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Karl Mitchell Big Cat Encounte Karl Mitchell Big Cat Encounters
- From: PatCuvie
-
Description:
Infamous criminal Karl Mitchell, who beat Shaquille the black leopard and Dara the cougar to make them perform in Las Vegas, is out of prison and back to his old ways of breeding and exploiting baby white tigers and other exotic cats under the name of Big Cat Encounters.
- Blog post
- 11 months ago
- Views: 316
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Big Cats of Serenity Springs N Big Cats of Serenity Springs Nick Sculac
- From: Anon
-
Description:
Dishonest Dealings Forum & Scam Alerts
Warning about Nick Sculac / Colorado Medical Equipmentby P. F. Jacobus on April 03, 2006Nick Sculac at Colorado Medical Equipment has accepted money from
a number of DOTmed users and refuses to release equipment. He
refuses to return phone calls. He does not answer emails.
We were told that after being paid he offers to ship equipment,
receives payment and then does not ship.
He has also forced people to pay unfair storage charges on the
spot before releasing the item.
If you have had a negative experience with Mr. Sculac please
reply here. A number of companies have asked us to form a group
to contact the authorities in the state of Colorado and we are
trying to get an idea of how many complaints our users have
against Mr. Sculac.
Exercise caution when dealing with Mr. Sculac. His information is
as follows:
Nick Sculac
Colorado Medical Equipment
24615 Scott Rd.
Calhan, CO 80808
Phone: 719-238-8646
Fax: 719-347-9300
COLORADOMEDICALEQUIPMENT@NETZERO.NET[ Login to Reply ]
Re: Warning about Nick Sculac / Colorado Medical Equipmentby yanty gusrina on April 07, 2006In response to: P. F. JacobusI have bid a auction of strechers in dotmed auction 2 months ago
and Nick sculaz is the seller.
I have paid him money US $2.800,- for the 4 strechers, shipping
and crating cost.
But he didn't send me the strechers until now.
I have wait for 2 months but my strechers not sent until now.[ Login to Reply ]
Re: Warning about Nick Sculac / Colorado Medical Equipmentby alda clemmey on April 06, 2006In response to: P. F. JacobusOver a year ago Nick contacted our company and said he had (5)
Amsco 3080 tables and (30) Valleylab Force 2 ESU's and some other
misc. equipment for sale. We made an offer of on the tables,
esu's, a Mentor Genesis and a Valleylab Cusa. Nick said that he
needed a week or so to get the tables and the esu's ready, but
that if we prepaid for the Genesis and the Cusa we could pick up
everything together. He used a check cashing store to cash our
check. United Van Lines attempted to pick up the equipment
several times but kept getting the run around. I tried
contacting him and either he wouldn't answer the phone or I would
get a message that asked for a pin number. We have been waiting
for a refund for over a year now.[ Login to Reply ]
Re: Warning about Nick Sculac / Colorado Medical Equipmentby Zack Zaremba on April 04, 2006In response to: P. F. JacobusTHIS DIRTY ROTTEN NO GOOD SOB GOT ME FOR OVER 11K 3 YEARS AGO, I
WIRED HIM MONEY AND WAS BUYING MOD.II PLUS ANESTHESIA MACHINES
AND GE AMX 2'S,INSTEAD I GOT A TRUCK LOAD OF INCOMPLETE JUNK.THEY
HAVE ALSO RIPPED PEOPLE OFF USING EBAY ON SEVERAL DIFFERENT
OCCASSIONS. HE AND HIS WIFE KAREN OPERATE A SO CALLED BIG CAT
RESERVE IN CALLAHAN CALLED SIERRA CATS OR BIG CATS OF COLORADO
AND IS SUPPOSED TO BE NON-PROFIT, MAYBE SOMEONE SHOULD TIP OFF
THE I.R.S.[ Login to Reply ]
Re: Warning about Nick Sculac / Colorado Medical Equipmentby Miguel Galeano on April 05, 2006In response to: P. F. JacobusWe paid to Nick Sculac of Colorado Medical Equipment for two
machines last year. Last January he offered a trip to Miami to
carry on the machines by $1000. We acepted it, but some days
after that, he appeared requesting storage fee. We sent him $1000
for storage, but after that he become really hard to negociate.
He just want more and more money, with rude expression notifying
he's reselling our machines to any other because he want more
money.
At this time, we wired him $1450 full payment of machines, and
$1000 for storage, and simply we don`t know if we will receive
our machines.
Miguel Galeano
miguel@engimed.com[ Login to Reply ]
Re: Warning about Nick Sculac / Colorado Medical Equipmentby YAW AKWAKYE on April 08, 2006In response to: P. F. JacobusI WON AND PAID NICK SCULAC FOR FOR AUCTION NUMBER 2497. THE
EQUIPMENT COST $700 AND HE MADE ME PAY A LITTLE OVER $700 TO
COVER PACKAGING AND SHIPMENT TO FLORIDA. MUCH AS I THOUGHT THE
COST OF PACKAGING AND SHIPMENT WAS OUTRAGEOUS I DID NOT HAVE ANY
OPTION BECAUSE I AM NOT LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES. MR. SCULAC
HAS FAILED TO DELIVER AND EACH TIME HE IS CONTACTED HE HAS A NEW
EXCUSE, I AM AWARE THAT I AM NOT THE ONLY PERSON HE HAS TREATED
THIS WAY, KINDLY GET HOLD OF HIM AND LET HIM MEASURE UP! THANKS
DR. KWAKYE.[ Login to Reply ]
Re: Warning about Nick Sculac / Colorado Medical Equipmentby Leonard Igini on May 30, 2006In response to: P. F. JacobusDear Dotmed Users,
I also had a terrible experience with Nick and Karen Sculac.They
operate under the name Big Cats of Serenity Springs,11450
Gulthrie road,Calhan,Colorado,Tel:719-347-9200,719-238-8646,where
they maintain an animal santuary for cats.
I bought an X-ray Machine GE RT1 300mA,150kvp with a chest stand
and other accessories,2 baby incubators,Ohmeda C100 and C450,a
Mitsubishi P91 printer,etc.I also paid $1225.00 for crating and
packing to this couple.All payments were by wire transfer to
Karen Sculac, First Bank of El-Paso,Colorado Springs.Total
Payments was $6560.00.These items were to be picked up by my
Freight Forwarders ITN Inc. in Miami.In Dec,2005,they complained
that the weather was bad and my shippers couldn't come to pick up
the item.Since then it has been one cock and bull story.I
attended the Rotary International Convention in Chicago,June2005
and used the opportunity to go to Colorado Springs and try and
resolve the problems with them.Nick Sculac promised to pick me up
at the airport,but could not be found on arrival.I called him and
he said he and his wife have to go for a funeral in Florida that
morning!!!!.All efforts to see my goods were abortive.I stayed in
Colorado Springs for 9days and the Sculacs Kept on refusing to
see me,even after coming back from the funeral!!.I reported the
matter to the BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU of Colorado Springs and the
County Sheriff's office.Deputy Daniel J.Templetom
(719)520-7182.ext 4633 (danieltempleton (at) elpasoco (dot) com),
came to the Motel to take my complaints and said i could go back
to Nigeria,as he will make sure they contact my shipper,if not he
will file charges against them.When i called him a few days later
that the Sculacs have not made any efforts to contact my shippers
to come and pick up the goods and my shippers have sent several
emails and telephone calls,he Templetom said the matter is a
civil one as "He cannot find anything criminal in what they have
done".Leslie Beard of the Better Business Bureau
(719-636-5076.ext117)and her colleagues tried their best but the
Sculacs would not budge,rather they asked me to start paying them
$35.00 a day for storage and if not they would not release my
machines.All efforts to speak to them proved abortive as they
would not take my calls or reply to telephone messages and
emails.
If there is anyway these couple could be brought to Justice,i am
for it.I wam willing to send all documentation on this issue to
anyone who can help.
Thanks,
Leonard Igini
primedics@hotmail.com - Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 929
- Not yet rated
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Chimp Attack Chimp Attack
- From: TheirVoice
-
Description:
Horrific Details Emerge in Chimp Attack
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSENSTAMFORD, Conn. (Feb. 18) -- Travis the chimpanzee, a veteran of TV commercials, was the constant companion of a lonely Connecticut widow who fed him steak, lobster and ice cream. He could eat at the table, drink wine from a stemmed glass, use the toilet, and dress and bathe himself.He brushed his teeth with a Water Pik, logged on to a computer to look at photos and channel-surfed television with the remote control.
