Former Tarzan insists he'll keep his tigers

By Joel Hood - South Florida Sun-Sentinel
July 14, 2007

Loxahatchee Groves Bo was in a bad mood.

The 400-pound Siberian Bengal tiger stalked angrily inside his shaded iron enclosure, finding little relief from the heat. Visitors watched him pace behind pencil-thin iron bars. Bo wanted nothing to do with them; he held them back with an irritated growl.

"It's too hot for him," owner Steve Sipek said, entering the cage with a small bucket of severed turkey legs. "He's a little cranky."

It's a mood that's spreading around the Sipek compound as the reclusive cat lover prepares for what has become a yearly battle with state and federal officials to keep his exotic felines: two Bengal tigers, an African lioness and a black leopard.

A year ago, federal inspectors denied Sipek an exotic animal permit to legally keep his cats because his five-acre ranch did not meet standards in the Animal Welfare Act. But the former B-movie actor, known around the Groves simply as "Tarzan," was granted a state permit that allowed him to keep the cats if he used them for educational or commercial purposes.

Sipek said he's reapplying for another state license, but remains defiant as ever toward federal officials and what he calls their"ridiculously high standards" for animal care. He said his cats are well cared for and challenges the authority of the federal officials to make any demands for better conditions. His last federal license inspection lasted less than an hour before Sipek ran the officials off his property.

"I told them to get the hell out of here and don't come back," Sipek said. "They have no authority to police me in my own home. Government likes to be the boss over everything. They're only in it to harass you."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health division last toured Sipek's ranch in January 2006. The inspection and licensing arm of the USDA had given Sipek failing grades on two previous inspections and found conditions had improved little this time. Inspection records note that Sipek did not have a veterinarian on site or on call and that no medical records existed for the cats.

Inspectors found a section of fence was only seven-feet high, a foot lower than the minimum standards for these types of animals. They noted vertical gaps in the fencing large enough for outside animals to pass through to gain access to the enclosed tigers and lioness. They also pointed out other potential weak points in the fence.

Records show inspectors told Sipek that he did not provide a proper diet and feeding program for the cats and that his grounds were littered with dangerous debris. As with past failed inspectors, this record concludes that Sipek is not allowed to participate in USDA"regulated activities," such as exhibiting the animals, until he obtains a federal license.

Five months later, Sipek easily passed inspection by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and received a state license.

"We're not in it for the animal's health," said John West, the commission's investigations captain. "We don't need to see shot records or veterinarian records or anything like that. If he wants to live in a trash pile, that's his issue."

Sipek admits he's frustrated by this discrepancy in state and federal standards. While the state last year said he was a good guardian for the cats, the USDA launched an investigation into his care. USDA officials would not say whether the investigation is ongoing.

"It's a lousy situation," Sipek said. "The USDA is not qualified to issue licenses."

West agrees it's a confusing and complicated permit process and said the state has ongoing discussions with the USDA to simplify it.

The Croatian-born Sipek, who starred as Tarzan in a foreign remake of the film in 1970, garnered international attention in 2004 when a 600-pound Bengal tiger he owned, Bobo, escaped from his compound and into the rural residential community of the Groves. The tiger was later shot by Fish and Wildlife officials, but soon after, Sipek received another commercial license from the state for two tiger cubs, Bo and Little Bo. Those cubs are now 2 years old and weigh 400 pounds.

USDA spokesman Jim Rogers said federal licenses trump state permits, meaning that Sipek could face legal action if the agency wanted to
prosecute him for illegally owning exotic cats. Rogers would not comment on Sipek's case specifically, but said "if he's operating in a
way that we regulate without a license, we will pursue it."

If they do, Sipek could face fines or a court appearance. But he said he's not worried.

"Nobody could take better care of my cats than I can," Sipek said."The health of the cats is all that matters. That's all I care about and that's all they should care about, too."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpcat0714pnjul14,0,4576283.story

See an interactive online map of exotic cat owners . See people being stupid with big cats, endangering themselves and others HERE . See the awful conditions that many captive cats endure HERE .

Tarzan Buys New Tiger Cubs After State Shoots His Escaped Pet Tiger

LOXAHATCHEE -- Steve Sipek still wears grief like a heavy overcoat a year after a wildlife officer shot and killed his escaped tiger, Bobo , igniting a torrent of outrage.

His massive shoulders sag. His bright-blue eyes suddenly shed tears.

