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Pet lovers in Bahrain have been warned by the authorities to avoid online traders offering to sell and deliver big cats to the kingdom as pets.
The advice was issued after tigers were offered for sale on Expatriates.com, a popular global classified sales online site under its Bahrain link.
A contributor to the site calling herself Olive Drake and claiming to be in Dubai said that she had ‘tigers for sale’ and when GulfWeekly contacted her she emailed back with details of one available to a ‘loving family’.
The email stated that a one-month-old male tiger called Loris had been ‘checked by a vet’ and vaccinated with ‘up-to-date shots’ and could be purchased for $350 (BD132). The wild animal apparently also loved to be cuddled. “Loris also likes being around children as well as other pets such as cats and dogs,” she claimed.
The notice was spotted by concerned animal lover Liz O’Reilly from Amwaj Islands who contacted this newspaper.
The typical litter size for a tiger is 3-4 cubs. Baby tigers are born blind and helpless. The female rears the cubs alone and they are normally weaned at about six months of age.
Native to much of Asia, there are believed to be either five or six tiger subspecies remaining in existence; all are endangered.
The largest wild cat in the world, an adult can weigh up to 363kg, stretch upto six feet and boast a 3ft-long tail.
Olive asked for the purchaser of Loris to send photographs of him from ‘time to time’ so that she could be kept up-to-date of how he ‘was doing’.
It is not known whether the offer of sale was genuine or a scam. Details of the proposed purchaser were requested such as name, address and phone number.
“As soon as I have all these detail I will go straight and get the tiger registered in your name and the delivery agency will be the one to contact you on how you are to pay the delivery fee,” she said.
On further investigation, GulfWeekly uncovered an advertisement from the same operator allegedly selling German Shepherd and Husky puppies. When asked about the puppies, she replied by email that she was in Dubai and everything else written in the mail was a copy of the correspondence concerning the tiger for sale. Only, in this case, the pups were available for $400, with a promise of them being delivered to the buyer’s doorstep.
Dr Nabeel Mohamed Abu Al Fateh, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Municipalities and Urban Planning, urged residents not to be fooled into parting with their money as a tiger, for example, would not be allowed into Bahrain.
He said: “Anyone that wants to bring these kinds of animals into the country needs to comply with certain rules and conditions. If they fail to meet our requirements then the animal would be confiscated immediately.”
The authority cracked down on the owners of wild animals during a campaign in 2011. Dr Al Fateh said a ‘huge group of animals’ were uncovered including tigers, lions, wolves and crocodiles.
“We had many complaints from families saying that they knew people raising exotic wild animals in their gardens. This was dangerous so we had to take action.”
The authority’s response has been welcomed by Ms O’Reilly. “Let’s hope the message gets home and no-one tries to bring tigers into the kingdom.”
The Expatriates.com customer support team was notified by GulfWeekly about the advertisements. As a result, they were quickly removed.
A spokesman said: “Although we endeavour to ensure that all ads posted in our website are legit we can’t guarantee it. We regularly check for new posts and we usually take down all ads as well as block the user of any ad we find suspicious. Upon receiving complaints or reports, we conduct a brief investigation and take down those considered malicious.”
