Kenny the white tiger

About this rating. Inbreeding resulted in a white tiger with unusual facial features.

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Kenny the white tiger

Kenny's owner claimed his face was deformed because he kept smashing it into a wall - and there were incorrect claims that his facial deformity was due to Down's syndrome. This rare white tiger - cruelly dubbed the 'ugliest' big cat in the world - was bred through incest by an animal trafficker who wanted to make a small fortune. The animal, called Kenny, had a deformed face that erroneous reports claimed was caused by Down's syndrome. His parents were brother and sister, and all of their cubs, except Kenny and a brother called Willie, who was severely cross-eyed, were stillborn or died at birth. The breeder claimed Kenny's face was deformed because he kept smashing his face into a wall, and he said he hadn't killed the cub at birth because his son though the newborn was "too cute". But Kenny's facial deformity meant he had no chance of being sold to someone wanting a rare tiger as a pet. The big cat - known for his wide face, short snout and huge underbite - was born on a tiger farm in Bentonville, Arkansas, in , and he lived there in filth. The tigers, named after country music stars, were in filthy cages filled with their own faeces and the remains of dead chickens. Emily McCormack, animal curator for Turpentine Creek, told The Dodo in "The gentleman that we rescued him from said he would constantly run his face into the wall. Ms McCormack said some media reports claimed Kenny had Down's syndrome, but he appeared to be mentally normal. She added: "He acted like the rest of them. He loved enrichment, he had a favourite toy Kenny was cruelly labelled 'the world's ugliest tiger', with people saying he looked more like a dog than a cat. His case came to light again this week amid a rise in white tigers being slaughtered for fur and their meat boiled into stock cubes. In a post on its website, the Big Cat Rescue said all white tigers are inbred and not purebred.

Most of his siblings were stillborn, or died very young, according to Patricia Quinn, a spokesperson for Turpentine Creek Wildlife Reserve, where Kenny lived from the age of two. He loved enrichment, he had a favourite toy Christ Mean?

Their show ran in one form or another for over 30 years, but ended when one of the magicians, Roy, was almost killed by one of their white tigers, Mantacore. In fact, they say they practice conscientious breeding to avoid mating tigers that are closely related, and they say they stopped breeding tigers back in Despite this argument, factual information dictates that all white tigers are related. The chance to provide true education, however, was short-lived. But what qualifies as major?

About this rating. Inbreeding resulted in a white tiger with unusual facial features. Photographs purportedly showing a "tiger with Down syndrome" have been circulating online for several years. Although these images are real, the animal's appearance is not the result of Down syndrome , but rather of inbreeding. The photographs show Kenny the White Tiger , a big cat that was rescued from a breeding facility by Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in While Kenny's face had unusual features that could bear a superficial resemblance to those of a human with Down syndrome, this was not an official explanation of his appearance:.

Kenny the white tiger

A white tiger species does not exist, and all white tigers are a product of inbreeding. Inbreeding can lead to severe health issues and deformities, and animal inbreeding by humans often leads to abandonment, euthanization, and other heartbreaking outcomes. According to PR representative for the Florida sanctuary Big Cat Rescue , Susan Bass, white tigers all descended from one original white tiger with recessive genes, who was taken from the wild in the s. This means that all white tigers in existence are a product of years of inbreeding. As Bass explained to The Dodo , all this inbreeding leads to a host of health issues for most white tigers, including Kenny.

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What is clear is that Kenny was a victim of the greed of the breeding industry. Adopt or Foster. My Profile. Inbreeding resulted in a white tiger with unusual facial features. By Ameena Schelling. Kenny was cruelly labelled 'the world's ugliest tiger', with people saying he looked more like a dog than a cat. Contact Us. Submit Your Pet. The breeder claimed Kenny's face was deformed because he kept smashing his face into a wall, and he said he hadn't killed the cub at birth because his son though the newborn was "too cute". It's best to stay away from zoos or other facilities that own white tigers as they're almost always disreputable — the American Zoological Association AZA , the foremost zoo accreditation group in the country, has outright banned members from breeding white tigers. Can't find the email?

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Ms McCormack said some media reports claimed Kenny had Down's syndrome, but he appeared to be mentally normal. Christ Mean? In a post on its website, the Big Cat Rescue said all white tigers are inbred and not purebred. Fact Check. Follow Mirror. The result of that inbreeding is tigers like Kenny, whose parents were likely siblings. You can also add newsletters iflscience. While Kenny's deformities are more apparent than other white tigers', it's unclear whether he's truly exceptional — or whether he was just one of the lucky ones to escape. With his short snout, broad face and obvious dental issues, most people wouldn't immediately recognize Kenny as a tiger. But what qualifies as major? Chris Kitching Senior News Reporter.