The Only White Tiger In Great Britain

Zoological Gardens in the British Isles are all under the authority of the 'Zoo Licencing Act'. This is amongst the best if not THE best zoo legislation in the world. Any collection open to the public which includes animals which are not normally domesticated in Great Britain or Northern Ireland falls under its jurisdiction.

Though the act is comprehensive it is not restrictive and a British Zoo which wanted to keep a White Tiger could do so providing it went through the proper channels. It is however extremely unlikely that any zoo which was actually genuinely sincere about conservation would ever consider aquiring a White Tiger. The acquisition and maintenance of White Lions is bad enough pandering as it does to fashion and pure commercialism rather than conservation.

The only white tiger in Great Britain then is held by a circus.

There is only one circus in Great Britain which still has acts which involve exotic animals. This is the circus owned and managed by Martin Lacey. In July 2010 the circus held six tigers. Five of these are normal coloured and the sixth is a young 'white' female called 'Tiara'.

As the circus claims to have bred all its tigers "into the ninth generation", one wonders just where 'Tiara' came from. Was she home bred or imported from somewhere else?

The video below gives a little more information to the one above. It does though have an unfortunate title which lumps all zoos together. This is not the case. There are good zoos and bad zoos. Good zoos would never entertain the idea of breeding White Tigers.