Mawar
Mawar, a six-year-old Sumatran tiger, has been flown into Point Defiance zoo in Tacoma, joining two other females, Kali and Indah. Born at Taronga zoo in Sydney, shuffled through Memphis, then delivered by FedEx, Mawar’s life has been a chain of transfers. Officials present this as international “conservation.” In reality, it is commerce.
With fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, the idea that Mawar represents protection is a lie. She will never strengthen wild populations. She will never return to Sumatra. Her future is to rotate through sterile enclosures, watched by paying crowds. These three female tigers are not ambassadors for conservation—they are products of the breeding industry, designed to draw more visitors through zoo gates.
Conservation does not happen in Tacoma. It happens in Sumatra, where forests are burned and poachers hunt unchecked. Mawar is not hope. She is proof of failure: a rare tiger reduced to marketing, trapped in a system that cages profit and calls it protection. This is the hidden cruelty of zoos and captivity.
The Mawar article:
Based on The SubTimes, USA and Point Defiance Zoo, USA.
Photo via Point Defiance Zoo.