Sandra Herold made a frantic call to 911 for help when her pet chimp, Travis, attacked her friend on Monday. "He's killing my friend!" Herold says on the tape.But on Monday, the wild animal in him came out with a vengeance.The 200-pound animal viciously mauled a friend of his owner before being shot to death by police.Investigators are trying to figure out why — whether it was a bout of Lyme disease, a reaction to drugs, or a case of instinct taking over."It's hard to say what exactly precipitated this behavior," said Colleen McCann, a primatologist at the Bronx Zoo. "At the end of the day, they are not human and you can't always predict their behavior and how they or any other wild animal will respond when they feel threatened."Travis attacked 55-year-old Charla Nash as Sandra Herold frantically stabbed her beloved pet with a butcher knife and pounded him with a shovel. Nash was in critical condition Tuesday with "life-changing, if not life-threatening," injuries to her face and hands, Mayor Dannel Malloy said.Police said they are looking into the possibility of criminal charges. A pet owner can be held criminally responsible if he or she knew or should have known that an animal was a danger to others.In recordings of calls to 911 dispatchers released Tuesday, Travis' grunts can be heard as a frantic Herold cries that her pet is "eating" Nash and must be killed. The attack lasted about 12 minutes."The chimp killed my friend!" says a sobbing Herold, who was hiding in her vehicle. "Send the police with a gun. With a gun!"The dispatcher later asks, "Who's killing your friend?""My chimpanzee!" she cries. "He ripped her apart! Shoot him, shoot him!"After police arrive, one officer radios back: "There's a man down. He doesn't look good," he says, referring to Nash. "We've got to get this guy out of here. He's got no face."Herold told New York-based WNYW-TV in an interview that aired Tuesday night that she has agonized over Nash's injuries and that Travis' death is "something that I can't hardly live with because he went in his room and died, and I wasn't with him. I couldn't get back in the house."Police said that Travis was agitated earlier Monday and that Herold had given him the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in some tea. Police said the drug had not been prescribed for the 14-year-old chimp.In humans, Xanax can cause memory loss, lack of coordination, reduced sex drive and other side effects. It can also lead to aggression in people who were unstable to begin with, said Dr. Emil Coccaro, chief of psychiatry at the University of Chicago Medical Center."Xanax could have made him worse," if human studies are any indication, Coccaro said.Stephen Rene Tello, executive director of Primarily Primates, a sanctuary for chimps in Texas, said it is difficult to say what effect Xanax would have on a chimp, but he noted that chimps and humans have similar physiology.Investigators said they were also told that Travis had Lyme disease, a tick-borne illness with flu-like symptoms that can lead to arthritis and meningitis in humans."Maybe from the medications he was out of sorts," Stamford police Capt. Richard Conklin said.Herold could not be reached for comment. A woman answering the door at Herold's home, where drops of blood stained the walkway, would not speak to reporters Tuesday. Conklin said Herold was "traumatized by this very, very brutal attack."Don Mecca, a family friend from Colchester, N.Y., said Herold, whose daughter died several years ago in a car accident, fed the chimp steak, lobster, ice cream and Italian food.Herold built the chimpanzee a large cage in her home. She knew chimps could be dangerous but found it hard to part with Travis, Mecca said.McCann of the Bronx Zoo said chimpanzees are unpredictable and dangerous even after living among humans for years."I don't know the effects of Lyme disease on chimpanzees, but I will say that it's deceiving to think that if any animal is, quote-unquote, well-behaved around humans that means there is no risk involved to humans for potential outbursts of behavior," she said. "They are unpredictable, and in instances like this you cannot control that behavior or prevent it from happening if it is in a private home."Connecticut law requires anyone who owns a primate heavier than 50 pounds to obtain a state permit. But Herold was exempted from the law."Given that the family in Stamford owned Travis before this law was put on the books, and the fact that over the years the animal did not appear to present a public safety risk, their possession of the chimpanzee was allowed to continue," said Dennis Schain, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.When he was younger, Travis starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola, made an appearance on the "Maury Povich Show" and took part in a television pilot, according to a 2003 story in The Advocate newspaper of Stamford."He's been raised almost like a child by this family," Conklin said. "He rides in a car every day. He opens doors. He's a very unique animal in that aspect. We have no indication of what provoked this behavior at all."Associated Press Writers Stephanie Reitz and Pat Eaton-Robb in Hartford and Jennifer Peltz in New York City contributed to this report. - 1 year ago
- Views: 185
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Drug Dealers, Pimps and White Drug Dealers, Pimps and White Tigers
- From: TheirVoice
-
Description:
Date: 09-Feb-09
Country: MEXICO
Author: Mica Rosenberg
MEXICO CITY - From the live snakes that smugglers stuff with packets
of cocaine to the white tigers drug lords keep as exotic pets, rare
animals are being increasingly sucked into Mexico's deadly narcotics
trade.
Drug gang leaders like to show off rarities like sea turtle skin
boots and build ostentatious private zoos at their mansions.
They also reap additional profits by sharing routes with animal
traffickers who cram humming birds into cigarette packs and baby
monkeys into car air conditioning ducts to be sold to underground pet
traders in the United States.
Mexico's raging drug war killed some 5,700 people last year and some
cartel leaders have even been rumored to throw rivals to their big
cats as food.
The global illegal trade in live species and animal parts -- used for
luxury accessories, Asian medicine or folk remedies like
aphrodisiacs -- is estimated to be worth up to $20 billion a year,
Interpol has said.
The big profits available from selling wildlife on the black market --
where a certain type of endangered South American macaw can fetch
$90,000 and a predatory python around $30,000 -- are added incentive
to Mexican gangs moving other contraband.
"You can sometimes make as much profit, if not more, than drug
smuggling with less consequences, because law enforcement is not
paying attention and if you are caught the penalty is just a slap on
the wrist," said Crawford Allan, the North American head of wildlife
trade watchdog group Traffic.
TURTLE SKIN AND COCAINE
China and the United States are the largest markets for banned pets
and animal products, making the US-Mexico border a busy corridor for
the smuggling of many rare species from across Latin America and
other parts of the world.
"There is some evidence the same people are trading in both (drugs
and animals)," Allan said in Mexico City, where Traffic is helping
train inspectors to spot banned animal shipments.
In a major 2007 sting operation by the US Fish and Wildlife Service,
the largest of its kind, undercover agents spent three years
infiltrating a ring smuggling endangered sea turtle skins from the
shores of southern Mexico to as far north as Chicago.
Illegal drugs turned up on both sides of the border over the course
of the investigation, US Fish and Wildlife agent Nicholas Chavez said.
In the United States, marijuana was seized at one of the raided
warehouses filled with animal skin boots. On the Mexican side,
smugglers offered to ship cocaine along with the hides of turtles
whose numbers are rapidly dwindling in the wild.
"It was just thrown out there like 'Hey, we can also move this stuff
if you want.'... They are pretty much moving anything that they can,"
Chavez said.
The animals can serve a double purpose when they are used to cover up
drug shipments.
"You have cases where there are drugs hidden in false compartments
within crates containing live venomous snakes and written on top it
says: 'Venomous snakes. Don't open!' So no customs guy is going to
want to open that," Allan said.
Bags of liquid cocaine, transparent and only barely visible due to
its slight yellow hue, have been found floating in or lining plastic
bags containing live tropical fish.
In one shocking case at Miami's international airport, some of the
312 boa constrictors found in a 1993 shipment from Colombia were
surgically implanted with condoms full of cocaine weighing a total of
80 pounds (36 kg). All the snakes ended up dead.
NARCO ZOOS
Colombian drug lords used to stock their own private zoos with lions,
tigers, hippos, venomous snakes and other exotic animals, and
Mexico's cartel leaders picked up the same hobby as they took over as
dominant players in the cocaine industry.
The head of the Gulf Cartel's feared armed wing the Zetas had two
lions and a tiger on his ranch and it is widely rumored, and
sometimes printed in newspapers, that he fed the cats with the bodies
of cartel rivals.
Mexico's local market for exotic pets is also growing.
Since they breed well in captivity, you can legally buy a tiger in
Mexico for a couple of thousand dollars, less than the cost of some
pedigree dogs, government officials say.
"It's a show of power and is incredibly common in the criminal
underworld. The worst of the worst have exotic animals," Patricio
Patron, the head of Mexico's environmental protection agency, told
Reuters.
A raid on a drug mansion last year in an upscale Mexico City
neighborhood netted a menagerie of two lions, two Bengal tigers, two
black jaguars and a monkey -- all of them well-fed and likely tended
to by a personal veterinarian.
But not all pets are as lucky as the somewhat tubby big cats, which
were sent to a public zoo after the drug raid.
Many smuggled animals do not survive their long, dark, suffocating
journeys.
Chavez, the U.S. agent who works along the US-Mexico border, once
found nine baby monkeys -- which are usually captured in the wild
after their mother is killed -- crammed into a car's air conditioning
ducts, most of them dead of suffocation.
Jorge Yanez, a government wildlife expert who runs a shelter for
rescued animals in central Mexico, said he once saw four hummingbirds
bound and stuffed into an empty pack of cigarettes.
"For every 10 that are trafficked, only one survives," Yanez said at
the shelter, which is nestled in a pine forest and works to
rehabilitate and release into the wild Mexican species like hawks,
wild boars and lynxes that were seized in police raids or handed in
by overwhelmed owners.
(Editing by Kieran Murray and Philip Barbara)
http://planetark.org/wen/51524 - Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 377
- Not yet rated
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Ending an Era of Anima Abuse Ending an Era of Anima Abuse
- From: TheirVoice
-
Description:
Ending an Era of Anima Abuse
Wildlife crusader is facing legal, neighborhood troubles
[CITY Edition]
St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Fla.
Author: SUSAN EASTMAN
Date: Jul 11, 1993
Start Page: 1
Section: COMMUNITY TIMES
Text Word Count: 1306
Document Text
In some circles, Bert Wahl and his panther are living symbols of wildlife conservation.
In February, the 300-pound panther glided across the floor of the Florida Senate to call attention to the plight of the endangered species. It had its picture taken with movie actress Mariel Hemingway and Britain's Prince Charles. When the state unveiled the new Florida panther license plate, the animal shared the stage with Gov. Lawton Chiles and other dignitaries.
But most of Wahl's neighbors say living next door to the conservation crusader and his animal menagerie, which includes four panthers and two bobcats, is a major pain.
"When the cougars come into heat, you can't sleep at night," neighbor Meg Pylant complained. "They howl and screech. They call for the male. It's constant."
"It's not like a neighbor dog barking, which can be a nuisance," said Steve LaBour, a spokesman for Mayor Sandy Freedman. "These are wild animals, and they make wild animal noises."
People who live near Wahl's headquarters on Hiawatha Street have compiled thick notebooks of evidence that they say show Wahl's Wildlife Rescue Inc. facility is violating city codes and state and federal wildlife guidelines.
Neighbors videotaped the center. They complained to the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. They complained to police and the city's code enforcement office. More than two dozen neighbors petitioned the City Council to shut down the facility.
"We have tried to reason with him, but forget it," Virginia Schwab said. "We have gone through the legal process."
