It's hard to see an advertisement or internet site of animals being abused or exploited. For most people, this fuels a sense of outrage and makes us think "how can this be allowed to happen?" When we hear a cry for help, we instinctually want to stop what we are doing and help rid the world of these injustices . At first glance this seems like the noble thing to do.

If we look closer, however, the animal rights movement is not entirely the wholesome and altruistic venture it leads patrons to believe that it is. For the average consumer, the prospect of doing good in the world is an attractive goal, and so it should be. Unfortunately, unscrupulous organizations deliberately create campaigns of misinformation by tugging on the heart strings of animal lovers everywhere. Lured in by imagery designed to elicit an emotional response, many people are duped into working against legitimate efforts that are being done to save animals.

Further up the food chain of these seemingly noble protest groups, we find a much less savory motivation for calling the masses to action, money. The animal rights industry in the U.S. alone generates nearly one half billion dollars per year. Less than one percent of this money goes to saving animals in any manner whatsoever. Instead, this money is used to create more propaganda of exploitation and abuse, to further a political agenda which attacks legitimate businesses and organizations. It seems that some of this money is now being used to defend themselves in court and pay restitution to those they've attacked. The HSUS, Humane Society of the United States, and their co-defendants just paid $15.75 million to settle a lawsuit brought against them under RICO, a law that was created to prosecute the mob. This law suit comes just 2 years after the ASPCA paid a $9.3 million court settlement for allegations of the same illegal practices.

In fact, the foundation of the current animal rights movement is more extreme than the average citizen realizes. Activists believe the world should be a mandatory vegan society and that animal ownership of any kind, even domestic animals, should be abolished. They have been considered a top threat of domestic terrorism by homeland security and the FBI and are responsible for the outright murder of the animals they profess to want to save.

T.I.G.E.R.S. Preservation Station is a federally licensed and inspected facility whose goal is the education of the public about conservation issues through the use of animal ambassadors, the maintenance of genetically representative viable populations of captive wildlife and the enhancement of wild species populations through the support of grassroots wildlife conservation projects .

The Truth About Preservation Station the
Animal Rights World Doesn't Want You to Know

1. Where do the T.I.G.E.R.S Animals Come From?

An acronym for The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, T.I.G.E.R.S was founded in 1982 and has two locations, Myrtle Beach Safari and Preservation Station. The first location sits on 50 acres and houses 120 animals, 60 of which are tigers, all of which are endangered. The second is located at Barefoot Landing and is, “a free wildlife exhibit and living tiger museum” that educates the public about wildlife. Preservation station offers photo packages, for a premium fee, with a tiger cub or monkey. While the viewing of the animals is free and allows the entire public to participate, the price for interacting with the animals is relatively high, deliberately limiting the amount of interaction that occurs. Comfort and safety of our animals is a top concern. None of the animals live at Preservation Station, rather they visit on a rotating schedule, for only 2-3 hours per day, only from mid-March to mid-October, and spend the rest of their lives at one of the world's most spectacular preserves.

The animals of T.I.G.E.R.S. were all born in captivity. All tigers born at the preserve are important representatives of the Species Survival Trust, a scientifically based captive breeding project designed and monitored by geneticists from Texas A&M University and the National Institute of Health to maintain and protect one of the world's largest and most viable gene pools of the tiger.

Bubbles the elephant was adopted in 1982 as an ivory orphan from Africa. Her herd was slaughtered for their ivory and baby elephants by the thousands were left to perish without the care of their mothers. Bubbles was one of the lucky few that survived the peril and was adopted by T.I.G.E.R.S. Today she lives a peaceful life at the Myrtle Beach Safari. Bubbles is such a happy and easy going giant, she has spread her affection to her own pet dog.

Most of the animals are bred at the facility, including the world renowned ligers, like Hercules. Holding the Guinness Book of World Records designation for largest cat in the world, Hercules weighs over 900 pounds. Ligers are a cross between a male lion and a tigress. Contrary to widespread misinformation, science has demonstrated irrefutably that "ligers" have occurred in the wild. The wild world is full of naturally existing hybrids. Historically (within the past few hundred years) lions and tigers shared vast overlapping territory through the Middle East and into southern Asia. The only reason they cannot exist today is because man has destroyed more than 99% of both lion and tiger populations in the wild and their paths no longer cross. Today both lions and tigers still live wild in India. If it were not for the dense population of humans in India, these two species could potentially still meet and create wild ligers.

