Roque

I've received my documents through from the Born Free Foundation, confirming I am now the adoptive parent of Roque ('Rocky') the tiger.

He was born on 17th May 1998 and was only a few days old when he was taken from his mother and put on sale in a Spanish petshop. He was placed in a small glass tank and was terrified and alone, constantly crying for his mother. Fortunately, Roque was rescued by Born Free and brought to a UK based big cat sanctuary. They moved him to a large forest enclosure in Bannerghatta, India in April 2002 where he is more used to his surroundings and has learned to become more of a wild tiger.

The exploitation of animals makes me sick to the core, whether it be Roque's situation, circuses, the majority of zoos, the fur trade etc etc. It's all about money. How can you possibly sell a tiger as a pet? Look how big they get! You can't exactly stroke it like a domestic cat; it'd have your hand off! It's a sad state of affairs that's it's got to the stage where there are only 5000-7500 wild tigers left in the world. There were approx 100,000 at the turn of the 20th century. Three sub-species of tiger are already extinct and poaching and habitat loss pose the greatest threat to the remaining species.

The pic above is actually of Roque who is now a happy tiger thanks to Born Free, who are doing such wonderful work for the animals. I intend to give my full support whenever I can, as I do with the RSPCA, PETA, Cats Protection, and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.