A few weeks ago, Wahl's panther was stretched out across a sofa in George Kickliter's law firm. He wasn't there as part of a conservation lesson. He was there because Wahl is waging a battle for the survival of the non-profit wildlife rescue and education company he started in 1982.
Wahl claims he has rescued 11,000 animals in the 11 years he has operated in Hillsborough County. But now, he said, his work is being hampered by his legal troubles.
"We have been under the gun," Wahl complained. "The city and the state have been constantly haranguing us. Now, instead of helping animals, we are trying to keep the wolves from the back and the front of the door."
Last week, state officials removed two deer, an otter and a tortoise from Wahl's care and cited him for keeping animals in improper cages. The city already had declared Wahl a public nuisance and had moved to foreclose on his property.
"There is no question in our mind that Mr. Wahl is trying to do good," LaBour said. "It is just our feeling now that he has been successful and has grown bigger than the neighborhood can stand."
Saturday afternoon, about 45 people showed up at a local church to discuss Wahl's problems. Most think Wahl is getting a raw deal.
"It is a long story of lies, deception, deceit, and it is all funded by your tax dollars," said Mark Moretti, who does charitable work for Wildlife Rescue Inc.
"Why is he being harassed? Simple politics," Moretti said.
Wahl began his wildlife program in a house he bought in Seminole Heights in 1982. At first, Pylant said, most of the neighbors sympathized with Wahl's efforts to rescue injured animals.
The problems started when Wahl acquired a panther cub and began the education programs that have brought him much public recognition and praise.
Schwab claims Wahl said he planned to move to a more rural setting as the operation grew, but when he bought two other houses in the neighborhood, she began to question his plans.
To feed the animals, fresh red meat is chopped daily at sinks that are 8 feet from Schwab's bedroom and work room, she said.
Flies congregate on the front porch. When Schwab does yard work, the flies light on her back. The odor of the animals, even if controlled, is noticeable, she said.
"I cannot continue to live like this," Schwab said. "It just is not fair."
Wildlife officials said they took some of Wahl's animals last week because he had not corrected problems he was told to fix during an inspection earlier this month.
The seizure follows criminal misdemeanor charges levied against Wahl for violating state regulations when he caged a black bear in Polk County, and two clouded leopards, two deer and an otter on Hiawatha Street.
The deer were being kept in a back yard that game officials said was filled with debris, according to an inspection report. The otter was being kept in an air carrier with no pool, according to the report, and Wahl did not have proper approval to house the leopards.
Each of the charges could result in a $500 fine and/or 60 days in jail. Wahl and the manager of Wildlife Rescue Inc. also are charged with denying inspectors access to the facility.
The city began fining him $250 a day in March, and recently began trying to foreclose on the three properties Wahl owns in Seminole Heights to satisfy the accumulated fines.
City Council member Scott Paine said he met with neighbors and Wahl in an effort to resolve the problems.
"We could not get him to see that this was a problem," Paine said.
Paine said the state's actions made him wonder whether Wildlife Rescue Inc. is living up to the image it has acquired in the community.
"It was created to address a very worthy cause," Paine said. "But that is not an excuse for not complying with the law."
Calling the state's actions capricious, arbitrary and absurd, Kickliter, Wahl's attorney, said he will move to have the charges dismissed.
"It is incredible to me that a game officer can come to your house and demand entry when a police officer or a sheriff officer cannot," Kickliter said.
He said the alleged violations are minor offenses that can be corrected easily. He noted that the animals taken by wildlife officials were basically in good health.
"It is a shame to see him being seized, piecemeal, for the slightest technical violation," Kickliter said. "The animals are healthy, thriving, well-cared for. There is no abuse and no cruelty."
In the long-term, Kicklighter said, Wahl knows he needs to move his operation. Kickliter suggested that the city, state and the neighbors help Wahl find an appropriate setting where he can continue his work.
"He is providing a valuable public service," Kickliter said. "Fining him and making him bankrupt is not the answer."
The animals taken last week were in good health, agreed Jerry Thompson, the inspections coordinator for the state game commission, except for the gopher tortoise. The reptile had injuries to its feet, claws and head, he said. A veterinarian will evaluate how long the animal has had the injuries, he said.
As Wahl gave a tour of his facility last week, he climbed into a cage with the panther he raised from a cub, stroking the animal's head and putting his finger in its mouth.
His relationship with the male panther has astounded animal experts.
Robert F. Sisson, who served as the chief of the natural sciences division of National Geographic magazine, wrote to Wahl that he had "never seen such complete oneness between an animal and its human companion."
Wahl said the panther gets attention, but the real mission is to teach people how to live in peace with the raccoons, opossums and other animals that carve out homes in urban settings.
"This is an issue Wildlife Rescue would like to get involved in," Wahl said. "But we are embroiled in our survival." - Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 170
- Not yet rated
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2 Southwest Ranches FL Think B 2 Southwest Ranches FL Think Big Cats Are Trophies
- From: TheirVoice
-
Description:
Comments Part 1
Snaggle Puss
Washington, DC
#1
Yesterday
Heavens to MergaTroid ... Exit -- Stage Left!!!
sammy
Lake Worth, FL
#3
Yesterday
these people are playing with fire.....wild animals can and will attack......
all it takes is one time and they could kill you or injure you and its not the animals fault but YOUR STUPIDITY to have these as pets.
DaddyYo
Delray Beach, FL
#5
Yesterday
Not too cool, if one got lose and a child was out playing. Cats can be nasty and are very unpredictable!
Learn from the experts
Boca Raton, FL
#6
Yesterday
Sigfried and Roy.
The Cat Dancers.
Sadly, all end bad.
Who pays
Gainesville, FL
#9
Yesterday
Do the license fees cover the salaries and expenses of the inspectors who have to come out to each residence twice a year?
broward resident
Fort Lauderdale, FL
#10
Yesterday
I don't trust private people to treat these animals correctly.
Tony the Tiger
Charleston, WV
#11
Yesterday
How stylish. One can only wait for the moment when Sasha resorts to her instincts and goes at her owners like Oprah at an all you can eat buffet.
Oakland Park
Pompano Beach, FL
#12
Yesterday
How much attention does one need? Get a life. Get a human life.
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Barbara
#13
Yesterday
I live on a major road in Broward County and can tell you many times during thunderstorms, celebrations with fireworks, sudden loud noise(such as a fire truck) there are loose dogs just running to get away. They climb fences, go through windows, etc. Many times over the last 34 years I have brought them into my yard, just so they won't be killed on this road. I can't IMAGINE dealing with dangerous wild animals. Around here, most people don't even like the ducks.! For the last few weeks, I have had a very tall (and loud) goose at my house every day. I don't know where it came from, but follows me everywhere
DonteNCedric
#14
Yesterday
You wanna live with wild animals..go live in THEIR ENVIRONMENT - keep the ******* outta my gated community and my city - stupid ******* morons...You wanna live in a zoo - go to Obama World in DC - there are enough animals there and **** in Mercedes!
USMC SGT
Joined: Aug 17, 2008
Comments: 134
Jupiter, FL
#15
Yesterday
I would never keep one myself but the cat in that video is one awesome animal.
The power and agility these animals possess is really something that requires you to respect these animals every second.
Maybe in a couple years we can all read and comment about how a 120lb siberian lynx snapped the neck of some kid.
Question
Fort Lauderdale, FL
#16
Yesterday
Are our local law enforcement and firefighters privy to the location of these nuts? And, if someone calls 911 from inside one of these houses, are first responders told that entry into the house could be deadly?
RED BARON
Pompano Beach, FL
#17
Yesterday
Unfortunately, all it takes is for one of these cats to go bezerk and kill one or two small children. These amateur "zoo keepers" will then be forced to return to reality. These animals don't belong in a person's house. They belong in the wild or in a zoo.
Some sanity please
Port Saint Lucie, FL
#18
Yesterday
Pit bulls and Dobermans are already a serious threat to the public. How can anyone believe it is safe to keep these big carnivores outside of a zoo? They cannot be domesticated. Domestication takes many generations of selective breeding to alter their genetic background. Not only are these big cats a danger to the general public if they escape, they can turn on their masters at any time. The fool woman even said in the article that she can't "play" with her natural-born killer if he is in a cross mood. That mood can change in an instant, and maybe she won't recognise it. An unarmed human has no chance against such an animal if it attacks. I hope she keeps a loaded gun strapped to her hip. This is one of the most disturbing articles I have read in a long time.
Justifiably Bellicose
West Palm Beach, FL
#19
Yesterday
Sure, we're all fascinated by these huge, beautiful creatures.
But they DO NOT BELONG in people's HOMES.
Only a self-indulgent moron would keep a big cat as a pet.
DMG
Boynton Beach, FL
#20
Yesterday
DeShawna wrote:
we got 4 pits cause them pits are real pets. we train them so nobody animals mess with us. the pits will eat a lynx for lunch so aint no lynx no real animal unless it can beat a pit and we train our pits to win. we even add gunpowder to their food to tuffen them up cause them pits be for real. we also train them
What an uneducated, classless moron you are. You should not be allowed to own animals as you have them for all the wrong reasons.
onebaud
Joined: Jun 17, 2008
Comments: 39
Miami, FL
#21
Yesterday
I don't mind people having tigers, lions or other big cats, but not in the home. They should live in their lairs with them.
What a Joke
Fort Lauderdale, FL
#22
Yesterday
Some sanity please wrote:
Pit bulls and Dobermans are already a serious threat to the public. How can anyone believe it is safe to keep these big carnivores outside of a zoo? They cannot be domesticated. Domestication takes many generations of selective breeding to alter their genetic background. Not only are these big cats a danger to the general public if they escape, they can turn on their masters at any time. The fool woman even said in the article that she can't "play" with her natural-born killer if he is in a cross mood. That mood can change in an instant, and maybe she won't recognise it. An unarmed human has no chance against such an animal if it attacks. I hope she keeps a loaded gun strapped to her hip. This is one of the most disturbing articles I have read in a long time.