A lot of myths about ligers can be found on the internet, almost all of which are being spread by people who have never seen a liger in person. The scientific evidence directly contradicts these myths and paints a much happier and more realistic picture.
Liger cubs are born the same as their lion and tiger parents did, without abnormalities, defects or even excessive size. Liger cubs are born at less than a pound and are not born cesarean, this is a complete fabrication. Ligers have the same life span as both lions and tigers and in fact often seem to have the best traits of both parents. A New York Times article suggests that wild hybrids have the potential of fitting into territories that neither of their parents could occupy. They specifically include ligers in this review. The villainization of hybrids, like the liger, has become a favorite pastime of armchair wildlife enthusiasts, but has little basis in fact.

Ligers are almost animals of myth and legend. Many of you may not have believed that ligers were real when you first heard about them. The mystere, the enormous size and the stunning beauty of the liger catches people’s interest and imagination about the natural world. Ligers are the calling card for all endangered species. As animal ambassadors, ligers have brought the message of conservation to millions of people who have never heard it or may have never cared. Our ligers have taken it one step further and have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support international grass roots conservation of endangered species.

T.I.G.E.R.S. is home to a the greatest variety of different colored tigers still existing in the world today, including white tigers. These different colored tigers once lived widespread throughout Asia. Since the invention of the first firearms, the global tiger population has dwindled by more than 99%. The work T.I.G.E.R.S. is doing with the Species Survival Trust is ensuring that these genetics are not lost to the sands of time. We want to preserve the genetic diversity for future generations.

White tigers are often falsely labeled as being inbred or genetically deficient. This theory does not hold up to scientific scrutiny. Quite the contrary, white tigers are found to have the same genetic variation as orange and black tigers. Scientists have discovered that the white coloration is a result of a variation in gene SLC45A2. This discovery has led scientists to realize that the white tiger gene exists in a much larger portion of the global tiger population than once believed.

2. How are Our Animals Trained?

Our animals are trained by reward and with affection. It is important to understand that an unhappy tiger is not going to interact well with his handlers. Positive reinforcement is the only method that will work. Our animals are rewarded, to a very small degree, with food. For our cats, this take the form of a small piece of meat, or more commonly, a sip of milk from a baby bottle. Our animals are all well fed and accept food as a reward in the same manner you might hold your hand out for someone to give you a mint. It is not part of your daily nutrition, but you enjoy it all the same.

For our animals, the true reward is new stimuli. The ability to get out and witness new sights, sounds and smells is a freedom that few animals will experience to the degree that ours do. The animals that visit Preservation Station in the afternoons are there for only a couple hours per day. To a tiger that has been raised in the company of humans, the ability to travel to different locations, splash in a pool, play with friends and experience the outside world is tantamount to enrichment. An article in the scientific journal Zoo Biology shows that tigers that are habituated to traveling show significantly lower levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) than tigers that never leave their home enclosure. Variety is the spice of life and happiness is the key to successfully working with wildlife.

3. History of Slander against T.I.G.E.R.S.

For decades, T.I.G.E.R.S. has been in the spotlight for caring for some of the world's most endangered species. Being one of the most publicly visible entities, we have drawn negative attention from would be competitors and animal rights activists. Both groups tirelessly and unscrupulously force their agenda and have tried to strengthen their position by spreading distorted truths, half truths and full out lies. These allegations include everything from USDA violations to claims of animal abuse. Current litigation is taking place against some of these organizations for fraud, disruption of a legally operating organization and cyber-squatting.

T.I.G.E.R.S. is, and has always been, fully licensed and inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In order to maintain this federal license, T.I.G.E.R.S. must provide programs of veterinary care, accounting for the health and safety of all animals, and a program of enrichment to ensure the mental health of all animals. Like all zoos, T.I.G.E.R.S. is subject to random facility and paperwork inspections, without notice, by federal inspectors. USDA licensure would have been revoked if T.I.G.E.R.S. failed not comply with federally mandated rules and regulations.

