In 2009, three orphaned Bengal tiger cubs were taken to the Bor Wildlife Sanctuary in India. There, they’ve grown up in relative ease — in fact, maybe they’ve gotten a little spoiled. They’re removed enough from the demands of the world they’d normally grow up in (i.e., constant bloodthirstiness) that one of the tigers hasn’t learned that when his keepers put a squirming, moving, meaty goat in his enclosure, they mean for him to eat it. The Times of India:
For two days, the tiger did not kill the goat despite being hungry. Instead it played with it; at one point even playfully dumping it in an artificial waterhole.
According to Isaiah, it’s not end times until a leopard hangs out with a kid, but a tiger is getting worrisomely close. It’s reassuring, then, that this tiger’s other two siblings have more tiger-like ideas of what to do with a goat:
The two tigresses have turned out fine – the goat that was spared by their male sibling was released in their enclosure and instantly killed and consumed by them.
On the one hand: yay, tigers that know how to care for themselves despite growing up in captivity! On the other hand, OMG that was your brother’s BEST FRIEND.
Officials are worried that the male lacks killer instincts and hunting skills. But maybe he’s just a picky eater going through a phase. Hey, we all liked to play with our food at one point in our lives.
