Guys: Trying to Attract a Mate by Posing With Captive Tigers Is Not Cool
Some women estimate that up to one in ten men on Tinder have a profile picture featuring a big cat
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For a single man trying to stand out on dating apps such as Tinder, uploading a photo that features a tiger or other big cat might seem edgy and cool. However, as it turns out, thousands of other men have this same idea. According to the Wall Street Journal, "some Tinder users estimate they encounter tigers in one out of every 10 profiles they view."
The influx of guy-posing-with-tiger photos has become so great that women are actively complaining about it on their own profiles, the Wall Street Journal continues. Although Tinder doesn't keep track of the number of tigers that appear on its site, the trend seems to be occurring coast to coast in North American users, with female users from California to Toronto regularly spotting tigers in their area. One female Tinder user told the Wall Street Journal that she now "compares tiger photos with writing "I love to laugh" on a dating profile—a cliché, and, for her, an automatic dismissal." Others have reacted by creating sites such as Tinder Guys With Tigers and Tigers of Tinder (though that site has its fair share of elephants, sharks and koalas, too).
Other users recognize a bigger problem with the trend than just being annoying: many of the tiger photos originate from trips to tiger parks in China or Southeast Asia. Those establishments often have ties to illegal wildlife trade, the Wall Street Journal continues, and many house their animals in abysmal conditions—both of which are pretty big turn-offs.
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