![Super mad :supermad:](./images/smilies/supermad.gif)
I knew that white tigers <i>had</i> to be inbred because they came from a single sire, Mohan. I didn't see any evidence of inbreeding and I thought that strange. Now I've seen it and am aware. Thanks, Z.
Inbreeding — of anything — is one of my hot buttons. Through the actions of a greed-motivated, unscrupulous individual, a whole species' genetic integrity is compromised and in some cases even ruined.
We're seeing it in the horse world. I'm talking mainly about two of the Big Three horse breeds, Quarter Horses and Arabians. There's inbreeding (euphemistically, "line breeding") all the time in those two breeds. In the Arabians...I don't know the rationale, but in the QHs it's because AQHA breeders are in part breeding for the horse slaughter industry (which is on its deathbed here).
They breed QHs for slaughter because QHs are: a) Docile, b) Have lots of muscle and little fat, and c) Are compact enough to fit more horses into the trucks, which by law can't have more than two decks. They get inbred for a couple reasons: that of the above, and to accentuate "desirable" traits (like the white tiger). We have the Poco Bueno and Impressive lines to thank for HERDA and HYPP, because their breeders went off the deep end and turned 'em loose on anything with prominent mammaries, including their (equine) daughters.
HERDA is a genetic disease where the skin along the horse's back stretches tight, <i>splits open</i> and heals raggedly if at all. It renders the horse unrideable and they either have to be destroyed (by either euthanasia — or maybe just sold to Cavel and shipped off to the slaughterhouse) or given permanent pasture ornament status. You certainly can't breed them and an untrained, semi-feral horse is dangerous to have around family situations. Horse-crazy kids can't tell the difference between nice, well-trained Eclipse and ol' Dobbin his paddock buddy, who has HERDA and wasn't trained.
HYPP, endemic to the Impressive line, is basically equine Marfan's Syndrome. The horse is fine for the first few years of his life, and then one day drops over dead from heart failure.
Friesians...yeah, there's inbreeding. My guy's dad's paternal grandparents were half-siblings. But in the main, it wasn't on account of greed (yet). It was on account of there only being three sires and twenty mares in the modern breed's foundation. Friesians are inbred for the same reason cheetahs are, there was a bottleneck.
Thanks for getting the word out, Z. Sorry in advance for the rant...
Edit afterthought: Just breed tigers. You'll get more tigers and pull them back from the brink of extinction. If the deck gets shuffled often enough and you get a white one — that's gravy, and no bad news anywhere.