The Century Times

Wanna buy a new pet? How about a Tiger? Yeah, to pet a tiger could show your patriotism as well, as tiger is our national animal!

Everything and anything can happen in this strange strange world. Some years back, our then presiden Mr. Abdul Kalam was worried about the fact that one of the country’s foremost Wild Life sanctuary meant for tigers viz. Sariska Wild Life Sanctuary in Rajasthan, suddenly declared that its tiger population has gone to zero. Censure followed and confirmed the fears. Recently, one tiger and a tigress were transported there to breed back the tigers there, after all the media hype & criticism.

Forget all these media hype. If you are tired of those old pettable options of dogs & cats, you can opt for a bigger (and yeah, a really BIGGER) cat. Now you can actually own a Tiger and you don’t need to go anywhere to shop for it! This is what a Website claims. This website claims to sell you the tigers online in the convenience of your home or office. And it could not be a trickster or a con for it has a credential to be in this business for over 24 years! They say that they are shipping tigers worldwide via sea from their Indian Breedings since 1984. If you can spare a cool $13,400 then they are offering the following in their “Full Tiger Pack” :

• a 5 months old female tiger

• The original HELLO TIGER guide
• An IVORY collar (ext. value: $1200)
• Three tiger toys (ext. value: $160)

A whois database search of their website domain indicate that though they claim to be in the business from 1984, they acquired this domain recently on 5th March, 2006. And although they claim to ship tigers from India, the registrant’s address in the database is that of the Italy:

Tripiciano, Aldo
Via pirandello 72
Roma, Lazio 00137
Italy
Tel:  00393491544828

email id : bladesty@yahoo.it

And they only accept payment through money orders and personal U.S. Cheques!

I have no idea how they operate. But they claim to take some friendly measures for the life of the beast, like they only ship it to the places climatically suitable to the tigers and they will never ship more than one tiger to a single customer as two tigers should not stay together for their safety (As the saying for the lion goes: Only one lion can occupy & rule a forest:) ).

Legally, no one in India can pet or trade tigers. Indian activists of PETA are raising this issue to the relevant Ministry. But the investigation of this business is required to uncover the truth & facts behind this story.

Personally, I don’t think it to be true and its another way to dupe the public. But who knows, if its true? Perhaps the first visible change will be the sign-boards at the gate warning : BEWARE OF THE TIGER 

Technorati Tags: buy a tiger, pet, PETA, Tiger

Check :
Update on “Love this Pet …A Tiger!” dt 14th October, 2008