Here's an example of how twisting the truth or not giving the entire story can severely alter public perception. As has been quoted on one of our detractors sites, T.I.G.E.R.S. "wracked up 38 violations between 1988 and 2014." They fail, however, to mention what a "violation" consists of. It does not mean that animals were abused or neglected. An exhibitor being cited for a violation of the AWA (Animal Welfare Act) is akin to an airline being cited by the FAA. As airplanes need constant maintenance and repair to keep the passengers safe, the FAA often cites airlines for violating the regulations on routine issues like tires and lavatories. These violations, by no means represent a failure to provide safe travel, but are to encourage preventative maintenance by the airline. Likewise, most violations of the AWA are also ones of preventative maintenance.

Another method of twisting information is in how it is presented. A perfect example is a building that contains one hundred light bulbs. If a single light bulb is burned out it can be interpreted as "a violation for failure to provide adequate lighting." While detractors revel in the concept that T.I.G.E.R.S. has received 38 violations, what they fail to mention is that "38 violations" is a record low for zoological institutions. San Diego Wildlife Park, The Bronx Zoo and sanctuaries and zoos across the country have ALL racked up hundreds, if not thousands, of "violations" for minimal infractions.

Perhaps the most exaggerated story is the 2010 escape of a 3-year-old tiger named Mahesh. The tiger escaped an enclosure that far exceeded both state and federal guidelines. During the incident, no one was hurt and the tiger was returned to his enclosure immediately without incident and without the need for tranquilization. Neither the USDA nor state officials pressed any charges as the fencing and structures all surpassed their requirements. Mahesh is the only tiger in U.S. history that escaped his enclosure and was immediately returned by using a small piece of meat and a baby bottle. This was only possible because of the deep relationship Mahesh developed with the T.I.G.E.R.S. staff.

Animal rights groups want you to believe that the animals of T.I.G.E.R.S. are mistreated and exploited. They show very misleading images to convince you that the animals spend their entire lives in tiny enclosures in deplorable conditions. The animals of tigers, in fact, have some of the best lives of any captive wildlife in the world. The preserve where the animals live include many multi-acre natural habitats where the animals can be free and enjoy their lives. Many of the enclosures offer different features including climbing platforms, forests, ponds, tall grasses, waterfalls, caves and rock outcroppings. By alternating enclosures on a regular basis, the animals get the most enrichment possible. See tigers having fun during one of the very rare snow days in Myrtle Beach.

Bubbles the elephant is the most interactive African elephant in North America.
She did not get this way from years of abuse. She interacts with people because she genuinely enjoys it. Rescued from ivory poachers in 1982, Bubbles has spent almost her entire life being cared for by a single family. Her stable life has given her the opportunity to develop deep relationships like almost no other elephant has. Unlike traditional zoos, where keepers work 40 hours per week and the animals are left alone after 5pm, the staff of T.I.G.E.R.S. lives at the Preserve and the animals are cared for 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. This allows the animals and trainers to develop a bond based on trust and a common understanding. Bubbles' favorite food is watermelons and one of her favorite activities is swimming. The more people to share her adventure, the happier she is. At more than 9,000 lbs, Bubbles is the size of almost 10 horses. No riding, standing or jumping off the elephant can hurt her in any way. In fact it provides her a method to interact with her human (and canine) friends in a fun and entertaining way. At nearly 5 tons, Bubbles could easily let us know if she is unhappy. For more than 30 years she has been our happy gentle giant. See Bubbles and her personal pool party here. Does this look like an elephant that has been neglected or abused to you?

A common concern that people have is "what happens to all the babies when they grow up?" First of all, it is safe to say that the amount of cubs born at T.I.G.E.R.S. has been grossly overestimated. We are not a "tiger factory" as some would have you believe. The concept that tiger cubs can only be handled between the ages of 8 and 12 weeks of age is a complete fabrication. This is just a convenient mis-truth to imply that more cubs are born than actually are. All births are planned with great care and deliberation, consistent to the goal of maintaining genetic variability with the Species Survival Trust. A mother tiger will have on average 2-4 cubs per litter. We have on average 2-4 litters per year. This means that on average we have 4-16 tigers born per year. Big cats generally live into their middle teens in captivity. Having cared for tigers for more than 32 years at this point, we will of course see a certain number of cats pass away every year solely from old age. We also provide tigers to USDA licensed zoos that are registered with the AZA and the ZAA. Our sister zoos are important components of our Species Survival Trust and we currently have a waiting list for any available cub born at our facility. Contrary to false claims, the USDA requires meticulous records be kept of all animal births, deaths and disposition. There is an exact record of all animals residing at the facility, both present and past.

