John would never allow for the killing of the animal if he has any say in it.

It could be an actual case of "biting the hand that feeds you".

Guess he caught one by the toe and was waiting on the holler!!

I hope predator and predatee will both live long, good lives.

Tigers are only rare in their natural habitat. In the state of Texas alone, their are almost as many tigers in captivity than left in the wild.

The tiger populations dwindled most severely AFTER all hunting was banned. Carefully regulated hunting programs keep the ratio of males to females in proper balance, when it is properly licensed and monthly census are kept and taken. License fees for such legalized programs can raise millions in dollars for conservation efforts that non-profit programs simply cannot match.

Hunters also take poacher's activities with heavy prejudice and likewise the hunters do not mind hunting the poachers if they are caught. The threat of this helps keep the poachers at bay.

Looking at tiger populations throughout time, the most serious decline started immediately after the banning of legalized tiger hunts. In feline sanctuaries and private ownership there are well over 2,000 tigers in the Lone Star State.

Hopefully, populations of lions in Africa will be more carefully monitored as well, or similar results may occur. Lions also have healthy populations in captivity, including the Barbary Lion, which is now extinct in the wild. However, Lions benefit from a hand full of farms, which raise them for food purposes. The price they fetch on the exotic meat market, pays for large conservation efforts in their natural home. The sad thing in the wild is, even the "anti-poacher" park rangers are crooked, and the local tribes have no sense of conservation or ecology.

Good info, Private.

I too favor private sector conservation and registration to blanket bans. Blanket bans and harsh punishments haven't worked for drugs, prostitution, poaching, whaling, or any other activity with a strong financial incentive. Fighting the market is messy, and usually futile.

Did you read the article, MorganMinPin? The tiger was at a conservation park.

Reading comprehension fail. There's at least one on every thread.

I guess he missed the part where it said "at HIS wildlife park in South Africa."

Rem, I agree. I think I will go pick up a couple of tigers and chain them up in the back. I can put up a nice sign that says "wildlife park". Then my tigers will be at a "wildlife park" and everything will be politically correct.

Do you think my conservationist badge will arrive in the mail, or should I just make my own?

Unless your "up in the back" is the same as his 150,700 acres of uninhabited forest/canyons, trying to make a comparison between his efforts at conservation tourism and your "get ur badge out of a cereal box" concept simply makes you look like an idiot.

@morgan....same thing I was thinking! lol

lol good one!

Uhmm.......hate to rain on the parade here, but, Steve Irwin was known as the "Crocodile Hunter" , not "Alligator" and he was the curator for the Australia Zoo. He also was a good authority on varanids, elapids, and crocodilians. While he played up for the cameras, he was a very knowledgeable and informed conservationists and a generally giving person. His death, had nothing to do with his respect for the possible lethality of the creature. Rays (In this case a spotted eagle-ray IIRC) are generally not dangerous unless stepped upon, or grabbed and neither of these were the case in his death, which was regarded by the zoology community as a "freak occurrence", and saddened many the world over.

Sigfreid and Roy (sp?) are simply entertainers making a buck exploiting the beauty of their animals, while performing illusions which are simplistic in both method, technique, as well as the prop themselves. They have made good money from the risks they take on stage. Complacency with predators, regardless of in the wild or in captivity, can be a real problematic endeavor.

There is a very graphic video online (looks real, but you never know) of a group of "photo-safari tourists" and one decides to get out of the LandRover to get a better picture of the Lions, and suddenly becomes dinner as he is devoured and digested while he is still alive. Graphic, but a good reminder to those who think they are kittens.

They also lure tourist closer to them, and away from their vehicles, by apparently walking away requiring the tourist to walk a little bit further out to get a good picture. They keep doing this until the tourist is too far away from the vehicle to make it back fast enough, or is ambushed by a lion laying in wait silently. Their is a reason they are called "dangerous game", and having a firearm or half a dozen professional hunters handy does not in any way guarantee your success and survival.

I have had opportunities throughout the globe with my travels, and have found the big cats to be an under-rated danger when you are in their territory. Crocodilians and elapids are easily predictable. Varanids are a different deadly story altogether. But the predators, specifically the big cats, will not only kill you, and eat you, they will stalk and hunt you for the pleasure of doing so. Letting your guard down with one in captivity is a form of "Russian Roulette".

The crocodile hunter didn't really come across as a knowledgeable or informed conservationist. Darned if I can see just what he conserved. He did get killed by a sting ray, which is so easy to avoid that boats let tourists out on sand bars in the ocean to play with them. He was a showboating horse's patoot, and in the end that's how he died. Showboating.

I had one of my (half Greyhound, 50 pound) sled dogs walking with me in the woods, and he saw a movement. This is a trusted dog that would avoid potential dogfights and always be mild and forgiving. He took two 10-foot jumps and tied into a badger, which he promptly reduced to a tattered corpse in about 20 seconds. I used to go out on the trail with 10-14 of them to train. Even though they were domesticated animals, and raised by me as pups, one always had to respect their muscles, their reflexes and their identical DNA to wolves.

Now imagine the power of a 500 pound tiger. Then, you conservationists lay down by a pregnant female and pet it. Knowledgeable, ooooh!

Calling yourself a conservationist is fun, just stay back from the animals. If you can't treat them respectfully, your rump is on the line.

Steve,

You must not know who Steve Irwin was or what he represented...Shame on you...He was killed in a freak accident filming animals that are not known to be dangerous...When he worked with "dangerous" animals, he took every precaution for his safety...The most important part of conservation is informing the public and people like Steve worke tirelessly to do that. I'm glad that your dog killed a badger to defend you but you seem to miss the entire purpose of conservation...Would you have all the badgers exterminated? From your comment, I think so...Once they're gone, just don't ask yourself where all the snakes, and small vermin came from...It's what you wanted...

"Every precaution?" The only one he missed was "leave them alone." The entire point of "conservation" is to aggrandize the conservationist and make them feel like "saviors" of the poor defenseless animals.

No, the dog wasn't defending me. He saw a natural enemy and reacted. Much like the tiger. No, not all badgers need to be exterminated. Our area is not their natural range, and they are only rarely seen here. Unlike a hundred miles east and beyond. I understand that both vermin and predators need to balance, but sadly nature handles that by a sort of roller-coaster effect of low numbers of one or the other in alternating time periods. Unless "conservationists" step in and "protect" one of the participants on the roller coaster. Leave it alone. People against harvesting natural fur have upset the balance more than all the conservationists combined.

But...your boy is still in the hospital because he is an idiot. Or did you forget him?

@!$%# off