one green planet
one green planet

Everyone thinks cats and swimming don’t mix but  Zabu the white tiger shows everyone that a big cat can love going for a swim in this new video out from Big Cat Rescue. Zabu isn’t just looking to cool off in the water, she’s looking to have some fun and it involves a lot of splashing!

Zabu is a 13-year-old While Siberian/Bengal Hybrid tiger at Big Cat rescue in Tampa, Fla. She was born in a circus in New England and rescued just before her fourth birthday. The circus had intended to breed her with a lion named Cameron in order to produce a liger.

Like Zabu, ligers and white tigers do not exist in the wild but only as a result of humankind’s cruel obsession with interbreeding and inbreeding. Big Cat Rescue clearly explains that this kind of breeding is actually animal abuse as it results in many genetic deformations in the cats and many normal looking cats are disposed of in order to the get the human-made “exotic” ones.

So although Zabu could never survive in the wild with her white fur, she does get a happy ending at Big Cat Rescue where she has plenty of space to run and play. However, the greatest part of her life at the sanctuary may be that she gets to live with her long-time companion Cameron! Of course, both are neutered to prevent any little ligers from running around but companionship for these two means a happier life for them.

Zabu is the more playful of the two. Now, if only she could persuade Cameron to go for swim as well, she would be ecstatic!

Watch below as Zabu enjoys herself in a little pond at the sanctuary, proving (some) cats do in fact like water!