Where did you pull out of your as that Dobes are a serious threat to the public? Have any facts to support that? Nope! GO AWAY!
Evil Killers
Miami, FL
#23
Yesterday
Those folks are real losers. Their homes are full of cat and goat crapping and must stink to high hell. Not to mention that one day the cat will be **** off and rip somebody's arm off. Good riddance!
Dick
United States
#24
Yesterday
They call them wild for a reason.
Each to his own.
I hope the owners have LOTS of insurance.
BooBooKitty
London, KY
#25
Yesterday
Captive animals are not housepets.
This should be illegal 100%.
The animals needs cannot be met in this environment- it is a selfish person who forces a wild animal to live inside a home. No matter how hard you try you cannot duplicate their natural environment, and anyone who thinks they can is rationalizing their need to own an "exotic".
Good grief.
David
United States
#26
Yesterday
These are the same people that have those big snakes and then let them loose. Wait till one of those snakes or big cats kills some 3 year old child and lets see how "cool" those "pets" are.
Miss A in Illinois
Woodridge, IL
#27
Yesterday
This woman has some screws loose. The house must be a pit if she lets a goat walk on top of hte sofa. She needs help...probably voted for Obama.
cappeton
#28
Yesterday
You are playing with fire keeping these cats in a house.It is not where they Belong.
rukidding
Tallahassee, FL
#29
Yesterday
Barbara wrote:
I live on a major road in Broward County and can tell you many times during thunderstorms, celebrations with fireworks, sudden loud noise(such as a fire truck) there are loose dogs just running to get away. They climb fences, go through windows, etc. Many times over the last 34 years I have brought them into my yard, just so they won't be killed on this road. I can't IMAGINE dealing with dangerous wild animals. Around here, most people don't even like the ducks.! For the last few weeks, I have had a very tall (and loud) goose at my house every day. I don't know where it came from, but follows me everywhere
Maybe it just wants to take a gander at your place? Try telling it a joke and if it quacks up, then keep it around.
A1ACharles is Still The 1
West Palm Beach, FL
#30
Yesterday
That is a "watch cat".
What happens when they dont like them as pets anymore?
marlin perkins
Fort Lauderdale, FL
#31
Yesterday
i can only imagine the smell in that house! i hope there aren't any kids living in there.
Broke Rider
Fort Lauderdale, FL
#32
Yesterday
Llamas in the living room, lynx in the closet, bearded dragons and monitor lizards.... oh my!!
What do the neighbors think? Do they board other peoples' horses, seems they would need very high insurance!!
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Dumb Idea
Fort Lauderdale, FL
#33
Yesterday
Wild animals belong in the wild. Don't wanna hear any whining when the animal eats its owner.
Louie
#34
Yesterday
WHY ???
Sun Sentinel
Fort Lauderdale, FL
#35
Yesterday
RED BARON wrote:
Unfortunately, all it takes is for one of these cats to go bezerk and kill one or two small children. These amateur "zoo keepers" will then be forced to return to reality. These animals don't belong in a person's house. They belong in the wild or in a zoo.
My thoughts exactly.
SELFISH PEOPLE
Fort Lauderdale, FL
#36
Yesterday
Very, very selfish to keep an animal like this from its natural habitat...shame.
TomFLL
Joined: Mar 26, 2007
Comments: 376
NYC
ISP: New York, NY
#37
Yesterday
These people are nuts. I have a playful domestic kitty and sometimes when we're playing he bites down on me -- he's just playing and doesn't mean harm, however, he's only 8 pounds. Imagine a 30 - 40 pound cat doing the same thing and they could puncture arteries or veins. And felines really have a different temperament versus canines.
Have to say
Pompano Beach, FL
#38
Yesterday
Stupid people everywhere !
Have to say
Pompano Beach, FL
#39
Yesterday
Where is the Liberals screaming about this ?????
Ladislav Nemec
#40
Yesterday
It is, in my opinion, perfectly OK to have big cats and wolfs (hyenas do not seem to be that popular) if you have some 200 acres of land with no neighbors for 5 or more miles.
Otherwise, nobody should keep cats larger than the domestic ones - I am not sure about large dogs. Watching the TV 'judge' shows, pit bulls really like to eat their neighboring canines, rarely consuming them but killing them or hurting them badly.
Here in California mountains rather large dogs are running free, more or less, but the ones that come to my property are very friendly, thank god. Coyotes may not be so friendly but they seem to be very shy.
I understand that people love to have dangerous animals around - they are probably so bored with life that they need some excitement.
What I do NOT understand is they are allowed to do so by authorities in a urban or suburban setting.
Boca Jew
Pompano Beach, FL
#41
Yesterday
""I don't mind people having tigers, lions or other big cats, but not in the home. They should live in their lairs with them."""
Try reading, if you know now. These people are NOT keeping bigcats, like Lions and Tigers. These are 30-50 lb animals, smaller then a Pitbull dog.
David Perez
Fishkill, NY
#42
Yesterday
Man alone is the perfect beast.
cbm
Miami, FL
#43
Yesterday
Selfish. Florida needs to crack down on this type of crap. It's a risk for everyone and completely unnecessary. If she really loved Siberian Lynx, she'd be helping the wild ones.
pie
Quantico, VA
#44
Yesterday
bad idea, if ever gets out and attacks my pet, I will kill it and feed it to mine
KOP
Fort Lauderdale, FL
#45
Yesterday
"He is very socialized, very affectionate," said Barbara Burk. "If he wanted to, he probably could kill me. He has never given me any reason to be worried, but I always have to think that possibility is there."
ENOUGH SAID
The Renegade
Miami, FL
#46
Yesterday
People that keep big wild animals and even pit bulls (read predators here) are all nothing but people with very low personal esteem and complete lack of personality (read here trash people). The animals fill their need to portray an image and show what they can not do themselves. Florida authorities should test these people further to see if they have not only the conditions to keep wild amimals, but also to see if they are psycologically qualified to do so.
By the way DeShawna, did your Mamma get a license to have you?
You know it
Northridge, CA
#47
Yesterday
Thats retirement??? lol...I would rather be living in Naples, walking on the Beach, going to the Pier. Sounds like a pain in the arse...no?
KOP
Fort Lauderdale, FL
#48
Yesterday
Miss A in Illinois wrote:
This woman has some screws loose. The house must be a pit if she lets a goat walk on top of hte sofa. She needs help...probably voted for Obama.
You also need some major help by linking this to voting for Obama. Your screws are as loose but you do not see yet.
Delightful_girl
“The Homies Have Spoken”
Joined: Jul 12, 2008
Comments: 1157
Lighthouse Point, Florida
ISP: Hollywood, FL
#49
Yesterday
This is the epitome of selfishness. These people are not equipped or educated enough to begin to understand these animals. How can this be legal?
Face it
San José, Costa Rica
#50
Yesterday
cat urine stinks
New World Order
Fort Lauderdale, FL
#51
Yesterday
Establish a law to kill the owner of these beast if it attacks anyone.
Brandy
Fayetteville, NC
#52
Yesterday
How sad for these big cats and exotic animals to be locked away in someone's home instead of where they belong, simply for the pure enjoyment of these humans. I agree with some other people on here...if you want to live with wild animals, go live in their environment!!! Don't drag them into yours. Do you really think a 100lb lynx is happy in a house? Very disappointing. How selfish of these people. Very, very selfish. And they will be the first ones to complain when these animals turn on them. You can put a leash on a wild cat, but that doesn't make him a pet. He is still wild. Good luck to these people's neighbors and to the animals if they get loose. It probably won't end well for all involved including the animal. This makes me very sad. These people should instead donate their time and money to helping wildlife, or set up the proper facilities to care for them if this is how they want to live. And I am sure these pets were purchased, not rescued...so that just promotes the breeding and selling of these animals. Again, just a sad story for these big cats!!
Raleigh, NC
#53
Yesterday
The animals would rather wander around all day in a forest or field rather than a home with tile floors..It seems they treat them good however a wild animal must be left in the WILD!
You know it
Northridge, CA
#54
Yesterday
DeShawna wrote:
we got 4 pits cause them pits are real pets. we train them so nobody animals mess with us. the pits will eat a lynx for lunch so aint no lynx no real animal unless it can beat a pit and we train our pits to win. we even add gunpowder to their food to tuffen them up cause them pits be for real. we also train them
you sound like an uneducated dumb arse...you must have voted for Obama, and you must have been in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina...Speak English, ID10T
You know it
Northridge, CA
#55
Yesterday
sammy wrote:
these people are playing with fire.....wild animals can and will attack......
all it takes is one time and they could kill you or injure you and its not the animals fault but YOUR STUPIDITY to have these as pets.
Hey, is this Sam Boulware????
A1ACharles is Still The 1
West Palm Beach, FL
#57
Yesterday
"Mom the catbox is overflowing again!!".
Tony the Tiger
Boca Raton, FL
#58
Yesterday
Not so grrrrrrrrrreat!
What a stupid article to put in the newspaper to frighten the people of South Florida. These animals should be removed immediately to a zoo....I would be a nervous wreck living in S.W. Ranches. Someone better remove these animals now before someone gets killed or eaten. Let the owner live at the zoo with them; be their zookeeper but stay the hell away from our homes. Would anyone like to have dinner at her home? I don't think so.....you might turn out to be dinner for them!
Clancy
Boca Raton, FL
#59
Yesterday
Dangerous animals belong in the wild not in stupid peoples houses. Are the cops warned that they are responding to a house with a dangerous animal?
