Tiger Down Syndrome: Meet Kenny the ‘Ugliest’ White Big Cat With Facial Deformities; Where Is He Now?

Have you seen white tigers? A few years back, one tiger made headlines due to his unique appearance, which many believed was due to Down Syndrome. However, the story behind Kenny, the tiger with Down Syndrome, is more heartbreaking than what probably most know.

Tiger Down Syndrome

Kenny went viral due to his appearance. He was dubbed the "ugliest tiger in the world" due to his facial deformities, which many claimed resulted from Down Syndrome.

However, the previous reports about his condition were not accurate. Most animals, especially felines, including Kenny, do not develop Down Syndrome. Kenny was a product of incest by an animal trafficker in a bid to produce the rare white tiger.

Breeders, performers, and even some zoos that house white tigers usually claim that white tigers are endangered and must be bred to conserve them. And unfortunately, many do not question such a narrative. However, white tigers are not a species; they are not endangered or seen in the wild, according to Susan Bass of the Florida-based sanctuary Big Cat Rescue (BCR). She added that there are a lot of false beliefs about white tigers, who, in the very first place, shouldn't exist.

Generations of inbreeding have produced the majority of white tigers, which can lead to various physical and medical issues. Kenny is just one illustration of the consequences of this inbreeding.

The majority of white tigers have cross eyes, according to Bass, even though it might not be obvious when you look at them. However, their optic nerves are frequently crossed.

Additionally, their lifespans are shorter. They struggle with their spines and have kidney problems. Like many other white tigers at BCR, one has a cleft palate, making her "look like she's always smiling."

Inbreeding and morphological abnormalities are not the beginning and end of the terrible treatment of white tigers. The main draw of these animals, at least for breeders, is that visitors are prepared to pay money to view them, and they have long been a mainstay of Las Vegas entertainment.

Bass added that if people knew the truth, they wouldn't be willing to pay money, much more if presented with a physically deformed white tiger. Thus, only the "ideal" tigers are sold, and the odds of having one is 1 in 30. The other 29 are usually euthanized and abandoned. Kenny was only one of those who survived.

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Where's Kenny The Tiger Now?

Kenny was born on a tiger farm in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 1998. He was rescued by the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in 2000. He spent the first two years on the filthy tiger farm and was nearly killed as a newborn. The tigers were kept in cages covered in chicken carcasses and dung.

Only two of the cubs in Kenny's litter survived. The other, his brother Willie, was severely cross-eyed and orange at birth. The remaining cubs either perished at birth or were stillborn.

The breeder asserted that Kenny's facial abnormalities were brought on by the cub continually bashing his face against a wall. Additionally, he acknowledged that he would have just killed Kenny had his son not found him "too cute."

Emily McCormack, animal curator for Turpentine Creek, didn't believe that Kenny ran his face into the wall. According to her, Kenny was just like the other tigers mentally.

"He loved enrichment, he had a favorite toy ... he ran around in his habitat, he ate grass, he just looked kind of silly," McCormack said.

Unfortunately, as experts said, white tigers don't live long. Kenny died in 2008 after a battle with melanoma, a serious skin cancer. He was only ten years old and under half the average age of a tiger in captivity.