Two smiling lion cubs and a snuggly orangutan:This WILL make your day.

[snagglepuss]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1308487/Orangutan-cradles-lion-cubs-role-babysitter.html

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R! Love it!

:loveya:

[hlthe2b]

2. Nice....

;)

[lillypaddle]

3. The orang's eyes

say it all.

[jberryhill]

4. The mother can't care for them because...

...the entertainment facility is propagating a birth defect in the cats which is linked to white fur, which has entertainment value.

It's good these cubs weren't deformed, since the "white lions" and tigers which are intentionally bred this way, but aren't "cute", get thrown away.

[snagglepuss]

6. I haven't read anything about that. Could you cite a source? Thanks.

[jberryhill]

9. Sure....

From Big Cat Rescue:

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/cats/wild/white_tigers.htm

"The myth of the Rare White Bengal Tiger was an illusion meant to deceive the public into thinking that these cats were endangered and being preserved for future generations. The truth of the matter is that they aren’t even pure Bengal tigers, but rather are all the offspring of an original Siberian / Bengal cross breeding. The inbreeding results in many defects, early deaths, still births and, as could be expected, the cats are not very bright which is why they are preferred for entertainment purposes."

White lions are the same story. The chinchilla mutation which produces the white fur is a recessive genetic anomaly, which requires intensive inbreeding to propagate.

The park from which the picture came is an entertainment facility. They say it is "better" for the lions not to be raised by their mother. That's horseshit. An orangutan is not a better mother for lion cubs than a lion. The problem is that mom is a retarded inbred mutant, and purposefully so.

I agree, the picture is cute, and makes me go "awww..." too. The backstory to these breeding programs is very, very ugly. That's why these pictures always come from either zoos in questionable places like China, or entertainment facilities.

These are lion cubs:



Zoo News Blog:

http://zoonewsdigest.blogspot.com/

"They have done it again. Always very appealing photos accompanied by a load of lies. Here we supposedly have a baby Orangutan rearing lion cubs. Before it was a baby chimpanzee rearing tiger cubs. The Orangutan is probably the same one swimming underwater in previous shots and playing with his dog.

Here they call themselves the Myrtle Beach Safari Park, but seem to have a collection of names for the same place"

[jmondine]

10. I must, unfortunately, agree with your perspective

I went to the place's website. First red flag is that you can't navigate the site without first sitting through a two minute video.
Second disturbing sign was in the video itself, where we see a "keeper" standing right next to an elephant with no barrier. Worse, he's holding an "elephant stick". This means that the animal was broken, probably years before the video was taken. This is a cruel process, especially for such a sensitive, intelligent animal like an elephant.
The third, and final, straw for me was that nowhere on the site could I see any indication that this place is part of the AZA, which means that it most likely isn't committed to maintaining the genetic diversity of the captive population of endangered animals. The AZA is very strict about this, and would never permit the kind of inbreeding you describe.

Other disturbing signs: Juvenile chimps and orangs in diapers, guests touching and handling elephants, bottle feeding tiger cubs, handling a whole array of juvenile predatory animals.

Full disclosure, I am a volunteer at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. This is an AZA-accredited, non-profit institution. The staff here is dedicated to the health and well-being of the animals. Even the keepers themselves minimize human contact with the animals, unless it is specifically to care for their needs, monitor their health, or for enrichment. Every animal has the option to go off exhibit at any time if stressed. And we have countless conservation programs for animals in the wild.

This place claims to have contributed $200k to conservation efforts. That is chump change, especially for an institution that charges $200 per person for a deluxe "safari" tour.

[Political Tiger]

5. Sweet! n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

7. "[T]he cubs will have to be separated from Hanama in about 6 months because they will have grown...

...too large for him to handle."

More like "too large for him not to become lunch."

[myrna minx]

8. Awww.

:loveya: I'm such a SUCKER for these things.