De-Clawing
Read the story below the pictures
[photogallery/photo11648/real.htm]
So, you think de-clawing is ok and humane and will keep you safe? Well, don't ask the opinion of
this tiger or the people who rescued her at the
Conservators'
Center here in North Carolina. We were lucky enough to be able to go
and watch them try to remedy what this surgery did to this poor tiger.
This tiger was de-clawed in order to make her
"safe" to take out and have her picture picture taken with people. Unfortunately, that left
many with a false sense of security as a tiger has enough power in their swing
to kill you with or without claws.
The process of de-clawing involves removing the
top portion of each digit at the first knuckle (look at your fingers and imagine
every one of them being amputated at the first knuckle). As if that isn't
bad enough, there are thousands of horror stories of de-clawings gone bad, from
claws growing back, deformed and having to be amputated as many as six times
until the full digit is gone, to what happened to this tiger. The body
naturally tries to heal itself from what it considers an injury and can lead to
incredibly painful health problems.
This tiger's tendons started to tighten, causing
each digit on her front paws to curl down, forcing the bone into the pad of each
toe (look at the pictures closely to see this) making it horribly painful for
her to walk. Fortunately for her, two vets, her rescuers, several vet
students, and a swarm of volunteers were willing to step in to perform surgery
(not so easy on a tiger in pain) to help alleviate some of the pain she's in.
The tendons on each digit were cut to relieve the pressure and give her more
mobility on each toe. Hopefully this will help, but it will not cure the
pain and suffering this poor animal has had to go through, all in the name of
"safety" and money.
So many exotic pet buyers are lulled into a false
sense of security with the promise that animals who are de-clawed and/or
de-fanged will now be safe and happy pets. Many animals, like tigers and
bear do not need claws or fangs to break your back or slap you hard enough to
decapitate you. Many species depend on their claws to do things other than
climb trees, many actually use them to eat and without them cannot do so
properly. Removing canines does not mean that an animal cannot break your
bones with the pressure of their bite. This type of surgery also
encourages the animals to compensate for their natural behavior by using other
parts of their body. For example, de-clawed cats may then bite instead of
scratching, and animals that are de-fanged may then give crushing bites instead
of puncture wounds (not that a puncture wound from a tiger or bear might not be
fatal in themselves). Most animals that are de-fanged possess the
strength to crush bone. A crushing bite can cause irreparable damage to
your body and does not require fangs or any teeth at all to deliver. So
de-fanging does not fix the inherent dangers of the animal. It simply gives a
false sense of security which can lead to more dangerous situations.
De-clawing and de-fanging is not harmless. It is
not humane. It does not make the animal safe. If a person is not trained
properly to live with an animal in it's natural state, then that person should
not live with that species.
Before you let somebody talk you into removing
parts of your animal, please consider what this did to this tiger.
Note: We will not adopt to people who have their
animals "altered" in this way.