of Kg Sungai Tiang, Malaysia, was hunting squirrels when he encountered a tiger. The 60-year-old man tried to climb a nearby tree, but the tiger dragged him down. Gediu’s wife, 55-year-old Han Besau, heard the tiger’s roar.
Realising it was coming from the area where her husband was hunting for squirrels she grabbed the nearest ‘weapon’ – the wooden ladle – and rushed into the nearby forest.
Staring in horror at the sight of her husband fighting desperately to prevent the tiger tearing him to pieces, she didn’t hesitate and charged at the animal, yelling at the top of her voice and bashing its head with the ladle until it ran off.
Tambun, who suffered deep lacerations on his head, face, neck and knees, had to wait more than 10 hours before he could be taken to hospital in the nearest town, Gerik, because rescuers had difficulty reaching his remote village.
Even the race for King of the Jungle is getting nasty this year. Watch as Blank Park Zoo’s Kavacha the tiger slings some mud at Cha Cha the lion and his frivolous dance lessons. Cast your vote at the Iowa’s zoo’s website -but vote on the issues, and don’t be swayed by negative advertising! Link
A woman traveling from Thailand to Iran checked a bag before boarding her flight in Bangkok. When the bag was scanned, the x-ray images showed something suspicious. Inside the bag of stuffed toy tigers was one eight-week-old live tiger cub!
Officers from the Livestock Development Department and the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department were then called in to open the bag for inspection and discovered the tranquilized cub.
Investigations are underway to determine if the cub was wild caught or captive-bred, where it came from and the suspect’s intended final destination.
The cub is being cared for at the Rescue Center of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. DNA samples will be sent to the tiger enclosure at Khaopratab Wildlife Rescue Center in Ratchaburi Province, to determine which subspecies the cub belongs to, which will help determine its origin.
(Image credit: Sulma Warne/TRAFFIC)
See also: Ten Weird Items People Tried to Smuggle
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Lions, tigers, and leopards are kitty cats, too! Big Cat Rescue shows us how they react to catnip. -via The Daily What
Dr. Peter Kertesz is a dentist in London, England. He has a regular clientele of patients he takes care of during the day. But he also moonlights: Dr. Kertesz recently worked on the huge teeth in the powerful jaws of two tigers at the Dartmoor Zoological Park near Plymouth. One of the tigers had to be treated for a broken tooth. Both were anaesthetized before their dental appointment.
Dr Kertesz is one of only a few specialist zoo dentists in the world, a sideline to his day job of treating humans at his surgery in London’s West End.
His animal career began more than 20 years ago when someone brought in their cat for treatment and he has carried out dental work on exotic species including whales, pandas and elephants.
Zoo curator Will Walker said: “We have had him twice before over the last couple of years to do all our bears and other tigers.”
Dr. Kertesz is paid well for his bravery and expertise, as the bill for the two tigers was £4,500. Link -via Arbroath
Charles Hedgecoth Sr. and Diane Smith of Locust Grove, Georgia run a charity called Noah’s Ark. Nine years ago, they took in a baby lion, tiger and bear, and the three are inseparable now. Smith says, “They love each other.” Video at the HuffPo, more photos at The Chive.
Update 1/14/09 – by Alex: Story at Telegraph, stolen images at The Chive is delinked.
There’s no way of knowing whether the tiger that made a meal for five men was really the last Indochinese tiger in China, but no one has seen any others in years. Kang Wannian of Yunnan Province in China claims he killed the tiger in self-defense last February. Then he ate it.
The only known wild Indochinese tiger in China, photographed in 2007 at the same reserve, has not been seen since Kang’s meal, the Yunnan-based newspaper Life News reported earlier this month.
The paper quoted the provincial Forestry Bureau as saying there was no evidence the tiger was the last one in China.
A local court sentenced Kang to 10 years for killing a rare animal plus two years for illegal possession of firearms, the local web portal Yunnan.cn reported. Prosecutors said Kang did not need a gun to gather clams.
Four villagers who helped Kang dismember the tiger and ate its meat were also sentenced from three to four years for “covering up and concealing criminal gains”, the report said.
The Indochinese tiger is on the brink of extinction, with small populations in Laos, Vietnam. Cambodia, Thailand, and Burma. Link -via Arbroath
(image credit: Cburnett)
If you think having to "share" your bed with your pet cat is bad, that’s nothing compared to what Riana Van Nieuwenhuizen has to do: the sanctuary worker shares her South African home with really, really big cats: four cheetahs, five lions, and two tigers!
Riana bought her first cheetah, Fiela in 2006, after realising the big cats were in trouble and heading for extinction with only 1000 left in Africa.
She left her full time job working for the department of justice – a position she had held for 22 years – and found temporary employment on a game ranch where she could raise her beloved big cat. [...]
The cats in Riana’s own home are truly part of the family and are allowed to roam freely.
Imagine the size of their litterbox! Amy Oliver of the Daily Mail has more: Link (Photo: John Lienbenberg/Barcroft Media)
Users use coloured dots to indicate the position of the shoulder, hips and tail and the upper and lower margins of the image; the programme does the rest. It essentially unwraps the striped pattern from the tiger’s flank and works out how it would look if it were laid out flat. It then compares the new image to every existing one and gives them a score based on how similar they are. The software is freely downloadable.
From the Upcoming 
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