A liger that was adopted by an animal rescue center in Pingtung County shortly after it was born is now nine years old, which is rare for the mixed species, the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology’s Rescue Center for Animals said.
A liger refers to the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger.
A-biao (阿彪) came to the center in 2010 after the Council of Agriculture seized it from a local farmer.
Photo courtesy of the Pingtung Rescue Center
The farmer had put a male African lion and a female Bengal tiger into a pen together and bred them “for amusement” in contravention of the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法), the council said.
Three cubs were produced from the litter, one of which died immediately after birth and another which died a week later, but A-biao survived, despite having a deformed spine due to missing DNA, the center said.
Under the care of center staff, A-biao has survived to the age of nine, but he has had a difficult life, the center said, adding that it hopes A-biao serves as a reminder about the need to respect wildlife.
“The long-term expenses for raising [A-biao], including the cost of medical care and other resources, has been no small sum. Conservation is also getting costlier. Now more than ever we need the public’s help,” the center said.
Any donations would be put toward improving facilities for the animals, it added.
A-biao, like most ligers, is larger than either of his parents. He was born with a spine shaped like an “s,” a tail that was missing bones and an inoperative left hind leg, the center said.
University professor Pei Jai-chyi (裴家騏) said that many of the animals at the center are exotic animals that were smuggled into the country and later abandoned, such as orangutans, sun bears and African spurred tortoises.
Taiwan was once notorious for animal smuggling, but has since become known for its conservation work, he said.
However, funding for conservation has been shrinking over the past decade, he added.
The center receives 95 percent of its funding from the Forestry Bureau, which has slashed its conservation budget more than 30 percent over the past 10 years, he said, adding that the center relies on two vets, two assistant vets and 17 caretakers to look after 1,500 animals.
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