But just as suddenly, the retired actor who played Tarzan in B movies brightens and sings a ditty he wrote about the two new loves in his life:

Bo and Little Bo.

The 3-month-old tiger cubs are asleep on the floor when Sipek cracks open the door of his jungle-motif bedroom and coos like the proudest of new papas.

"Where are Daddy's kisses?" he asks, bending to nuzzle the fur balls. "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?"

Bo and Little Bo -- Bengal-Siberian mixes like their beloved namesake -- are lifelines pulling Sipek back from the depths of despair. They are not unlike the lion that rescued him from a burning movie set 35 years ago, kindling his love affair with exotic cats.

The 26-pound cubs also are ready for showtime as the star attractions of Tarzan's Big Cat Sanctuary, Sipek's latest plan to fill the gaping hole in his heart.

Unable to obtain more big cats under an old personal pet license last issued by the state in 1980, Sipek applied for and recently received a state license to exhibit exotic wildlife. That allowed him to buy Bo and Little Bo for $3,200. He's still working on getting a federal license.

But there's another hitch. He says he must open his 5-acre compound in the secluded Palm Beach County neighborhood of Loxahatchee Groves to the public, inviting in the very beings he has spent much of his life avoiding:

People.

"I have no choice," he said. "I have to, or else I lose my license."

The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, which objects to any private person keeping exotic cats in backyard cages, says Sipek is wrong. Noting there are no legal requirements for exhibitors to actually show their cats, the foundation says he is simply using a loophole in the law to obtain more personal pets.

"Lots of people get the exhibition license, and they fulfill that by having a few people come in and look at the animals," said Heather Veleanu, managing direction of the foundation. "They do it by inviting their neighbors or their brothers and sisters over."

Sipek, who also owns a lioness, a Bengal tiger and a black leopard, readily admits he's a reluctant exhibitor. But he says he'll do whatever he must to keep his new cubs. In the meantime, he's working on a Web site, jungleworld.org , where would-be visitors can learn more information.

It's a classic Catch-22 for a self-described loner who has felt betrayed by those closest to him.

After all, Sipek prefers the company of big-fanged felines that could kill with a single pounce to humans, who he says have caused him nothing but heartache during his 63 years.

His mother, he says, orphaned him in his native Croatia as a baby and then reclaimed him when he was 8, only to beat him regularly. He says he hasn't talked to his son in a year.

And he has had nothing but bad luck with his ex-wives and girlfriends who, he says, have left him, his cats and his granite and marble house behind.

"Cats are the only creatures who love you forever, who are loyal forever," he said. "You never have to wonder if they betray you."

'They murdered my Bobo'

Sipek suspects an angry former girlfriend coaxed Bobo out of the house and left a series of cages and gates open the afternoon of July 12, 2004, when the 600-pound cat greeted a startled mail carrier on C Road with a swipe of his declawed paw.

Within hours, C Road became a media roadshow, with live images from the fringes of the intensive hunt for Bobo beamed around the world. The next day, five shots rang out just beyond Sipek's compound, and Bobo fell dead.

Prosecutors found no evidence that Sipek was responsible for the cat's getting loose.

Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission called the shooting a necessary tragedy by an officer left with no other option. While the officer waited for a tranquilizer team, the big cat whirled around, bared his teeth and lunged, they said.

But an inconsolable Sipek called the shooting "murder," insisting the brush above Bobo's body was undisturbed, an impossibility had the big cat really turned and leapt.

"They murdered my Bobo ," he wailed in grief at the time. "They want the glory. They want to say, 'We killed the tiger. We saved the people.' "

His pain and outrage struck a chord, generating songs, poems, paintings, bumper stickers and vigils in Bobo's memory. It also unleashed such a torrent of hate mail and threats against the wildlife commission that biologists were encouraged not to wear their uniforms in public.

Consumed by grief, Sipek retreated behind his gates, only to face more misfortune. A week after Bobo's death, an electrical fire badly damaged his house. Then, in September, his cougar Missy died, and hurricanes Frances and Jeanne finished off what the fire started. The final kick came the next month, when his lion Elvis succumbed to old age.

For the next eight months, Sipek ricocheted between rage and grief and the desire for revenge. He didn't recognize neighbors who dropped by with food or a helping hand. He quit his daily swims and exercises, adding 35 pounds to his once astonishingly fit physique.

