Around-the-clock care is needed to sustain the nation’s only liger, blighted by genetic deformities as a living reminder of the tragedy that can result from human greed.
A-piao (阿彪) staggers about his enormous enclosure, his faint tiger stripes glistening in the slanted winter sun before he flops to the ground.
Lazily turning to show onlookers his exposed belly, he exudes the same ease as his distant domesticated cousins, yet something is clearly unusual about this feline.
Photo: Chen Yen-ting, Taipei Times
His left hind leg, rigid and immobile, extends from his side like a crutch as he gazes forward with the face of a lion. Yet this lion has no mane, his exposed ears rounded like a tiger’s, and his crooked tail bearing its telltale stripes.
A-piao is a liger, one of three bred illegally 12 years ago by a private leisure farm in Tainan.
Cross breeding a lion and a tiger only spells trouble for their offspring, which are usually plagued by genetic defects.
One of A-piao’s littermates died at birth, while two others were sent to the Pingtung Rescue Center at the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology.
One of those only survived for another week, leaving A-piao as the only one of his kind remaining in Taiwan.
He has managed to survive into adulthood and on Aug. 15 turns 12 years old, longer than the decade his handlers expected.
However, the genetic deficiencies caused by mating different species has resulted in a suite of problems for A-piao.
His spine is bent, rendering his left hind leg immobile. Given that the gene regulating body size cannot be passed on by a male lion or a female tiger, his keepers must carefully control his diet to prevent unchecked weight gain.
Lo Yi-chen (羅亦辰), who is in charge of A-piao’s diet, said that the liger loves mealtime, especially when chicken is on the menu.
To control his weight and ease the strain on his joints, the center feeds A-piao one 3.2kg meal each day, along with occasional 600g snacks, Lo said.
A-piao is about 140kg and 1.9m long — light for a liger, but good for A-piao’s ailing joints.
Lo is also providing “targeted training” to desensitize A-piao to treatment, as applying anesthesia at his advanced age could be dangerous.
Lions and tigers live to about 20, but ligers typically do not make it to that age, veterinarian Tuan Yun-chieh (段雲傑) said, adding that controlling A-piao’s weight is not only aimed at making him more comfortable, but also easing his passage into his twilight years.
As the world’s largest feline, ligers are popular additions to zoos and private collections, but A-piao is proof of the consequences of unnatural cross breeding, Tuan said, adding that hopefully this liger’s life serves as a lesson to those who would meddle with nature, and that the “tragedy ends here.”
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