Smiley
Miami, FL - Blog post
- 1 year ago
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Big Cat Attacks 2008 Big Cat Attacks 2008
- From: TheirVoice
-
Description:
December 26, 2008 Mexico City, Mexico: Lions and tigers were confiscated during drug raid. A gardener detained along with more than a dozen members of an alleged drug trafficking ring testified that police threatened him to feed him to lions and tigers during a raid at a Mexico City mansion. The gardener, Fernando Maya, testified that police dragged him to cages with lions and tigers and threatened to throw him inside. "They kept saying, where is he? And that they were going to throw me to the lions, they were going to throw me to the tigers, which had not eaten." Eleven Colombians, a U.S. citizen, two Mexicans an Uruguayan were detained in the raid. Prosecutors said the gang allegedly arranged for cocaine shipments from Colombia to Mexico's Beltran Levya cartel.
December 9, 2008 Albion, IN: Noble County 911 Director Mitch Fiandt said an18-year-old female tiger escaped from the Black Pine Animal Park. Park officials say the tiger returned to the property 8 hours later and was back in its enclosure about an hour after that. An Albion firefighter alerted authorities after spotting the tiger on his property. Authorities shot the tiger with a tranquilizer, but were not immediately able to capture it.
December 8, 2008 Hamilton TWP, NJ: Santa Claus bit by pet bobcat in Petsmart. Scratches and bites cover the hand and arm of Jonathan Bebbington, after being mauled by a pet bobcat who was brought to Petsmart for a photo session. Bebbington says, "It hurt, it had a lot of power in its jaws." He struggled to control the cat for nearly 5 minutes while it bit him repeatedly. "He locked on here, grabbed the skin," he says as he points to his left hand. The cat's owner left after the incident without providing her name, though she did tell volunteers with Penny Angel's Beagle Rescue, which ran the event, that she had it shipped from Wyoming for $1,500. It is illegal to own a bobcat in New Jersey and allegedly this owner was keeping hers tethered in yard. There have been other cases of bobcats in South Jersey, including Mr. Peepers at the Cape May County Park Zoo, which was rescued from Bridgeton. Anyone with information about the bobcat or its owner should call the Atlantic County Division of Public Health at (609) 645 5931.
December 6, 2008 Wisconsin Dells, WI: Alan Borud was greeted by a 50 lb Siberian Lynx in his yard. Borud watched as the cat came up on the porch, stood on its hind legs, at which point it was about chest high to Borud, and looked in the window. He called DNR who took the cat to a local humane society. Big Cat Rescue called the authorities and offered a home to the cat, but Derick Duane of the McKenzie Wildlife Center said the owner was coming to retrieve her. They have had issues with this owner before, and have taken our name as a placement option if the owner cannot keep the Siberian Lynx contained. An anonymous tipster said the owner bought this cat and her mate in MO and then raised them as pets. When the cats reached about a year of age, the male began attacking the husband and son in the family and both the male and female were said to have been turned loose on purpose. No one has caught the male, and the owner denies that there ever was a male cat and denies that he turned this female loose.
December 1, 2008 Cass, WVa: Davide Cassell killed his pet tiger today said Hoy Murphy, spokesman for the state Division of Natural Resources. Murphy said the snowmaking crew at Snowshoe Mountain Resort saw the big cat on Monday morning. Cassell, who works at Mountain Lodge on Snowshoe Mountain, was trying to find the animal and tranquilize it, but ended up killing the cat instead. Cassell had a permit for the animal. In May 2006, an Asian brown bear owned by Cassell escaped and the 400-pound bear was not seen again.
November 27, 2008 Kansas City, KS: An exotic African cat (a Serval) roaming a Kansas City neighborhood has been shot and killed by police. Residents worried the cat was dangerous to children. But efforts to trap it over several weeks were unsuccessful, and an officer shot it Thursday with a patrol rifle. Police think the cat was dumped or had escaped from people who were keeping it as a pet. The identity of the owners is not known.
November 26, 2008 Harrisburg, PA: A Chester County farm caretaker says he thought he was shooting a bobcat in the chicken coop -- then his heart sank when he saw it had a collar. The animal he killed was a Serval cat that someone was keeping as a pet. Heim says once he realized he'd shot a pet, he was sad for the animal -- and angry at its owner for allowing it to be out.
November 19, 2008 Columbus, GA: Wildlife officials say a cougar killed at West Point Lake was an illegal pet. The 140-pound, 88-inch cat was shot by deer hunter David Adams of Newnan on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land near the Georgia-Alabama border. Officials said the cat had not been living on wild game and had callouses indicative of living on concrete her whole life.
November 17, 2008 Miami, FL: A 16-year-old girl mauled by a 150-pound cougar required more than two hours of surgery to repair a large gash in the back of her neck suffered when the animal clenched its powerful jaws around her head. "It's really a miracle that she's alive," said a family spokesman. Because the male cougar, named Chaos, was declawed, the girl did not suffer scratches to her face or body. Saturday's attack was witnessed by the girl's mother, who had brought her daughter to work cleaning out cages at a private wild animal sanctuary in a North Miami-Dade home to earn community service hours required to graduate from high school. The cougar lunged at the teen in the yard of the home of Alan Rigerman who keeps the animals at his home in the 17900 block of Northwest 84th Avenue. Rigerman owns a second cougar, snakes, tortoises and alligators. The girl and her mother had been brought to the home by Anthony Zitnick, 21, who after the attack was arrested on a charge of burglary of an occupied dwelling. Rigerman told The Miami Herald that Zitnick entered the property with a key he had given him after Hurricane Wilma in 2005, but that Zitnick only helped with the animals while under Rigerman's "supervision." Zitnick casually knew the girl's mother and had asked her if any of her children would be interested in the nonpaying job. The girl and her mother had no idea Mr. Zitnick did not belong on the premises, which they entered with a key.
Chaos got agitated, suddenly lurched and pinned the girl, and put his mouth around her head. A neighbor who heard the girl's screams jumped over the fence and helped free her from Chaos' jaws by punching the animal in the face. At the time of Saturday's attack, Rigerman was out of town at a reptile show in Tampa. Rigerman often attends public meetings of Florida's Wildlife Conservation Commission praising them for their lax regulations and enforcement and opposing new rules that would curb his behavior. He has publicly threatened other attendees who favor tougher regulations.
November 16, 2008 Luray, VA: A 15 year old keeper lost her finger to a 5 year old tiger named Star at the Luray Zoo located at 1087 US Hwy 211 West, in Luray, Virginia 22835 owned by Mark Kilby and Jennifer Westhoff. She was showing off and petting the cat in front of visitors at the time. The Page County Sheriff's Office says the girl's finger was amputated as result of a tiger bite. The private zoo's web page is covered in pictures of people petting exotic cats and behaving recklessly. The Luray Zoo has frequently employed people as young as 14, said Kilby. It is a violation of VA's Dept. of Labor laws that teens under 18 work in any "occupation that exposes them to a recognized hazard capable of causing serious physical injury or death." Kilby declined to discuss whether the zoo carries insurance for such attacks. Besides the tiger, the zoo's 37 mammals include five other breeds of what Kilby terms "big cats" - two lynxes, one serval and one bobcat.
November 14, 2008 Camperdown, So. Africa: 12 lions escaped the Lion Park after a storm downed the fences. Ten lions have been recaptured and are being kept in cages, while two others are still roving about the reserve. "Two lions were found at the front gate [of the park] and this was when we first became aware that the others might have escaped," Boswell said. A search party of about 20 Lion Park staff members, a helicopter pilot and a district official from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) conservation authority searched for the remaining 10 lions throughout the morning. The police and the EKZNW officials were notified, but were asked NOT to alert the public of the potential danger lurking in the tall grass. Boswell said that the park did not want to involve the public because they did not wish to cause public panic.
November 13, 2008 Singapore: Three white tigers mauled Nordin Bin Montong, 32, a Malaysian working as a cleaner at the zoo, to death after the man jumped into their enclosure. "Keepers managed to separate the worker from the tiger. While waiting for the ambulance, our vets attended to him," said Guha. "The worker
tragically succumbed to his wound." Nordin was seen behaving in an agitated manner before he fell into the moat. Terrified visitors near the section watched the vicious attack in horror and screamed, the paper said. Aziz Ansari, 16, a student, filmed the initial part of the horrific attack with his handphone. The video clip showed Mr Nordin's desperate fight to save himself, first by trying to get up and back into the moat, then by kicking one of the two tigers.
November 11, 2008 Mexico City, Mexico: A tiger escaped from an unlocked cage at a commercial zoo and fatally mauled its caretaker before it was captured and killed. State officials said that Bioparque Estrella had closed Monday when the tiger escaped his unlocked cage and fatally attacked 26-year-old Herminio Rodriguez Palma. Some 150 police officers and zoo veterinarians began an intense search for the tiger at the 740-acre wild animal park in the countryside northwest of Mexico City. Mexico has had problems with dangerous animals escaping from their caretakers recently. In September, a five-ton elephant got away from his trainer at a circus, wandered onto a highway outside Mexico City and was fatally hit by a bus. The bus driver also was killed. Three tigers escaped from a circus truck and took shelter in a house in western Mexico last week and in August, a 500-pound lion escaped from a local lawmaker's private zoo in southern Mexico, killing two dogs and a pig and attacking a woman and child on a donkey before it was sedated and captured.
November 11, 2008 Maddaloni, Italy: A 700lb Siberian tiger which can grow to 12 feet long prowled the streets of Maddaloni, southern Italy, for more than five hours after escaping the circus.
November 9, 2008 Junsele, Sweden: A keeper was mauled by a white tiger at the zoo. The keeper, who has worked with the zoo's tigers for 16 years, was trapped in a cage with the big cat unti the zoo's owner, Ulf Henriksson lured the tiger away with a piece of meat so rescue workers could get the man out of the cage and into an ambulance. The keeper was bitten in the foot and the shoulder and would be hospitalized for a couple of days to ensure against infection from the wounds, Henriksson said, noting the tiger saw the keeper more as a playmate than a threat.
November 8, 2008 Anchorage, AK: In the past week, three reports of the cat wandering near Fort Richardson and Point Woronzof, some 10 miles apart, have reached Rick Sinnott, Anchorage-area wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The cat's reported spots and size appear to describe the serval, an African wildcat sometimes kept as a "designer" pet, he said. Possessing such an animal is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine, he said.