He relied on a retinue of women who, drawn by the former movie star's pain and the magnetism of his big cats, donated countless hours to help him get his place and his self back in shape. Four of them still come around regularly, happy to take Sipek's tall orders --"hot and sweaty guy-work with lots of tools" -- to be around him and his cats, especially the new cubs.

"Seeing him on TV so distressed broke my heart," Kathi Carchia, a volunteer from Wellington, said while taking a break from fixing a pool filter. "Definitely, there's been a big change in him since the babies came."

35-year love affair with cats

Sipek's romance with big cats began in 1970, while filming Tarzan and the Rainbow, one of two movies in which he portrayed the ape man he had worshipped since watching Johnny Weissmuller in the role as a boy. But his life changed forever when he was captured and staked to the ground for one scene and fire broke out, engulfing Sipek in flames.

Sipek, who went by the stage name Steve Hawkes, knew he would die, until Samson, a lion who also starred in the film, dragged him to safety. From then on, he devoted his life to caring for big cats, many of them maimed discards from breeders and zoos.

To date, he said, he has spent more than $7 million of his movie-industry revenues on 102 cats who shared his home like children.

But none, Sipek reluctantly allows, was quite as special as Bobo . The bond between man and beast was so strong, the 6-year-old tiger would suck Sipek's thumb like a pacifier before climbing in his bed to sleep.

So, Sipek said, he agonized over whether Bobo would approve of his acquiring two new cubs: "Would he think I was abandoning him in death? Would he think I didn't love him anymore?" he asked

Sipek, who visits Bobo's elaborate grave marked by a headstone and statues of lions, giraffes and elephants, twice a day, found his answer after a calico house cat crawled through a hole in the garage apartment where Sipek has lived while his house is repaired.

Fearful the big cats would maul the little cat, he gave the stray away. Weeks later an identical -- but different -- calico crawled through the same hole and stayed. For Sipek, it was a sign.

"It had to be," he said. "Two identical cats found the same hole. That was too much for me."

Laissez-faire neighbors

Some of Sipek's neighbors say his expanding menagerie is too much even for live-and-let-live Loxahatchee Groves, 12.5 square miles of large homesteads, nurseries, stables and a nudist colony where animals -- horses, dogs, cats, ostriches and emus -- still outnumber people.

Backdoor neighbor Kim McLain, citing Bobo's escape and his 2002 mauling of a woman who let herself into Sipek's property, said Sipek hasn't shown himself responsible enough to keep wild animals.

But the majority seem to enjoy having the king of iconoclasts in their iconoclastic neighborhood.

"I actually like it," said Richard Harkleroad, a painter who lives nearby. "In the morning I can hear the animals roar."

And now, on occasion, a rejuvenated Sipek will join them, letting loose an unmistakable Tarzan yell.

Maya Bell can be reached at 305-810-5003 or mbell@orlandosentinel.com .

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-asec21tigers05aug21,0,

3205327.story?page=2&coll=orl-home-headlines

Dear Maya Bell

Orlando Sentinel

What a shame that so many people are being deceived into feeling sorry for Sipek, when he is the reason the tiger was shot. His desire to have a "chick magnet" to get stupid women to do his dirty work for him all these years and his desire to feel power over a chained, cage creature has caused 102 cats to die as his pets. Exotic cats live for 20 years; how could so many be dead?

Shortly after the Bobo incident he had one of these women, who identified herself as Cindy, call Big Cat Rescue and ask us to take his adult cats because he wanted to buy more baby tigers. We don't provide a dumping ground to enable people to continue being irresponsible and low and behold, the ones he wanted to get rid of have died and he gets to be seen as the victim by you and your paper. It makes me so mad, I could spit.

You also failed to mention that just two days ago a 17 year old girl, also drawn by a Tarzan type with big cats, was mauled to death posing with the cat for her photo. http://www.bigcatrescue.org/big_cat_news_files/2005/17yroldkilledbytiger.htm

Now THAT is sad.

Tarzan the tiger collector adopts 2 cubs

Steve Sipek, who owned a tiger that was fatally shot, plans a zoo at his home.

By Shahien Nasiripour | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Posted June 23, 2005

LOXAHATCHEE -- Tarzan's got two new tiger cubs.

Bo and Little Bo, 6-week-old Bengal-Siberian tigers, arrived at former B-movie Tarzan Steve Sipek's compound Friday.

