07/13/21 Is Croatia becoming a country of captive and tortured tigers and other wild animals?
Animal Friends Croatia appalled by the sight of a tiger on a ferry
![Tiger from Hvar [ 1.31 Mb ]](/data/image_3_15230.png "Tiger from Hvar [ 1.31 Mb ]")
- From tigers in nightclubs through illegal and legal zoos to a tiger on a ferry
Animal Friends Croatia wrote their first tiger-related report more than 15 years ago. It was reasonable to expect competent institutions to respond with confiscation and punishment. Not just that it didn't happen, but the perpetrator was encouraged to get a female and the breeding started. After that tigers appeared and were rented to bars and nightclubs as an attraction. The veterinary inspection helped legalize all actions taken, and only a few proceedings with the tigers were stopped due to pressure from associations, the media and the public.
AFC states that tigers in Croatia are held both in registered zoos and in the so-called private collections, and share their miserable fate with many other wild animals. All of them should be in their natural environment, not in prisons for human entertainment in which they further reproduce to continue trade, increase profits, and pass on their suffering to new generations of innocent prisoners, the Association emphasizes.
The scene of the tiger on the ferry symbolizes the terrible reality of wildlife protection in Croatia. AFC claims that it is difficult to determine whether it is worse if it is an illegal action or if it is a legal action, one with the support of competent institutions. The tiger really doesn't care, and it's just as disgraceful for us, say the Association. Regardless of the destination, the tiger faces psychological abuse in captivity and will have 18,000 times less space at its disposal than it would in its natural environment.
When something is registered and legalized, it does not mean that it is both just and moral, and that animals do not suffer. All zoos function in the same way and with the same goal regardless of their conditions, the organization explains, All that is being done for profit, entertainment or some other reason unrelated to animal protection which zoos have nothing to do with.
AFC hopes that perhaps this lockdown, where we felt firsthand what isolation is, and which is not even close to the feeling of helplessness and apathy of captive wild animals, will encourage people around the world, including Croatia, to imagine what it is like for living beings we have bred to suffer in captivity in which they would eventually die. The vaccine will not help them nor will their "lockdown" be lifted, and when we completely forget the time of isolation, they will remain in their permanent captivity.
It's time to ask ourselves if we really want Croatia to be remembered for scenes of tigers on ferries and bears near inns. With all the natural beauty and animals in it, should we be proud of those who are not from our region, who shouldn't be there, who are held in captivity?, ask Animal Friends.
AFC is therefore preparing a Skip The Zoo campaign to draw attention to the suffering of animals in zoos and make people aware that zoos have nothing to do with animal protection, but have something to do with poor education that wildlife is there for our entertainment and our living collections. Animal Friends is asking everyone to visit www.zaobidi.net and read just a few shocking pieces of information and help the campaign to see the light of day as soon as possible.
As for the tiger on the ferry, the Animal Friends association will initiate the competent institutions asking for a concrete reaction, but according to the experience so far, it may even help the owner of the poor tiger, whose captivity and suffering will receive official papers.
![Tiger from Hvar [ 505.38 Kb ]](/data/image_3_15231.jpg "Tiger from Hvar [ 505.38 Kb ]")