November 5, 2008 Mexico City, Mexico: A family in Mexico was in shock after finding a tiger, which had escaped from a circus, lying on their patio, police said. The tiger terrified the town of Zitacuaro, in western Michoacan state, as it wandered the streets for an hour and a half before entering a house. The tiger "went through the house and lay down on the patio," the officer said. "The family was terrified and they hid." A total of three tigers escaped from their circus cages when the doors were left open the day before.
November 3, 2008 Ratchaburi: A male Bengal tiger has been on the loose in Ratchaburi since Thursday, when it escaped from its cage at a wildlife research station after attacking a keeper. The tiger, named Silathong, attacked Bunma Thongkerd, at the Khaoson wildlife research centre as he opened the cage for cleaning. Mr Bunma was mauled but survived. The tiger slipped out of the cage and ran off.
October 29, 2008 Broken Arrow, OK: Safari's Interactive Animal Sanctuary is home to 27 big cats. Former keepers have warned for years that the practices there of allowing contact with adult tigers would lead to injuries, escapes and death. SIAS' website is covered in the typically ignorant photos of the President, Lori Ensign Scroggins (ex-wife of Joe Estes who runs Safari Joe's) bottle feeding tigers and walking them on leashes. That kind of irresponsible behavior can only lead to tragedy for humans as well as the animals when they pay the ultimate price. Now the liger named Rocky may be killed for mauling to death a volunteer named Peter Getz who walked in the cage while feeding the cat a deer carcass. The mauling happened in the presence of more than 40 pre schoolers who were ushered away from the scene.
October 29, 2008 Winston, OR: Two cheetahs headed for the Memphis Zoo aboard a Delta flight made a stop at the Atlanta airport where it was discovered one of them had gotten free in the plane. The cheetahs are one-year-old sisters from Wildlife Safari Park in Winston, Oregon.
October 29, 2008Cambridgeshire U.K.:Hamerton Zoo offers 'Face to Face with a Cheetah' sessions but today the face to face happened with a little boy after the Cheetah escaped the zoo. The 6ft long animal was just 15 feet from 9 year oldToby when he spotted it. Toby dropped the bicycle he had been playing with and fled. As he reached the house the three-year-old, 66lb cheetah named Akea bit chunks out of the saddle and ripped the tires with his claws. Toby has since had nightmares over the incident. He said: "I panicked. It looked massive and really scary. I thought it would attack me. I ran as fast as I could."
October 28, 2008 Latham, NY: Many attacks and escapes go unreported as those who deal in exotics do not want the bad press, but they can't help but brag about it on what they think are private chat groups. This was posted on Phoenix Exotics by a breeder of Savannah cats: "Hell I got seriously bitten by a serval and I went to the ER and said I fell out of a tree and landed on barbed wire..." signed Deborah-Ann Milette, The home of the best known Savannah"MOTZIE" In 2005 USDA fined her and revoked her license 21-C-0218 for because she allegedly drugged and killed a tiger cub among other things. See 911AnimalAbuse.com for more.
October 28, 2008 Berlin, Germany: Rescue workers saved six tigers from a blazing 43-foot wagon by turning them loose on the highway. One tiger appeared to have suffered some smoke inhalation, but the other five were in good condition, owner Daniel Renz said. Renz said his show would go on, as planned on October 30, but the six tigers involved in Monday's blaze -- Queeni, Aschima, Lena, Sonja, Sibi and Goldi -- will be given a break and some of the circus' seven other tigers will perform in their place. The suspected cause was an overheated suspension system on the truck, said Renz.
October 14, 2008 Johannesbrg, So. Africa: Nelson Silaigwana of Three Streams Farm in Mangwe was found mauled to death by escaped lions. Two weeks ago, the eight-year-old daughter of a farmer was mauled by a lion and a lioness her father kept caged. Courtney Sparrow, who suffered a hole in her throat and serious injuries to her arms, face and head, underwent ten hours of surgery in Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg. Her father, Ron Sparrow, said he used the lions to deter attackers, but two lions broke through a weak window and the lioness attacked Courtney. A domestic worker was injured when she tried to rip Courtney from the lioness's grip.
October 13, 2008 Fallon, NV: A volunteer named Emmie was invited to pet the big cats at Tiger Touch owned by John and Barbara Williamson. She was petting a cougar named Kicky when the cat latched onto her palm and tried to drag her into the cage. See photos of the injury and read more about the mauling HERE.
October 4, 2008 Palm City, FL: A 50 lb, declawed Siberian Lynx disappeared from 3560 SW Wood Creek Trail at about 4:30 a.m., shortly after owner Tina Love fed her on the screened patio. "She's not the type to walk around," Love said. "But I thought she might have just wandered off." The property was unfenced. Love bought Simba from a breeder in Wisconsin for $2,500 after she gave away her bobcat because it was too wild. The Siberian Lynx was found again a couple weeks later, a mile and a half away, hanging out in a children's playground. She was confiscated by authorities as the owner did not have current permits and lacked appropriate caging. Often Big Cat Rescue has to turn away cats, from irresponsible owners who are trying to dump them, because the owners refuse to sign a contract stating that they will never again fuel the exotic pet trade.
September 16, 2008 Gaveston, TX: Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough said Tuesday that a tiger is out of its enclosure from an exotic pets center. The news follows reports of a lion holed up in a Baptist church with its owner on Bolivar Peninsula. Yarbrough said, "I understand he's hungry ... so we're staying away from him." Hurricane Ike made landfall Sept. 13 but a week later, the tiger still had not been found. The lioness and her owner were waist deep in water in the church along with several people who had fled there for shelter. "They worked pretty well together, actually," said the lion's owner, Michael Ray Kujawa. "When you have to swim, the lion doesn't care about eating nobody."
August 20 Reno, NV: Washoe County Regional Animal Services originally responded to a call about a large black dog on the roof of a home in the valley east of Washoe Lake. When they got there, they found not a dog, but two black leopards on the roof. State Wildlife Department spokesman Edwin Lyngar says the cats are exotic pets that escaped from the home of their owner Andy Kay who could not be reached for comment at telephone numbers associated with the West Coyote Drive address or the Ann Road address. Washoe County Assessor's Office records indicate the Washoe Valley property is owned by Coyote Irrevocable Trust and that Kay is a trustee. In March two black leopards were fired on by the police after allegedly mauling a puppy 200 yards from their home. Those cats were never found and are suspected to be the same as these found on a rooftop. Regional Animal Services Center Director Cindy Sabatoni said two Siberian tigers were found in Washoe County two years ago and a bobcat was found last year in Stead. The problem in NV is so prevalent that the tigers never even made the news.
August 19, 2008 West Palm Beach, FL: Authorities found and sedated a missing tiger from McCarthy's Wildlife Center. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says the adult lion and tiger escaped and were loose overnight at McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary (a breeding compound and not a true sanctuary) about 20 miles northwest of West Palm Beach. Three schools, Golden Grove Elementary, Acreage Pines Elementary and Western Pines Middle, were on lock-down until the tiger was found and sedated at 11:00 am the next day. Authorities say they don't know how the big cats escaped. A person who answered the telephone at the sanctuary on Wednesday said they couldn't comment and abruptly hung up. Marc McCarthy houses 22 big cats on what appears in aerial maps to be about 8 lots in a subdivision. In May, McCarthy was rushed to the hospital after being bitten on the leg by one of his tigers, Sabi, on the set of a rap video being filmed in Miami.
August 5, 2008 Richmond Township, IL: Larry Dean said he was practicing a circus act at the Hawthorn Corporation farm near Richmond when the tiger suddenly became aggressive and grabbed him with its mouth. "He had numerous scratch marks and bite marks," said Richmond Township Fire Chief Rick Gallas. "I would say that was a mauling... he was pretty bloody." Gallas said workers told paramedics they had to beat the tiger with baseball bats to get it to release Dean. Gallas said Dean told paramedics it was the second time a tiger had attacked him at the farm, but Dean declined to comment when asked about that on Thursday and Hawthorn's owner, John Cuneo says Dean should not have been near the tigers. Hawthorn owns about 50 tigers but only about 30 of the animals are at the farm, Cuneo said. Others are performing at circuses around the world, Cuneo said. In 2003 the U.S. Department of Agriculture accused Hawthorn of failing to care for its elephants properly. But in 2004 he agreed to give away his elephants in exchange for keeping his circus tigers. Cuneo has tried to get rid of his tigers when they won't perform by asking Big Cat Rescue to take them, but Big Cat Rescue does not enable bad behaviour. Cuneo's Sarasota neighbors are concerned that he plans to move his tigers to their neighborhood as he has purchased 5 acres of beach front there and asked for permits to install n 8 foot high wall. FL law requires 5 ac and an 8' fence for people to keep tigers in their back yard.
August 4, 2008 Branson, MO: A 16-year-old boy named Dakoda Ramel is in the hospital after an attack at the Interactive Zoo and Aquarium( fka Predator World) in Branson West owned by Breck Wakefield. Rescue crews say a 16-year-old employee entered the tiger exhibit to take some photos for guests. Witnesses tell rescuers the teen was knocked to the ground. That's when they say two other tigers joined in, dragging the teen to the water trough. "We have two puncture wounds on the neck, one big one on the leg, a big gash on the leg. His neck is bleeding," a caller says on the 911 tape. That's the condition in which he was airlifted to Springfield, where he remains four days later in critical condition. The father of the boy, Jim Barr said, "It was holding him down by his leg and tearing his calf off, eating it right in front of him." A lot of people remember Predator World from last year, when some wolves, a fox and a bear escaped. The bear killed an adult tiger at the park. What this park is known for is its interactions with animals like sharks, tigers and alligators.
