Letter: Perform a real miracle on Strip

Thursday, June 28, 2001 | 8:36 a.m.

Brian Greenspun's quote in a recent column -- "What Siegfried and Roy have done in conjunction with the zoos and conservation programs is nothing short of miraculous" -- was misleading.

The only miracle would be if anyone actually could appreciate the plight of an endangered species after reading this glowing fan letter to a couple of circus entertainers who exploit genetic mutants for entertainment. It's not about conservation; it's about money.

It should be about education. Greenspun sounded like a well-meaning but infatuated fan, in his display of hero worship of the entertainers who have apparently saved the "rare" white tigers from extinction with their big hearts and bigger wallets. Well, the truth is white tigers are not an endangered species. They are not even a species. More correctly the white tiger is a color variation of the normal orange and black Bengal tiger, which is an endangered species. The white tiger is leucistic, an aberrant genetic lack of pigment. Simply put, it is a mutant. Leucistic animals do not survive for long in the wild for good reason; they are more apparent to both predator and prey. That's why they are rare. Captive white tigers are produced by intensive inbreeding, which is detrimental to the genetic integrity of their wild stock.

Why are white tigers used here as entertainment? Yep, you guessed it, money.

I would say please do not follow their lead. Educate yourself and the children whose future could be devoid of not only wild tigers but of "wild." A better message would be to realistically portray the tigers whose eventual fate remains in a dwindling habitat at the hands of a burgeoning human population.

It would truly be miraculous for a visitor to the animal shows on the Strip to come away with an authentic conservation message and respect for the genuine wild.

GEORGANNE NEUBAUER