Is there any ethical validation for inbreeding White Tigers?

I am not sure how many people are familiar with the White Tiger Dilemma; but to sum it up, there is an enormous debate centered upon how they are bred. White Tigers are not their own species, and do not occur naturally in nature, and the white coloring can be attributed to a special pair of recessive genes on their chromosomes. Thus, White Tigers are almost exclusively a result of excessive and experimental inbreeding. This is done in captivity, and has gone on for generations.

Long story short, there is something like a 20% survival rate, and only a percent of that comes out successfully. There is an even larger population of failed attempts, and these rejections are kept out of the public eye. The poor creatures come out horribly deformed and disfigured, undergo a handful of physical setbacks, suffer numerous birth defects, and endure a fair amount of pain.

Can you think of any good reasons to continue manipulating this animals existence, aside from the fact that they are pretty and that we like to look at them? I realize no one really wants to see the creature simply die out; but humanity is more or less forcing them to exist, and condemning them to a life of suffering.

It probably sounds pretty obvious how I feel; but I was appalled when I heard this story, and I would to hear some reactions and any suggested pros and cons, when considering our duties, consequences, and virtues.

This is Kenny the inbred White Tiger http://www.bigcatrescue.org/images/tigerphotos/WhiteTigerDeformed3.jpga>




Thank You; I await your feedback.

My initial thought is, is this really important?

Who gives a shit about white tigers when HUMANS can't get health care, HUMANS are being killed, HUMANS are being manipulated, tortured, living in poverty and without freedom.

Shouldn't you be concerned about HUMANS, not tigers?

White Tigers are not my single and only distress.

You are very obviously a "speciesist". If you don't know what that mean go and look it up, if I am not mistaken it is a term coined by the contemporary philosopher Peter Singer.

Yes, there is a real issue among humans, yes most of us are starving, yes most of us are poor, yes most of us cannot get health care.

That does not mean that I cannot care about animals, nor am I claiming that our situation is any better or any worse than the animals.

My attention toward the White Tigers does not indicate a lack of regard in others areas. I can be concerned about White Tigers, concerned about Humans, and concerned about other creatures as well. These concerns are not mutually exclusive.

My anxiety over the White Tiger is one among many; Wouldn't it be expected that a person have various things that worry them?

Well, by definition, any energy you put towards the white tigers is energy you are not putting towards humans, so yes, you can try to protect tigers but you're foregoing one child that may die today as a result.

I find myself completely apathetic to the pain and suffering of creatures that suffer now that I see how horribly humans are made to suffer on a daily basis.

And its a logical apathy - if you can't convince governments to protect humans, what the fuck are you really gonna do for animals?

I'm not saying you shouldn't do what you're doing, I just find it a bit confusing.

I had no idea that white tigers existed under such horrible circumstances. It is a beautiful animal but it does seem cruel how the animal is created. I guess to determine if it was wrong, you would have to decide what rights animals are entitled to. I do believe that animals feel pain but do they have the capacity for emotions? Can they feel depressed or unhappy?

But if you are going to be concerned about the well being of one species of animal, how is it not hypocritical to continue slaughtering cows and chickens? If we decided that it is wrong to bread white tigers, then we would also have to decide that it is wrong to kill animals for food. Both animals endure pain and suffering for a needless goal. Humans do not require meat to live, they simply like the taste. Just the same, we do not need to see the beauty of white tigers, we just like to. I'm just posing questions because this is an interesting topic to me.