 

4. What Kind of Conservation Work are They Doing?

We are really glad someone decided to ask this. The Rare Species Fund is a 501c3 nonprofit organization registered with the Internal Revenue Service. In addition to the epic work we are doing to preserve viable captive gene pools of endangered species, funding derived from Preservation Station and other T.I.G.E.R.S. projects has helped generate more than $1 million for grass roots conservation efforts around the globe. While detractors may try to dismiss this statement as untrue, it is really difficult to discount photos and video of the T.I.G.E.R.S. staff working hands on in foreign countries, helping to conserve wildlife.

Orangutan conservation in Borneo.
Black footed cat conservation in South Africa.
Fishing cat conservation in Thailand.
Pilot biogas plant in India
Camera traps for rhino reintroduction in Botswana.
Camera trap photos from equipment donated by Rare Species Fund.
Equipment donated to gorilla conservation.

Videos:

Anti Poaching Unit Support in Zimbabwe

Mountain Gorilla Conservation in Uganda

Predator Conservation in South Africa

Tiger Conservation in India

Seven tigers were brought from T.I.G.E.R.S. to the Samut Prakarn Wildlife Park in Thailand. While it is best known as the world's largest crocodile park, Samut Prakarn also has large sections of park devoted to other wildlife, including new, state of the art tiger facilities. The tigers from the U.S. represented Asia's first collection of different colored tigers. The public interest about these naturally existing felines fueled a massive international public campaign about saving wild tigers. This was a monumental achievement in a country that acts as the back door to China, where illegally poached tigers from Thailand, India and Bangladesh are smuggled into China. Millions of southeast Asian people learned about the severity of the wild tiger poaching problem and the need for conservation as a direct result of these 7 tigers. Tens of thousands of dollars per year, for many years, went directly to anti poaching efforts in the Khao Yai National Park, in cooperation with the late Dr. Jo Gayle Howard and the Smithsonian Institution. All of this funding was derived from having these tigers on exhibit.

 

T.I.G.E.R.S. has been instrumental in helping Washington D.C. legislators develop sound wildlife policy. There are reasons that we are consulted by policy makers, asked to testify before Congressional subcommittees about wildlife legislation and why we have been invited numerous times to the U.S. Capitol building to brief the U.S. Congress on wildlife issues. These reasons are our professionalism, our vision and our effectiveness in wildlife conservation.
Our years of working with scientists and conservationists in the field has made us one of the country's most respected and consulted grass roots conservation organizations

Meeting with a congressman after a briefing.

One of the most successful T.I.G.E.R.S. campaigns in Washington D.C. is the support of Congressman Henry Brown's "Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Act" of 2011. The bill, signed into law by President Obama, created a premium stamp for the U.S. Postal Service for the purpose of generating conservation funding. For every stamp sold, 2 cents goes into this fund. To date, more than $2.5 million has been raised for conservation efforts, without raising taxes.

T.I.G.E.R.S. Director Doc Antle testifying before the Congressional Subcommittee on Natural Resources for the purpose of supporting Congressman Brown's new conservation stamp bill.

 

These are just a handful of the projects that the Rare Species Fund participates in.
You can find out more by visiting www.RareSpeciesFund.org.

 

5. Life in the Wild vs. Life in a Tourism Center

This is where so many people get lost. There is a regular battle cry by animal rights that "these tigers belong in the wild." Those who are fervent about this concept have most certainly never been to the wild, or more correctly, the lack thereof. There is massive false belief that there are expansive areas of wilderness that tigers can run and be free. The reality is unfortunately much more bleak than that. Today, the largest population of tigers, less than 1,000, exist in India. At roughly five times the size of Texas, and with a population of 1.25 billion people, India will have a near impossible task in protecting their wild tiger population. Still plagued by poachers and coming into constant conflict with the expanding human population, it is quite possible that wild tigers will be extinct in the next 10-15 years. Many other species are facing these same threats around the world. Both rhinos and elephants are being poached at record rates. Last year, in South Africa alone, more than 1,000 rhinos were reported as being poached. This is a staggering number when one considers that the global rhino population is less than 30,000. There is no longer a place on this Earth that does not have a human fingerprint. What we want to think of as the wild simply does not exist. That unfortunately is not the world we live in today.

