Good evening, everyone. I'm the zookeeper at the San Gabriel Zoo. I'm afraid you've missed the point, Mr. Wilson. The purpose of the Tiger Species Survival Plan (SSP) is not simply to breed as many tigers as we can. If we did that, we'd soon run out of room--and money to care for the tigers.
We all want to save the species--that's a primary mission for zoos today. But we have to do so in a scientific manner. We don't even know what subspecies of tiger your Toni is. If we bred our tiger with yours, we could end up with hybrid Sumatran-Bengal cubs, or Sumatran-Siberian cubs, or Sumatran-Bengal-Indochinese-Siberian cubs.
No one knows what kind of hybrid the cubs would be--that's the point, and the danger. There's nothing wrong with a hybrid animal itself, of course. But hybrid animals hurt conservation efforts by muddying the genetic pool. The only way to preserve the genetic strength and diversity of captive tigers is through scientific methods.
Great
speech!
Do you want to request a breeding
recommendation from the SSP
for your tiger?