Sipek is best known as the man who owned Bobo , the 600-pound declawed Bengal tiger that was fatally shot by a state wildlife officer in July after it escaped from his home.

Sipek bought the cubs from an exotic-cats breeding center north of Orlando for $3,200.

Despite losing his state license to own tigers as pets, Sipek said he found a loophole that allowed him to own more: a commercial license.

He applied for the license, an annual permit that requires him to operate a business in which he exhibits the animals, and was approved last month.

Sipek now has the two male cubs to go along with a 15-year-old Bengal Tiger named Princess, a leopard named Oko and Steffi the lioness.

He may get more.

Sipek plans to open his home as a zoo, he said. It was the only way the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission would let him own another tiger, he said.

"Tarzan's Big Cat Sanctuary" is scheduled to open in six weeks, he said. Visitors will be able to schedule tours of the compound with Sipek by logging on to his soon-to-be-created Web site. Visitors will be led through Sipek's home and along the series of intricately designed cages. They also will be able to have their pictures taken with Bo and Little Bo.

Neighbors seem to be happy for him.

"If I had little kids, I might be a little nervous," said Gene Melchiori, who lives behind Sipek. "If I see them in my yard, I won't go out and poke them with a stick, but his cats are usually friendly."

Despite Sipek's portrayal of the state wildlife commission as being in an adversarial role, the agency supports him too.

"We look at him the same as we would any other applicant," state wildlife spokesman Willie Puz said. "There are certain criteria that need to be met, and so far he's met them."

Shahien Nasiripour is a reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-locbobo23

062305jun23,0,1568056.story?coll=orl-news-headlines

FL Bengal tiger escapes from cage

Officers use tranquilizer darts to capture Tristan

By Akilah Johnson

Staff Writer

Posted February 27 2005

A 500-pound tiger escaped from its cage at Panther Ridge Sanctuary in Wellington and trotted around its compound sniffing at horses for more than two hours Saturday before wildlife officers captured it, officials said.

About 9:40 a.m., a woman feeding Tristan didn't latch the cage completely, and the Bengal tiger pushed past her and escaped, officials said. Tristan's owner, called 911.

More than 20 Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies and state wildlife officers arrived at 14755 Palm Beach Pointe Blvd. By noon, wildlife officers -- with the help of David Hitzig, executive director Jupiter's Busch Wildlife Sanctuary -- were able to tranquilize the tiger and return it to its cage, Willie Puz, a Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman, said.

Two tranquilizer darts were be used because the first had little effect, Puz said. The second dart startled Tristan, making the cat take a couple of quick steps, Puz said. But the tiger didn't run, and its actions weren't much of a threat, he said.

Then, 4-year-old Tristan became groggy, lay down and went to sleep, he said.

Tristan's escape reminded many of an incident seven months ago, when a 600-pound Bengal tiger named Bobo escaped from his cage and his compound in Loxahatchee. Bobo was on the loose for 26 hours before he was shot dead by a Conservation Commission officer, who said the cat lunged at him while he was waiting for other officers to arrive with a tranquilizer gun.

During Tristan's two-hour jaunt Saturday, the cat approached several horses on the 10-acare property, which is both a refuge for abused, neglected or abandoned cats and a horse farm.

"The horse kind of kicked at it, and the tiger said, `I don't want any part of this' and just walked away," Puz, said.

Judy Berens, Tristan's owner, was cited for escaped captive wildlife, a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by 60 days in jail or a $500 fine. This was her first infraction, Puz said.

Berens could not be reached for comment despite attempts by phone.

According to the sanctuary's Web site, Panther Ridge has 16 large cats, including Amos, a black leopard, and Eros and China , two spotted leopards. Some were left with her; others Berens bought because she felt they weren't being taken care of properly.

A German film crew doing a documentary about how easy it is to buy exotic animals in the United States bought Tristan but was unable to find a qualified zoo to adopt the tiger when the film was completed, according to the Web site.

Tristan never made it outside of the sanctuary's perimeter fence or came in contact with the public Saturday, but officials didn't take any chances.

"If a wild animal gets out of its cage there's a potential for anything," Puz said. "Even for the people who were in the compound."

The sanctuary provides tours, but it was unclear Saturday if one was taking place when Tristan escaped.

There were sheriff's deputies and wildlife officers with rifles inside and outside the perimeter fence in case the tiger ran or got out of the fence, officials said.

