A tiger shot in the eye, and then in the neck, bone, skin and rotting meat, a pot for cooking tiger stock... No, I’d rather not go on. Indeed, the environmental inspectors, customs officers and police officers were quite shocked by what they found at Ludvík Berousek’s and his accomplices - and they have seen plenty.

But as the Evening News showed, this shocking case is just the tip of the iceberg. The breeding of big cats is incredibly widespread in our country and very often it takes place in completely unsatisfactory conditions and/or it is purely for profit. Yes, and by that I mean not only the crazy “breeders”, who are capable of keeping a tiger in a four by five metre cage, but also the various “zooparks”, “bioparks” and “petting zoos”.

An anonymous source at Lidové noviny summed up the case of Berousek etal. very succinctly: “Basically, their plan was that when the animal was older and not so suitable for taking pictures with children or for films or it had come back after being in the circus for years, they would use its body for commercial purposes.”

Yes, it was an anonymous source, but speculation about something similar has been making the rounds for a long time in professional circles. And, of course, it is not the case that every tiger or lion, with which you have your photo taken at a private company, ends up in a slaughterhouse or in a soup. The fact is, however, that tigers reared in private die at an incomparably younger age than tigers in zoos. And it is also a fact that taking a tiger or lion cub away from its mother, so it can be petted is, at the very least, bordering on abuse that leads to mental issues for the cub.

It is these dubious breeding stations and “petting zoos” that form the base of the iceberg, whose tip is represented by Ludvík Berousek and his pals. Hardly anyone in this country would think of curing haemorrhoids with tiger fat. But going to a menagerie, cuddling some lion cubs and posting a few pictures on Facebook is a very common matter. Unfortunately, most of those photographed with lions or tigers have little idea that they are not helping the animals. Quite the opposite! Moreover, the owners of the various menageries corroborate this illusion with falsehoods about how they are rescuing the lions and tigers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The case of Berousek et al. should lead to deeper reflection and a change in attitudes. First off, however, a change is needed in what is now completely inadequate legislation. I have written on this topic several times and I firmly believe that this time we’ll finally see some headway. Hopefully I’m not being too much of an optimist.

Miroslav Bobek
Director of Prague Zoo