EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS — Kenny is said to "the world's ugliest tiger", reports The Sun, and is one example of why they should not be bred.<br /><br />Kenny's short snout, abnormal underbite, eye placement and white fur are all results of cruel inbreeding. He was born in 1998 on a tiger farm, he and his cross-eyed brother Willie are the only two cubs that were not stillborn or who died at birth. <br /><br />According to The Sun, Kenny, Willie and their parents, Loretta and Conway were taken away from their breeder after he contacted The Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. <br /><br />The man claimed that Kenny's snout looked that way because the tiger used to hit its head against the wall constantly. He was asking for roughly $10,000 USD each for Kenny and Willie. But, the Refuge wouldn't pay. <br /><br />Kenny died at age 10. Regular tigers can live up to 18 years in captivity.<br /><br />Currently, white tiger cubs can be sold for up to $5,000 USD each. Their skin and fur are turned into rugs while their body parts are sold to make health potions.<br /><br />According to animal news website, The Dodo, white tigers are most likely all descendants from a single male that was stolen from its mother as a cub for breeding.<br /><br />Big Cat Rescue, a sanctuary dedicated to protecting large felines, explains that white tigers are born only through inbreeding via brother to sister or father to daughter. <br />The sanctuary says this level of inbreeding can cause severe mutations.<br /><br />A gene mutation makes all white tigers cross-eyed. Depending on the cat, sometimes this can be seen and on others, it cannot. They can also be born with cleft palates, club feet, spinal deformities, and deficient organs.<br /><br />These gene mutations do not only affect white tigers. <br /><br />They are also prevalent in other big cat mixes such as ligers. That's a female tiger, and a male lion mix, and tigons, that's a female lion and male tiger mix.<br /><br />SOURCES: Big Cat Rescue, The Dodo, The Sun, PETA<br />https://bigcatrescue.org/why-white-tigers-should-go-extinct-2/<br />https://www.thedodo.com/truth-about-white-tiger-breeding-1492535969.html<br />https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7959952/kenny-inbred-tiger/<br />https://www.peta.org/blog/ligers-tigons-frankencats-shouldnt-bred/
