Actress Tippi Hedren, who adopted Michael Jackson’s two tigers at her Los Angeles area preserve, is urging animal lovers to mourn the late King of Pop by helping captive big cats.
Hedren, best known for her roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and Marnie, took in Jackson’s tigers Thriller and Sabu in 2005 as the pop icon’s life unraveled and he gave up his private zoo at Neverland.
Hedren said she broke the news of Jackson’s death to the tigers at her Shambala Preserve, which is home to 68 tigers, lions and other big cats retired from the entertainment industry or unwanted as pets.
“I went up and sat with them for a while and let them know that Michael was gone,” Hedren told AFP.
“You don’t know what mental telepathy exists from the human to the animal,” she said. “But I hope they understood.”
Hedren said Jackson had treated the tigers “beautifully” at Neverland.
But she hoped his death would lead fans to donate to her preserve and help build momentum for a bill she is seeking in Congress that would ban the breeding in the US of big cats to be pets.
By her calculation, captive big cats have killed or permanently maimed nearly 600 people in the US in the past five years.
“You’re taking an apex predator and saying, ‘Let’s make a pet out of him.’ It’s insanity,” she said.
“We’re hoping very much that people will wake up and say, of course, it’s nonsense to keep these animals as pets,” she said.
Hedren pressed for a bill approved by Congress in 2003 that bans the interstate trade of big cats as pets.
But she said efforts to ban the breeding of the big cats entirely was a bone of contention with the circus industry.
Michael Jackson’s private zoo has been dispersed to sanctuaries and individuals since his financial problems multiplied.
His beloved chimpanzee, Bubbles, is living at the Center for Great Apes, a Florida sanctuary which is also appealing for donations from Jackson fans.(AFP)
女星蒂碧．海德倫收養了麥可．傑克森的兩隻老虎，並將其安置在她位於洛杉磯的保育區內，她極力呼籲動物愛好者把對這位已故流行樂天王的懷念化為實際行動，幫助受圈養的老虎。
二ＯＯ五年，傑克森的生活瓦解後，他放棄了「夢幻莊園」裡的私人動物園，因演出希區考克電影《鳥》和《豔賊》而走紅的海德倫便領養了這位流行偶像的兩隻老虎「顫慄」和「薩布」。
海德倫說，她把傑克森逝世的這個消息告訴尚巴拉保育區的老虎們，這裡總共收留了六十八隻從娛樂產業退役或遭棄養的老虎、獅子和其他大型貓科動物。
海德倫對法新社表示：「我到牠們身邊坐了一陣子，然後才告訴牠們麥可過世了。」
她說：「你不知道人類和動物之間會有什麼樣的心電感應，但我希望牠們能理解。」
海德倫說，傑克森在夢幻莊園裡把這兩隻老虎照顧地「非常好」。
但她希望他的辭世能促使歌迷捐款給她的保育中心，進而帶動氣勢幫助她正極力爭取的一項法案在國會過關，該法案旨在禁止美國境內養育大型貓科動物作為寵物。
她估計過去五年來，被圈養的大型貓科動物已在美國境內造成近六百人喪生或終生殘廢。
她說：「你看著一種極兇暴的掠食動物說：『我們把牠當成寵物吧』，這根本就是荒唐至極。」
她說：「我們非常希望人們可以覺悟地說，把這些動物當成寵物來養根本是異想天開。」
二ＯＯ三年，海德倫催生國會通過一條禁止州際買賣大型貓科動物當作寵物的法案。
但她說，她和馬戲團產業互不相讓，極力爭取徹底禁止人工繁殖大型貓科動物。
麥可．傑克森的財務狀況吃緊後，私人動物園中的動物便被分送到動物保育區安置或由私人領養。
他心愛的黑猩猩泡泡目前住在佛羅里達州的「大猩猩中心」，這間動物保育中心也正呼籲傑克森的歌迷捐款贊助。
（法新社╱翻譯：袁星塵）
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