Warning: This report contains images of a graphic nature that may upset sensitive readers.
Her bones were exposed. Her paws mutilated, tendons raw and visible, claws worn down to a single splinter. The tiger lay in the dust, unable to stand and had to crawl to reach food placed before her.
This is the condition in which inspectors from the NSPCA found her on 24 January at a notorious predator breeding facility in North West – a scene described by an NSPCA inspector as “unimaginable suffering.”
“It was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen,” said Duán Matthee, a senior NSPCA inspector who was part of the Wildlife Protection Unit team that conducted the inspection. “She had gnawed her own front legs to the second set of joints. She didn’t even have claws left to tear meat.”
The tiger had been mauled by another tiger at the facility three weeks earlier, during which she sustained injuries to her throat, torso and neck. The NSPCA had returned to the farm to ensure she was receiving adequate care. Instead, they found an animal in severe pain with no evidence of veterinary follow-up.
The female tiger had chewed away part of its front legs. (Photo: NSPCA)
The female tiger had chewed off her claws and was unable to walk. (Photo: NSPCA)
The tiger had chewed her paws to the bone. (Photo: NSPCA)
“We had to force the owners to get a vet out the first time,” Matthee said. “Then they just left her in an isolated camp and abandoned her.”
‘That’s money’
Faced with no viable alternatives due to the extent of the tiger’s injuries and suffering, the NSPCA had the animal humanely euthanised. However, when inspectors attempted to remove the carcass for veterinary examination, the facility’s owner refused, saying bluntly: “That’s money.”
The team was then locked inside the enclosure, with the owner refusing to open the gates. Prioritising their safety, the inspectors had to leave the carcass behind.
The facility is home to at least 81 tigers, crammed into overcrowded, fetid management camps.
“Seven juvenile tigers in a 10-by-5 metre camp — it’s shocking,” Matthee said. “They live in their own faeces and the only water available is like sewage, full of decomposing meat and waste. They throw meat into the same dam water they’re expected to drink. It smells like death.”
While the owner claims the tigers are not being sold or hunted, the NSPCA has long suspected the facility is linked to the illegal predator bone trade. Matthee confirmed that the owner could not produce permits for the animals when asked.
Regulatory failure
The NSPCA’s findings have raised alarm bells over regulatory enforcement. The North West Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism reportedly conducted an inspection just 10 days before the NSPCA visit, raising serious concerns about oversight and possible complicity.
“This isn’t just about one tiger,” the NSPCA said in its statement. “It’s about a broken system that allows profit-driven cruelty to continue under the guise of legal breeding.”
The organisation is now compiling a legal docket and intends to prosecute the facility, which cannot yet be named due to legal proceedings.
Grim industry
The case underscores the broader issues in South Africa’s captive predator industry, where legal grey areas allow facilities to operate with minimal oversight. Tigers, though not native to South Africa, are bred in large numbers for profit, often ending up in bone trade markets abroad.
“We can’t allow animals to suffer like this behind closed gates,” Matthee said. “This tiger was dying slowly in agony and silence. That should haunt us all.” DM
Original source: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-27-bones-exposed-limbs-mutilated-tiger-found-in-agony-at-north-west-breeding-facility-and-euthanised/
