Liger Cubs Birth Creates Zoo Controversy

By: Bill Waters
08/22/2010 07:52 AM ET

Liger Cubs birth creates zoo controversy. The cubs were born in Tiawan, but now a private zoo keeper is in trouble for breeding the liger. Liger breeding is illegal in Taiwan because of the rare protected cubs.

If the zoo keeper, Huang Kuo-nan, is convicted, he could be fined around $1,500. However, he is insisting that he did not mate the two animals on purpose. Huang created the country’s first liger cubs after the mother, a Bengal tigress named Beauty, gave birth to triplets.

Unfortunately, only two of the liger survived. As with many animal hybrids, these cubs lack the ability to reproduce. The father of the cubs is an African lion named Simba. The cubs are now being hand-reared as the mother has made no attempt to take care of them.

Simba and Beauty have lived in the same cage, since they were both small,” stated Huang. They began mating three years ago. However, he claims this is their first time conceiving. “Usually when a lion and a tiger are kept together, they will for sure attack each other to death, but these two have been spending time together since they were small,” Huang stated.

Napoleon Dynamite was on to something when he sketched his favorite animal Napoleon described the creature as “pretty much my favorite animal. It’s like a lion and a tiger mixed … bred for its skills in magic.”

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