August 3, 2008 Warren County, MO: A 26 year old volunteer named Jacob Barr was mauled by a tiger at the Wesa-A-Geh-Ya Animal Facility and lost his leg below the knee. The Warren County Sheriff's Department responded, to a report of a dog attack. Staff at the compound described not a tiger, but rather a pitbull attack. "This was not a dog attack, it was indeed a cat (800 lb tiger) attack on the person," Sheriff Kevin Harrison said. "And that they had tried to mislead my investigators and cover it up." The victim lost his leg below the knee and was airlifted to Barnes Hospital by Arch Air Medical. The tiger named Hercules who was said to have hopped the fence was shot to death by the owners, Ken and Sandra Smith. They then hid the body at a family member's house. The farm is home to 50 exotic animals and has been criticized by animal protection groups and USDA. About four years ago, the USDA filed allegations against the Smiths that included not providing proper veterinary treatment and lacking adequately trained employees. The Smiths gave up their exhibitor license and later had it revoked for operating without a license. They are no longer inspected by USDA and the Sheriff's office has no resources to devote to managing these kinds of operations. More HERE.
July 17, 2008 New Zealand Safari Park: Lisa Baxter, a 19 year old tour guide knew that if she screamed it would wake the rest of the pack and she would be killed, so she quietly worked to free her hands from the piercing bite of 18 month old Timba, the lion. Lisa, of Gullane, East Lothian, said: "I was stroking Timba's nose when he just grabbed my hand. His teeth were razorsharp and went straight through my skin." Later she added, "My hands were so swollen, I thought they were going to explode."
July 10, 2008 Atlanta, GA: A serval was found wandering near 14th Street and Georgia Tech in mid-town Atlanta and picked up by Animal Services who said the problem is more prevalent than most people think. Owning an exotic cat as a pet is illegal in GA unless it is being used for "education" so when exotic cats escape their owners rarely come forward. Big Cat Rescue received a report from a neighbor saying that the owner had become fearful of the cat as he matured and turned him loose on purpose. The cat, dubbed Ozzie, has been placed in a licensed facility. GA has no accredited sanctuaries, so that probably wasn't a happy ending for the cat.
June 20, 2008 Thailand's Tiger Temple: In a report on the Tiger Temple released today is documented and account of a Thai woman who came with her partner to help raise funds for the Temple, put her hand into the tiger, Dao Ruang's, cage to pet her. Dao took hold of the woman's hand with her mouth. When the
frightened woman tried to pull her hand away, Dao Ruang bit through it and held on. The woman's partner came over and hit Dao Ruang over the head. The woman's hand was badly torn between her 3rd and 4th fingers and required numerous stitches to close the wound. On other occasions, investigators observed tigers attacking staff and volunteers. One resulted in an injured finger, which needing suturing, another a French volunteer whose shirt was ripped, narrowly missing her neck and another a Danish volunteer who was tackled to the ground by and bitten on the leg. The resulting injury got infected and the volunteer need medical treatment at a hospital. During an interview with a journalist in January 2008, the Abbot was asked why the tigers do not bite. The Abbot said, "They want to bite and one day they will bite." Meanwhile the Monks spray tiger urine in the cats' faces to subdue them. Animal Planet has removed all references to the show. Read the entire report HERE.
June 19, 2008 Newton County, MO: A deputy shot and killed a 6 month old, declawed, black jaguar after being called to the home of a woman who thought she had seen a cougar. The jaguar had body fat, but no food in its stomach, and his paw pads indicated having been kept on concrete, which means he had escaped from captivity. Missouri does not regulate non-native wildlife, so the agency has no records that might have revealed where the jaguar was being kept. Last month, a declawed black leopard was shot to death in Neosho, MO.
June 17, 2008 McAllen, TX: Police said Michelle Ashton, 49, who was arrested while exchanging carriers filled with six tiger cubs in a parking lot, could be linked to a suspected tiger-smuggling ring. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Alejandro Rodriguez says it appears the cubs were bound for Mexico when they were seized. According to the feds, smuggling wildlife is a lucrative business that ranks second only to drug smuggling. "It's a very huge problem," Fish & Wildlife Service Agent Nicholas Chavez said. "It's been prevalent for years. It's something that we see definitely every week." "You could get anywhere from probably $3000 to $25000 a piece for them depending on what color they are, what they look like," he said. Ashton allegedly told police that she was a representative of Spring Hill Wildlife Ranch outside of Calvert in Robertson County. If convicted Ashton could face a $250,000 dollar fine and up to five years in prison for violating the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Wildlife trafficking earns billions of dollars annually. Smuggling wildlife products feeds into multipurpose criminal distribution networks that generate what Younger called "peripheral
crime." This includes corruption of officials, falsification of documents, intimidation and murder. "Once we start to dig into these things we find that not only are they smuggling wildlife, for example, but they'll be smuggling narcotics, or diamonds or gold bullion," he said.
June 12, 2008 Shifang, China: Following an earthquake on May 12 and mudslides that caused 400 people to flee on foot, a circus turned loose many of their animals and left 3 lions and 2 tigers behind in cages. On June 3 soldiers shot one 2 year old tiger to death in his cage. One white lion had starved to death already. When Chen Qinghua, head of Wanguan Group, was informed that a tiger and 2 lions were still alive, he organized a rescue party who transported the big cats by helicopter to the Bifengxia Zoo. They had gone without food or water for 25 days.
June 7, 2008 Tokyo, Japan: Zookeeper, Atsushi Ito, was mauled to death by an 11 year old, 330 lb. male tiger while cleaning the animal's cage at the Kyoto City Zoo in western Japan. Police suspected Ito had failed to lock a door that connected two cages.
June 6, 2008 Winnepeg, Canada: Kelly John Clarke, 38, sometimes called the Tiger Man of St. Clements has been charged with two counts of first degree murder in connection with the brutal killings of Joel Labossiere, 34, and his pregnant wife Magdalena, 33, who were found shot to death inside their St. Vital house on April 20. Clarke first made headlines in 1997 when his Midwest Exotics – a business that bought and sold exotic animals to pet stores, zoos and universities – brought to his St. Clements home Sheena, a Siberian tiger. When his trailer burned to the ground 1998, surrounding residents pressured council to bring forward a restricted exotic animal bylaw. Most of the animals were confiscated, but in August 1999, Winnipeg police seized the 250-kilogram Sheena after the tiger was spotted in a cage in the back of a van in River Heights. In December 2001 Clarke was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison and a 10-year weapons prohibition for 14 armed robberies. He went on the spree to fund a $1,000-a-day crack cocaine habit. In August 2007, Clarke was arrested in Selkirk and charged with intimidation after allegedly disrupting a Winnipeg trial and following a Crown attorney while she drove home from work. These are the kind of people who have big cats as pets.
May 27 So. Africa: A man in his forties was attacked and killed by six lions on a lion farm in Setlagole, near Mafikeng, North West police said. Superintendent Koos Degenaar said the man went into the lion's cage to give the animals water. He was then attacked by six lions. All that was left of the man were fingers and intestines. This is the sixth such incident to be reported in the province in two years. Other incidents include a 13 year old boy who was killed by lions at Tosca, two people who were killed on two different farms at
Zeerust, anther fatal lion attack at a farm near Swartruggens and a fifth occurred near Potchefstroom.
May 26, 2008 South Bend, IN: A Potawatomi Zoo worker was attacked by a leopard as she cleaned the cat's holding area, leaving her with head wounds. Zoo visitors watched Saturday as veteran zoo keeper Jeri Ellis was wheeled away on a stretcher, her head wrapped in bandages and towels spotted in blood.
May 24, 2008 Detroit Zoo, MI: Royal Oak - An animal handler at the Detroit Zoo has received stitches after being scratched and bitten by a lioness named Katie. The Detroit Free Press reports the attack happened shortly after Saturday's 5 p.m. public closing time. Zoo spokeswoman Patricia Mills Janeway says Brett Kipley, who in his 20s, received stitches at a hospital. The newspaper says Kipley used pepper spray to fend off the animal during the attack.
May 21, 2008 Neosho, MO: A 61 year old woman was chased into her house by a black leopard. An officer on the scene said he shot the cat with a shot gun two or three times as it approched him and then fired several rounds from a .45 caliber Glock into the cat's chest before stopping him. The cat was pawing at the door to get into the house when the police arrived. The leopard was a declawed pet that had escaped or had been dumped.
May 14, 2008 Russia: A drunken Russian zookeeper, who was mauled by a lion after climbing into its pen May 1 at a zoo in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, died in hospital Tuesday, investigators said. The man, who had been suspended from work for being drunk, entered the animal's enclosure while the lion slept and was attacked by the big cat as he tried to tap it on the nose.
May 11, 2008 Toledo, OH: The Toledo Zoo said that a zookeeper suffered three lacerations to the chest while caring for the tigers. The tiger's paw made it through a double mesh barrier at an odd angle, enabling the tiger to come into contact with the keeper.
May 10, 2008 Carrollton, IL: Authorities have seized an African Serval named Max from Tammy Ruehl who was keeping it as a pet without a permit. Ruehl says she received a $75 fine. Carrollton Police Chief Mike Kiger says the state had the right to confiscate the animal.
May 9, 2007 Loxahatchee, FL: According to PR-inside.com and Palm Beach Post: "Mark McCarthy who took his tiger onto the set of rapper Rick Ross' new video, was savagely attacked by the white tiger. The big cat, which featured in the background of one of Ross' scenes with Nellie was being used as a prop to look like the rapper's pet. The tiger turned on the unnamed trainer when he tried to coax the fierce creature out of its cage during filming. Reportedly agitated from being in chains all day, the tiger bit the trainer's leg as he tried to remove it from its cage. The tiger's keeper suffered severe bite wounds to his right leg and was rushed to hospital after the attack. Now laid up, McCarthy had to cancel some of his other gigs. "Won't be the first time I've been bit, won't be the last. I've been bit by everything from venomous snakes to tigers and leopards and monkeys and who knows what else," said the 52-year-old owner of McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary. He said the $5,000 bonus he got for the video will barely make up for the shows he missed. "
May 9, 2008 Muskegon, MI: Both a serval and a bear are believed to have escaped April 28 or 29. Numerous residents in Fruitport Township reported seeing the bear early this week before it was recovered. The serval, a declawed cat with no way to protect himself or hunt, is still missing. He escaped through a window in the room where he was kept. DNR spokeswoman Mary Dettloff said the agency probably will seek a misdemeanor charge against the owners for failure to report the missing bear, as required by the SPCA's permit.
