White Tiger Cub’s health improving; prosecutor intervenes (POLL)

A high-level prosecutor intervened in the case of the malnourished, sick and abandoned white tiger cub following a request by an animal welfare federation.

Τhe estimated 4-month-old female cub was found abandoned under a garbage bin outside the Attica Zoo Park in eastern Athens.

The white tiger cub was examined to be malnourished, with extreme vitamin D inefficiency and paralyzed from the waist downward. Her general health condition was evaluated as critical, the director of the Park spoke even of possible euthanasia.

KTG reported here.

Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Anastasia Masoura, reportedly intervened ex officio after CCTV cameras captured the culprit abandoning the cub under a garbage bin outside the Attica Zoological Part in Spata on February 28.

Video from a CCTV camera opposite the Park

The supreme prosecutor asked to identify those responsible for the abuse and abandonment of the animal, which is estimated to be a victim of wildlife trade.

Being almost a week in care and with animal welfare organizations having an Argus eye on the cub, the little tiger has shown some health improvement.

According to a post on social media on Saturday, Tassoula Eptakili wrote:

“She enjoys the sun she has never seen before. She washes his front legs. The backs are paralyzed. She eats with appetite. She accepted our caresses with pleasure. She was almost purring. The litter tiger is fighting her own battle to stay alive as police reviews footage from the moment she was abandoned.”

The director of the Attica Park confirmed the improvement saying that after care, injections and vitamins given to the animal, it is improving, but not able to walk, state broadcaster ERT reported.

The white tiger baby has a complete inability to use its hind limbs and seems to have undergone surgery in the past.

In a letter to prosecutor, the Panhellenic Nemesis Federation for animals, the environment and hunting, has requested a thorough check on the case of the young tiger

“Investigation should concern how this animal was found in Greece, if it was imported legally or illegally, if it comes from breeding that took place in Greece, which surgeon operated it and, of course, the conditions it lived in before it found itself in this situation under a garbage bin,” Nemesis stressed.

It recalled that “if the complaint by the Panhellenic Animal Welfare & Environmental Federation to the Prosecutors’ Offices of Athens and Cyprus a year ago, regarding illegal tiger breeding, had been properly dealt with, possibly the tiger cub would not have been tortured and the alleged illegal breeding in the two countries would have emerged as a serous issue.”

It should be underlined that a Rehabilitation, Care and rescue organization in South Africa has showed immediate interest to the cub and offered to take over the young tiger as well as all transportation costs to this Center.

Nemesis and probably every animal lover in Greece supports the idea as South Africa is the preeminent natural habitat of these animals and there are no specialized centers to host such animals in Greece.

POLL: What do you think? should the tiger cub remain in Greece or transferred to a specialized Reha center in south Africa?