James Debono The tiger recently found in a warehouse in Mosta was not a golden tabby, as claimed in another newspaper but a “normal, captive-bred Bengal tiger” originating from Slovakia, a spokesperson for the Malta Environment and Planning Authority has confirmed.
While Bengal tigers are a species threatened by extinction, and protected by the United Nations’ CITES convention, golden tabbies are an extremely rare breed of Bengal tigers bred in captivity in the United States. This variety’s unique colour is caused by a recessive gene produced by the inbreeding of Bengal and Siberian tigers. It is estimated that there are fewer than 30 such tigers in the world.
The cub was discovered in an air-conditioned room on the roof of a warehouse in Mosta after a raid by members of the Animal Welfare Department, the police’s Administrative Law Enforcement and MEPA’s Environment Protection Department.
Reports that a golden tabby had been found in Malta has prompted Big Cat Rescue – a US sanctuary for abandoned big felines – to report this case to the US authorities, claiming that the tiger could have been exported illegally from the USA.
But a MEPA spokesperson excluded this possibility, insisting that the tiger had been transported to Malta from the Slovak Republic.
A certificate confirming that the tiger had been bred in captivity has also been issued by the Slovak authorities. This implies that the cub was born to parents who were also captive-bred, the MEPA spokesperson confirmed.
But MEPA is still awaiting clarifications from the Slovak authorities, to ensure that this tiger was captive-bred according to the rules set by the CITES convention.
A CITES Article 10 certificate is required to exempt animals like the Bengal Tiger which are listed in Annex A to the EU Regulations from prohibitions on their commercial use.
“If such a certificate has been issued by the Slovak authorities this implies that the authorities were satisfied that the tiger met all the criteria for such an exemption.”
The authority has not confirmed whether any documents had been presented when the animal passed through customs. But MEPA insists that the tiger was not imported to Malta but transported from one EU country to another. “This issue is about the legal movement of an animal from one part of the European Community to another.”
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