A "warm Fuzzy" for you...

[crimsonking]

A friend raises these guys. This little bugger is being a little trouble maker! Aint he cute??http://www.printroom.com/_vti_bin/ViewImage.dll?userid=crimsonking&album_id=119795&image_id=18&param=53972

[crimsonking]

Loves to play!http://www.printroom.com/_vti_bin/ViewImage.dll?userid=crimsonking&album_id=119795&image_id=19&param=20360

[KrokadilyanGuy3]

...One of the cutest kittens Ive seen in awhile. P. concolor, right?

[Lisa]

Awww kate won't let me have one of those.

[crimsonking]

I wish I could say it's a Florida panther, but as you know they're nearly extinct. Less than 30 left.

[HyGhBr|d]

awwww its adorable!!!!

[Rebecca]

What is it?? Species I mean;)

[Colin Friesen]

My be way off, but it looks like a couger cub.

[Nanashi04]

there is someone around here who raises big cats! along with goats, deer, buffalo, and several house cats... it's a regualr zoo. :P Really fun to visit though.

[nuno]

That's sooooo beautifull!! :cool:

[katev17]

Oooh! So cute! :( I'd like to say I'd want one, but I'm sure that my cat wouldn't appreciate it too much... Another cat that's practically extinct like that is the amur leopard... one of the most beautiful, playful and awesome cats I've ever had the pleasure of seeing!!!

Kate

[Rebecca]

Why don't more people breed the more endangered ones?? I'm not trying to make people feel bad just a question. I'd love to breed endangered animals, but not enough money. Why doesn't the gov create job for people to breed some of them?? I just think it's dumb that's all. I'm not trying to offend anyone, and I'm sorry if I have. I don't blame who try in their own way but I do blame people who don't try at all at any point in their lives and of course the gov.

[Linds]

Many zoos have programs or are working with private breeders to work with endangered wildcats. The only problem with many of the endangered cats are that its virtually impossible to initiate a releasement program, since there is little to no protection for them in the wild, and the very reason they are extinct (poaching, habitat destruction, etc) is still just as much as a threat - as well as it is very difficult to have an animal and raise it while maintaining its abilities to survive in the wild. Many of these animals will now only exist in private/government collections :(

Also, not just anyone can breed/keep these animals. There is alot of legal work and permits, people need to be trained to work with them, as well as it is very costly ($100/day just to FEED a kitten :eek:)

[Rebecca]

I see. I never really thought of the release being hard. Like I know you have to train them to be released but I never really thought of anyother problems other then the animals not being ready. Then I guess use people (everone) should band together. Get poachers, and make sure they NEVER hurt agian. I know I know people do what they can, I just hate it. I'm sure most others on here do to. I do what I can and I'm sure you do to. I just hate that we (humans) are our own enemy. I just find it very furstrating.

[Tim_Cranwill]

Those are the cutest of all animal babies!:)

Thanks for sharing...

[crimsonking]

In the case of the FL. subspecies, a large threat to them is also OTHER panthers. Many are killed by their own. The base population is so small now ( and obviously inbred) that they must use other ssp. to get ANY population increase. Texas ssp. is one. It's sad. Just not enough space left for these guys. Soon no more "pure" FL. panthers I'm afraid. I think 30 or so left. I didn't mean to get all depressed and all, just to show a cute little panther cub. Hopefully next time I see him he'll be more in the mood to play with me. I'll be sure to take a better camera with me too.

[katev17]

I don't know if somebody already replied with this, because I'm too lazy to read (SORRY!) But we can't breed endangered animals unless there's like 1000 of them, or something... I'm not sure of the exact number of them but the reason is because when you don't have enough numbers to breed within, you begin to get into inbreeding, which is not really helping the process in anyway. Although here's something that might be interesting for people:

In New Zealand I think it is, they're trying to create a tiger that has been extinct for a very long time (I really want to say sibertooth tiger but I'm PRETTY REALLY sure it's not...) and they're doing it the way people in the movie Jurassic Park did it. I think it's really neat that they can do that, but unfortunately there's a lot of issues that come to hand... For example, it seems right that humans are trying to replace an animal that has gone extinct because of acts of humans , right? (make sense?) However, the ecosystem has developed to survive with out it, and by reintroducing it , there would be a whole new level of disruption. So are the scientists that are doing this doing good or bad to the ecosystem?? I'd like to hear your guyses thoughts on this! Keep in mind that they do plan to reintroduce the species once they've CLONED the animal... (Which is a whole other topic) ... If it was just to bring it back to life and keep it in captivity, I think my opinion would be different, but they're trying to up things to a greater level. I read this in an article, if I find it I'll be sure to post it!!!

So what do you guys think??

Kate

[Rebecca]

I think it's great that their trying to bring back some extinct species, but why not work on keeping the ones we have and THEN bring back some of the ones that are already gone. If thier cloning the extinct ones then why not clone the ones already here?? I don't know it's just dumb. I wish I could do more, it makes me mad that I can't do something big, know what I mean?? I can do little stuff but I want to do something big to help, oh well.