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John Varty is a controversial South African filmmaker who made more than 30 documentaries and one feature film, Running Wild with Brooke Shields. Varty established Tiger Canyons near the town of Philippolis on the Van der Kloof Lake in the Karoo of South Africa as an experiment to supposedly create a free-ranging, self-sustaining hybrid tiger population outside Asia. His mission is to create awareness about the tiger's struggle to survive. However experts feel that this is a money making venture by Varty in an attempt to earn money from the tourism industry. This was documented in a film called Living with Tigers.

His autobiography "Nine Lives" was published in 2010.

National Geographic Documentary

John Varty and his tigers can be seen in Tiger Man of Africa on the National Geographic Channel.

Tiger Canyons project

John Varty agrees with Kitchener who suspects that variations within populations be more significant than variations between populations. Recent DNA work shows that no real differences exist between subspecies. British biologist Andrew Kitchener has pointed out, moreover, that 7 of the 8 tiger subspecies were originally described (or defined) on the basis of only 11 specimens in all. The length of the body and the length of the tail were the outstanding features considered, and little attention was paid to the complexities of body, size, coloration, and pelage. About Indian Tiger

However there are controversies to his proposed conservation strategy. One criticism about the project is with the chosen cubs. Experts state that the four tigers (Ron, Julie, Seatao and Shadow) involved in the re-wilding project are not purebred Bengal tigers, and should therefore not be used for breeding. The four tigers are not recorded in the Bengal tiger Studbook and should not be deemed as purebred Bengal tigers. Many tigers in the world's zoos are genetically impure, a situation which may also apply to these four. The 1997 International Tiger Studbook lists the current global captive population of Bengal tigers at 210 tigers. All of the studbook-registered captive population is maintained in Indian zoos, except for one female Bengal tiger in North America. It has been pointed out that Ron and Julie (two of the tigers) were bred in the USA and hand-raised at Bowmanville Zoo in Canada, while Seatow and Shadow are two tigers bred in South Africa.

The tigers in the Tiger Canyons Project have recently been confirmed to be crossbred Siberian/Bengal tigers. Tigers that are not genetically pure are not allowed to be released into the wild and will not be able to participate in the tiger Species Survival Plan, which aims to breed genetically pure tiger specimens and individuals. It has thus been claimed that these tigers do not have any genetic value, and that their release into the wild could result in genetic pollution, besides the extinction of purebred Tigers.

Discovery documentary

Living with Tigers with John Varty and Dave Salmoni was one of the most popular documentaries on the Discovery Channel in 2003. The documentary has been described as a fraud. The tigers were apparently unable to hunt, and the film crew chased the prey up against the fence and into the path of the tigers for the sake of dramatic footage. Cory Meacham, a US-based environmental journalist mentioned that "the film has about as much to do with tiger conservation as a Disney cartoon." In addition, the tigers have not been released as the film suggests — and indeed still reside in a small enclosure under constant watch and with frequent human contact. The Discovery documentary contains footage that its maker, John Varty, has admitted on affidavit to be false.

There are claims that Tiger Canyons' Tigers have no conservation value, and experts question Varty's intention of building Tiger Canyons as a ecotourism industry in South Africa. Most experts concluded that it is just a money-minded venture which allows money to be earned through the deception that the tigers there are purebred, but in fact they have no conservation value as they are of mixed ancestry. Conservationists fear that the public will be misled in this cynical fashion.

Wildlife films

John Varty also made wildlife films. As part of his filming projects, he has supposedly introduced cheetah, a lioness, and two leopards to the wild His films have achieved top ratings on US TV channels and have been seen by millions of people and, he hopes, have resulted in a greater reverence for our planet and all living things. He has won many top documentary honors such as the New York Gold Award, the Film Festival of Montana Best Independent Program and American Cable TV's Ace Award. Major international customers include Walt Disney, The Discovery Channel, Time Life, Reader's Digest and Turner Original Programs (TOP).

Filmography

Living with Tigers
A Secret Life
Ambush in Paradise
Brothers in Arms
Cycle of the Seasons
Defining Moments
Horn and Claw
Hunters
Hyaena the Great Opportunist
Jamu the Orphaned Leopard

Londolozi's Africa
Perfect Mothers
Perfect Predators
Return of the Kings
River Dinosaur
Savage Instinct
Savannah Cats
Sense and Scentability
Shingalana
Super Hunts Super Hunters

Survival on the Savannah
Swift and Silent
The Brotherhood
The Mating Game
The Silent Hunter
The Super Predators
The Tracker
Troubled Waters
Wet and Wild

References

External links

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