Drawings of Tigers

Tigers are beautiful, but sadly they are also an animal who is headed for extinction unless we do something drastic.  I am not really sure how to save the tigers other than to control our own population growth to prevent people from needing more land and taking it from natural areas where tigers live.  Housing more and more tigers is not really the answer either, while it may preserve a species, it really does so in an unnatural manner.  Keeping tigers as "pets" is selfish and does not really benefit tigers as a species.

At any rate, tigers are beautiful and are an animal that is often captured in art.  I have done several drawings of tigers and want to show some of them to you.

Snarling tiger.  © Brenda Nelson

This is my first drawing of a tiger.  If you look a the image you probably do not immediately notice that I added a man's face on the tiger's forehead, if you look at the picture upside down you can see it better.  I thought it was clever at the time but now I sort of wish I had not done that.

Snoozing tiger.  © Brenda Nelson

This is my second drawing of a tiger.  I like how this turned out.  While I did it from a picture of a sleeping tiger it could also be a dead tiger and could be a statement against hunting or extinction in general. 

I do hope we can preserve natural areas for tigers and not wipe them out.  We need to have proper breeding programs for the captive tigers and not allow inbreeding or hybrid breeding between species unless it is to improve the bloodlines.  Breeding white tigers should be illegal as they are inbred and suffer from genetic eye conditions.

Hopefully we can prevent tigers from going extinct in the wild or all we will have left one day is images of tigers in photos and art, which is very sad.

Tigers as Pets

Drawing by Brenda Nelson.©

More Tigers are kept as pets than there are in the wild. Sadly many of these pets do not have ideal, or even marginally good, lives and living conditions. Not only are Tigers an “extreme” exotic pet, they are one that requires a high standard of care, often not met due to the cost and work involved. Tigers are not a house pet, although some people do keep them as such.

Most areas that allow tigers as pets require the owner to have a permit. Sadly having a permit does not account for much in some areas. The high cost of meat means many “Pet” Tigers are malnourished. Tigers are frequently found in bad condition, or not found at all... (the market for Tiger bones is huge in China, but USA has the second largest demand for this commodity).

In some cases people try to breed Tigers specifically for color (to produce “White” Tigers) and this results in inbred animals that have loads of health problems, leaving them in pain, for shortened lifespans.  As well many tiger cubs who are born in effort to produce the rarer white tigers, are killed if they do not have the correct color.

Painting by Brenda Nelson ©  I am Not Tony - on Raven House Publishing

Many people grow up dreaming of one day owning an exotic pet, such as a Tiger, but in truth big cats, such as Tigers, are not “Pets” as we know them. They are wild animals, not domesticated to the level of being considered a “pet”. Many people who own Tigers do so for selfish reasons (to be “cool” or to impress others), as opposed to owning them for the “right” reasons (because they can afford to care for it, provide it with a good life, and because it needs a safe place to live).

The facts are alarming, according to Big Cat Rescue, (the world's largest rescue group for large cats) over 1000 big cats were listed as “unwanted” by their owners over a 10 year period (1999 -2009). The rescue saved 79 of these, while only 19 found other homes.

The same site also mentions that 98% of exotic pets die within 2 years of being brought home as pets. Their site offers more alarming stats on Tigers and other Big Cats.  Here is their page on Wild Tiger information.



Other Links

Facts Regarding Owning Pet Tigers
Other Ways of Having a Pet Tiger

Can Wild Cats be Tamed

A "Domestic" house cat that was born owner-less and lived wild from the start is not really a "wild" cat, it is correctly known as a feral cat; with the term "wild" referring real wild cats, lions, tigers, and so forth.  This article is about taming feral cats that have been living as wild all their life, not about taming tigers, lions, bobcats, and others.

At one time I was told it is impossible to "tame" any feral cat unless you caught them before they were 8 weeks old, but this is not true!

I live in the country, on 10 acres, with no neighbors in sight.  An old house sits as it waits to fall in on itself, and from time to time a feral cat had litters in the house.  Although we tried to trap her we were never able to but we currently have four of her kittens (from 2 or 3 different litters) in our care, only one of which was caught as a wee kitten. 

We know these kittens had been living wild their whole lives, and yet now all are tame, and you would not know they had been without human contact for much of their early lives.  The latest was well over a year old before we managed to catch him.

This snobby looking fellow was at least a year old when we caught him, yet is quite tame now. 

As a result of our own experience, we at the Cabin, would like to share with everyone that even adult cats born totally wild can be tamed.  One has to be willing to work at it.  Typically once they know that it is warm indoors, and you have food, they will change their way of thinking.  

* Be sure to spay or neuter as soon as possible!

How to Tame Young Kittens

To tame young kittens we would keep them in a small cage, as for guinea pigs, but a dog kennel would work too, or even a very small bathroom (keep the toilet lid shut).  The kittens need dry food, water, and a small litter box.  The idea of the small cage makes them easier to catch.

As many times a day as possible (at least 3 times) you should go in and hold each kitten.  They will hiss and freak out so you must be unafraid.  If you are worried about the kitten getting away from you, do this in a room with the door shut at first.  Hold the kitten for at least 15 minutes at a time.  Eventually there will be a time when the kitten will relax and even start to purr.

Cage with 3 kittens.

When you put the kittens back in their cage then offer them some canned food on a plate.  This way they associate people with good things.  Eventually the kittens will be less afraid, and will even start to climb up the cage to get attention/food.  The overall taming process can take 1 week or more depending on how old and how feral the kittens are.  

Read more about What to feed a new kitten, click here.

Real wild cats are a different matter....

Lions, Tigers, and so forth are not easy to tame when caught in the wild even if caught as young kittens, and can never be fully trusted.  Even those raised in captivity from captive parents are not as tame as domestic cats.

These animals can never be trusted to the same level in part because of their size and in part because they still have such strong "wild" instincts.