The incident with Bobo created a public furor. Bobo's owner, former B-movie Tarzan Steve Sipek, accused the officer of killing the declawed cat unnecessarily, claiming the officer panicked and disputing the officer's account of Bobo lunging at him.

Commission officers around the state where threatened after the shooting, something Puz said has sense subsided. He got his last piece of hate mail about Christmas, he said.

Akilah Johnson can be reached at akjohnson@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6645.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ news/local/palmbeach/sfl-ptiger27feb27,0,6619459.s tory?coll=sfla-news-palm

Exotic pets dwelling closer to home

By Mark Schwed, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, July 18, 2004

For two years, Antoine Yates kept a 400-pound tiger named Ming in his small N ew York City apartment -- until the tiger mauled him and sent him to the hospital with serious injuries.

In Colton , Calif. , state officials raided a former animal trainer's ranch and found 39 tigers, including 11 cubs hidden in a crawl space in the attic, and 58 dead tiger and lion cubs stuffed in his freezer.

New Jersey officials gunned down an escaped tiger, only to find he belonged to a woman who was keeping 29 of the beasts in her back yard.

And today a public funeral is scheduled for Bobo, the 600-pound Siberian-Bengal mix who escaped from his owner's compound in rural Loxahatchee, only to be shot and killed by a wildlife officer who said he feared for his life. Bobo was buried Saturday in a private service.

What in the world is going on with all these tigers?

Quite simply, a population explosion of one of the most magnificent creatures on the planet, and one of the most endangered. But this mating marathon isn't happening in the wild, it's in America , especially Florida .

According to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, there are now 15,000 captive tigers in the private sector, three times the number of wild tigers in Africa and Asia combined, more tigers than people know what to do with.

"Virtually every day I get a call from someone who wants to get rid of a tiger or big cat," says Carole Lewis, 43, who has 150 of the beasts at her Big Cat Rescue in Tampa . "I turned away 312 last year. The problem is that number is doubling every year. It's getting worse and worse. It's insane. It's reached a crisis point."

Even though Florida has an outright ban on possessing tigers as personal pets, the state now has 1,455 registered tigers, a 50 percent increase in 15 months and second only to Texas in the nation. Florida also has 262 U.S. Department of Agriculture-licensed exhibitors for big cats, more than any other state. And wildlife activists say there are now more tiger breeders in the state than anywhere else.

Dangers of the business

Florida is on its way to becoming the tiger capital of the world.

"It's downright scary," says Linda Howard, a captive wildlife specialist who keeps track of big cat populations in America . "Those 1,455 registered tigers are the legal ones. It doesn't include people possessing them illegally. It's shocking."

And dangerous. In the past five years, nine people have been mauled to death by big cats in the United States . Just last year, three people were killed, 14 were injured and hundreds of the animals either escaped or were confiscated from their owners, according to the Humane Society of the United States .

"These are highly endangered species," says Kim Haddad, a veterinarian and manager of the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition. "Yet in this country we're breeding them in the back yard and selling them like cats and dogs. It's dangerous for people and inhumane for the animals."

Hogwash, says Randy Davies, 43, of Phoenix , who's been selling exotic animals for 20 years and now operates the www.wildanimalworld.com Web site. "Over the years, we've saved every animal you see in a zoo -- elephants, giraffes, tigers. The only way they're going to survive is if we keep them breeding and have places to put them."

The exotic animal trade is a $15 billion worldwide business and it's flourishing. Primates, venomous snakes, elephants, giraffes, lions, bears and tigers -- all are for sale, wildlife experts say. There are 1,000 sites on the Internet that offer exotic animals.

These days, animal experts say you can pick up a cuddly tiger cub for $300, half the price of a Shih Tzu dog. A cougar costs even less.

Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States , says people buy them for all sorts of reasons. "They eat them, they shoot them, they keep them as pets," he says. "It's a whole underworld that is operating in the U.S. that victimizes literally tens of millions of animals a year."

Jim Lolli, 55, of the Lolli Brothers Livestock Market in Macon , Mo. , has been auctioning and selling exotic animals since 1978. "I haven't sold a tiger at auction for 20 years," he says. "But there are a lot of people who do it. There's a huge black market. I've had people say they sold a tiger to someone to shoot. It's illegal. It's as bad as selling cocaine."

Or is it?