Lost Pets: Panjo the Pet Tiger Found After Two Days

A 310 pound pet tiger named Panjo was on the way to the vet for a checkup, near Johannesburg, South Africa. But when his owner opened the canopy on the back of the truck, he saw the tiger had escaped. Every false report of Panjo sightings made the news over the two tense days it took to find him, while animal lovers feared he would be shot, and others feared he would attack someone. A helicopter, trackers, and sniffing dogs specially trained to sniff out predatory animals teamed up to track Panjo down in his hiding place in a forest. His owner, Goosey Fernandes, called the tiger out of hiding, luring him with a piece of fresh meat. The tired, bruised animal walked straight to the owner, licked him on the cheek, put his head on his shoulder and purred. It seems Panjo is a pussycat.

Tigers are native to Asia. In South Africa, they are usually only found in zoos. Not Panjo though. He was hand-reared on a private game preserve owned by Fernandes. After the rescue, his owner brought the tiger back home, where photos show him playfully wrestling with his owners, and lying on the couch downing the contents of a bottle. (See the pictures here.)

In 2003 in America, more than 12,000 tigers were kept as pets, according to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. That's twice as many as were thought to exist in the wild. Add in the tigers in zoos, and it's four times as many. .

Their markings, their beauty, their power -- tigers are magnificent. Is it a desire to control and possess that magnificence that drives people to take on the risks and expense of keeping tigers as pets? We've all heard the stories of pet tigers who have mauled and killed their owners. But in 2003, the US Humane Society compiled a list of only three dozen such attacks over a 12 year period. Yet, "Former pets are beginning to fill up animal sanctuaries across the US, and zoos say they already have more than they can take. Unwanted tigers are found chained in basements, starved in makeshift back-yard cages, or wandering the streets after being set loose by bored, frightened or broke owners, " according to the archives in Cronoca.

Every time we hear of a tiger escaping captivity, or being shackled and caged on someone's private farm or preserve, we shudder and shake our heads. Poor things, we say, wild animals should stay in the wild. But the sad truth is that the wild has become very dangerous for tigers. In fact, in India, China and Siberia, tigers are facing extinction. "There is a real threat of losing this magnificent animal forever in our lifetime," said Sybille Klenzendorf, director of the WWF-US (World Wildlife Fund) species conservation program. "Three tiger subspecies have gone extinct, and another, the South China tiger, has not been seen in the wild in 25 years," she told reporters.

No, Panjo probably wouldn't make it in the wild, and not just because he is used to someone else killing his dinner. But also because of the growing danger for any tiger in the wild: Human beings. The illegal traders and poachers who have found that parts of tigers bring in more money than whole ones. Tiger skins, teeth, even tiger bones used in Chinese medicine treatments, are very valuable. That's why the 100,000 tigers that roamed the world at the turn of the century have been reduced to three or four thousand. The only place the tiger population is increasing is on private preserves and in zoos, which is why the World Wildlife Fund named 2010 the Year of the Tiger. Their goal? To raise enough funds and awareness to double the tiger population by 2022, or Tx2 (Tigers times two.)

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Also
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Zingela-sniffs-out-Panjo-20100728
http://www.health24.com/news/Columns/1-4411,57516.asp
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/02/10/tigers.gone/index.html