Tigers, as well as other animals, in captivity play the very real role of a genetic backup should the wild populations fail to thrive. The Species Survival Trust, started by T.I.G.E.R.S. and geneticists from both the National Institute of Health and Texas A&M University, represents the single largest gene pool of different tigers. Genetic diversity in our breeding program is more than four times greater than that of other major zoos and facilities around the world. Most zoos have neither the space nor the resources to establish a breeding program of this magnitude. The representation of the last remaining bloodlines of the tiger will be necessary for the survival of the species. The absolute importance of captive breeding populations of tigers is palpable.

Of course, maintaining a captive population of any species requires one to provide those animals with not only the basics for survival, but the tools needed to thrive. A lot of false information about tigers in captivity have been passed along as if it were truth. Not only do tigers tolerate being in a human environment, they absolutely thrive.

Contrary to popular belief, tigers are not nocturnal. Although tigers have a retinal reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum, which helps tigers see in lower light, they tend to be active more during dusk and dawn, not at night. Tigers are also highly active during the day, but tend to hunt less during this period, as their prey has the advantage of light.

Exercise

Tigers are natural athletes. They don't need to go to the gym. Big cats spend on average 18-22 hours per day sleeping, saving energy for the big hunt. During their limited waking hours our animals have the the full ability to run and play and swim in a natural environment. In fact, we have the only tigers in the world that have a regular exercise routine, chasing a specially designed lure system. The tigers are not forced to do this; you cannot make them run. They chase the lure because it is fun and it allows them to express their natural stalking, chasing and pouncing behaviors.

Family Structure

Mother tigers give birth to 2 or 4 cubs at a time and raise them alone in the wild. The tigress is not the stay at home mom that many would have you believe. The mother tiger leaves her cubs alone, hidden amongst rocks or logs, for many hours at a time, while she attempts to hunt. While she is gone, many of her cubs die from starvation, exposure and predation. In the wild, only 1 out of 10 tiger cubs will survive until it reproduces. Expecting your cubs to die is a regular occurrence for a mother tiger. If left with the mother in captivity, still less than half will survive their infancy. Hand raising tigers ensures the survival of all the cubs. Raising these cubs among humans and allowing people to interact with them, prepares these tigers for a life in the human world. A tiger well habituated to coexisting with people exhibits less stress and less self-destructive behavior. Our tigers can be examined by veterinarians without the need for anesthesia. Drawing a blood sample or checking a tiger's teeth for us requires only a bottle of milk. Again, our close working relationships with the animals is the only thing that makes this possible. The concept of releasing tigers back into the wild at this point is unfeasible. With the expanding global population and rampant poaching, their is currently no viable habitat for the tiger to survive. Releasing a tiger back into the wild is assuredly a death sentence for that animal.

Diet

In the wild tigers can eat between 40-60 pounds of meat in a sitting. The tiger would then not eat again for many days. Contrary to popular belief, tigers do not run great distances. All big cats run in short bursts, up to 60 seconds. Tigers must sneak within striking distance of their prey and then pounce, they cannot chase it down. The concept that tigers are given less food because they're not out jogging every day is a very strange and fabricated concept created by animal rights. At T.I.G.E.R.S., the big cats do not gorge. They eat a more limited amount of meat, but will eat 5 days per week. As they will never eat every day in the wild, fasting 2 days per week allows the tiger's system to clean itself out.

6. What YOU CAN and MUST do in Order to Stop This Stupidity

It is very important to take into account the source of any information you receive. Due diligence suggests that we go a step beyond this and question how the "source" knows this information. Is it firsthand knowledge or is it information that just gets passed from one person to the next? There is the increasingly common phenomenon where people believe anything they read on the internet and that if a rumor is repeated enough times, by enough people, it becomes truth. Animal rights propaganda works exclusively off of this concept. Most activists that make outlandish claims have no actual working knowledge or formal education concerning wildlife. They often quote or create statements that are verifiably false for the sole purpose of furthering their personal agenda. When considering what an animal rights organization has to say, ask yourself:

 

While many, or perhaps even most, of the people that participate in animal rights activities, campaigning and web-bashing events feel they are acting in a righteous and justifiable manner, they are primarily driven by emotion rather than fact, feeling rather than intellect. Passion can be a useful tool when used in a constructive manner. When passion is mixed with partial truths and lack of a full understanding, it has the potential to be very dangerous. Animal rights activists are not all that dissimilar to religious zealots fighting a holy war, but in this case, the casualties may be the wild animals we're all trying to save.