May 1, 2008 Quebec: The 70-kilogram king of the jungle, who goes by the name of Boomer, has been on the lam since he escaped last night from a house where he was kept as a man's personal pet. The lion, which is about four feet high, was last spotted beside Highway 105, near Maniwaki, about an hour north of Ottawa.
April 18, 2008 Los Angeles, CA: Five Circus Vazquez tigers have been evicted by Los Angeles animal welfare officials because the big-cats earlier attacked and killed another tiger in their small cage. Department general manager Ed Boks says the tigers killed one of their own in Huntington Park on March 31 and the U.S. Department ofAgriculture cited Circus Vazquez for having too many tigers in close proximity to each other. Los Angeles officials went to the San Fernando Valley where the circus was performing across from the Panorama City Mall and the tigers were close together in the same cage. Boks says it was believed to be a public danger.
April 18, 2008 San Francisco, CA: Nicki Phung, 31 and Steven Tieu, 38, admitted in federal court to trying to illegally import a real, stuffed tiger into the United States. The two were caught in December when a U.S. Customs official at San Francisco International Airport inspected a box labeled "toy tiger" mailed from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and bound for the couple's home in Hercules, CA.
March 29, 2008 Wellington, FL: Judy Berens, owner of Panther Ridge Sanctuary, was showing off her two male cheetahs, Matt and Charlie, that she says she paid $40,000.00 for in Africa, when they knocked her down and punctured her arms and back more than 40 times before volunteers were able to rescue her. Berens says she has to pay another $10,000. to the Cheetah Conservation Botswana and Cheetah Outreach as part of her deal with the US Fish & Wildlife Service who are not supposed to allow the import of endangered species unless doing so somehow enhances their species chances at survival. Many of these Cheetah conservation centers are merely breeding facilities that supply cats to zoos and private collectors. (The cats are not set free.) Berens has more than twenty exotic cats in her 5 acre back yard and said, she fashioned herself after Katharine Hepburn's leopard-owning character in Bringing up Baby. "I figured if she can have a leopard, why can't I..?." Judy Berens' comment is exactly why displaying big cats as tractable is harmful to people and the cats. If show biz had not portrayed Hepburn as a master of the leopard, Berens might not have shelled out 7500.00 for her Jaguars nor the 50,000 for her pet Cheetahs. As long as people, like Berens continue to exhibit exotic cats as if they were tame, others will say, "...why can't I?"
March 28, 2008 Davenport, FL: Darryl Atkinson of Horseshoe Creek says the animals have to go now that he won't be able to exhibit them for money. He has more than 30 big cats in cages that have been cited more than 40 times for being too small and too flimsy. When Big Cat Rescue called to see if they could help they were told that Atkinson was going to work with Bhagavan Antle (T.I.G.E.R.S. in SC and FL) and that his cats were going with him. There isn't much the state or federal government can do to stop him if another dealer is willing to let him continue to operate under their license.
March 20, 2008 Ontario, Canada Bowmanville Zoo: A martial arts teacher knocked over by a lion during a photo shoot for Desi Life at Bowmanville Zoo says she is happy to have come away with four broken ribs and a bloodied lung. "To be honest, the sensation I have is a great deal of gratitude to be alive," Gitanjali Kolanad said yesterday. In the video, one minder kicks the baby lion in the neck while the other pulls on a leash. The lion takes a second, unsuccessful lunge at Kolanad as she lies gasping, before he is hauled out the door. "I couldn't breathe – that was the terrifying part. The muscles in my chest seized up and they didn't relax until I was in the emergency room and they gave me a muscle relaxant." See it here: http://www.thestar.com/DesiLife/article/347684
February 23, 2008 Miami, FL: A pet serval was turned in, no questions asked, at an exotic pet amnesty day sponsored by the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission. 100 owners dropped off bags full of pythons, scorpions and assorted other reptiles, birds and mammals. "This is garden-variety stuff," said exotic pet veterinarian Thomas Goldsmith, who examined the submissions. "This is Miami. People have sloths and leopards and God knows what else." The FWC then gave the dumped pets to new owners. One of the people surrendering her pets, Christie Lyon said, "People have no idea what they're getting into."
February 21, 2008 Honolulu, HI: A 245-pound Sumatra tiger named Berani was discovered wandering around an unsecured area just before the Honolulu Zoo's opening on Thursday. A startled female volunteer reported the escape after the tiger brushed past her. Zoo workers describe 8-year-old Berani as the tamest of three tigers at the zoo. Quintal says staff members who cleaned the tiger enclosure failed to properly latch a gate.
February 21, 2008 Johnstown, OH: Ben Uditis was driving when he noticed a fire at 3159 S. County Line
Rd. Editis woke Rick Armstrong and helped him get his animals out of his garage, including a caged tiger. Firefighters arriving on the scene had to work around the big cat to put out the blaze. ( Since no one was harmed, this is not included in the totals above as an incident although the first responders would certainly call it one. )
February 13, 2008 Bracebridge, Ontario: Provincial police were forced to shoot and kill a six year old jaguar named Bhino after he broke through a chain link cage at Guhu Exotic Animal Reserve. When officers arrived, they found the jaguar with the family's pet dog in his mouth. The dog was on a chain and therefore couldn't escape the jaguar and had to be put down because of severe injuries.
February 9, 2008 Davenport, FL: Brenda Chapman was clawed by a tiger named Kheira while cleaning out its cage, at Horseshoe Creek said Gary Morse of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.The incident comes on the heels of Darryl Atkinson's Feb. 1 arrest on charges of grand theft and signing a forged instrument. The commission said it found Atkinson accepting money from people on court-ordered probation in exchange for signing off on community service work they did not do. "That's just not what I need with all this other stuff," owner Darryl Atkinson said.
January 24, 2008 Seattle, WA: Two declawed, yearling servals were found wandering around West Seattle. Animal Control picked up one on Jan. 1 as it was going after some cat food left on a doorstep. Officers picked up the second one on the grounds of Madison Middle School. Officer Don Baxter suspects they both belonged to the same owner, who has not claimed them.
January 18, 2008 Mayes County, OK: The fire at Safari Joe's Exotic Wildlife Refuge destroyed a large barn that housed big cats, monkeys, birds and reptiles. Joe Estes, who owns the refuge, says he was able to save some tigers and lions but at least two tigers housed on the property died in the flames along with about 100 other exotic animals. - Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 1005
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USDA removes malnourished elep USDA removes malnourished elephant from Lance Ramos
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:
USDA removes malnourished elephant from Lance Ramos
Published: TodayTAMPA -- Ned the elephant has new digs.
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials removed the 21-year-old Asian elephant from his Balm home Saturday after they found him malnourished in the care of his owner, circus trainer Lance Ramos.
Carol Buckley of The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee in Hohenwald, Tenn., wrote in a diary she's been keeping about Ned that his shoulder blades were protruding from his 9-foot-6, 7,500-pound frame when he arrived at the sanctuary Sunday.
That's about a ton underweight, she said.
Ned, who was born at Busch Gardens on Oct. 10, 1987, is only the second elephant to ever be confiscated by the USDA, according to Elliot. He was born to two elephants who were captured in the wild in Southeast Asia, but who came to belong to a Busch Gardens breeding manager.
When he was 2 years old, Ned was sold to a circus trainer. He performed with the Big Apple circus for almost a decade until elephants were cut from the circus lineup. That's when Ramos took possession of the elephant, according to the sanctuary.
Jessica Milteer, a spokeswoman with the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said Ramos was warned several times prior to the confiscation that his care of Ned needed to be improved.
This is not Ramos first encounter with USDA sanctions. In 2000, the federal agency charged him with violating the Animal Welfare Act after an 18-year-old female elephant broke free from a chain and killed Teresa Ramos-Caballero. The elephant died soon after of unknown reasons.
Ramos, who is also known as Lancelot Kollmann, has also been cited by the USDA in the past for failure to provide veterinary care to injured animals, causing trauma and harm to a jaguar and unsanitary conditions. He is currently appealing an administrative court ruling in a case brought by USDA concerning his treatment of bigs cats, Milteer said.
Milteer said the USDA only enforces civil and licensing sanctions and does not have the ability to bring criminal charges.
Ramos could not be immediately reached for comment.
Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer
Photo courtesy of The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_7732/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=eM51aUdh - Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 351
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Paula Nichols Convicted Animal Paula Nichols Convicted Animal Abuser
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:
Posted Aug 2008 on Phoenix Exotics:
Hello. My name is John Menso. I live in Oceanside, NY. I can tell you
from my personal experiences that Paula Nichols is a sick, violent
and dangerous human being.
Below is a webpage I created describing Miss Nichols sickness. Please
listen to the conversations I had with her neighbors when she lived
in NY. People who knew her for years describe her as sick and
emotionally disturbed.
Look at Miss Nichols court history since she moved to Thurston
County.
Thanks to Thurston County officials Paula Nichols is a convicted
animal abuser. Had she been arrested for the criminal acts I
personally observed her commit, her criminal history would include
arrests for robbery, falsely reporting an incident, and several
counts of perjury.
http://licab.250free.com/N12/p/MISS_PAULA_.htmlRe: Police seize starving fair animals-WA
>>>I think that Thurston County officals and Hooved Animal Rescue
>>>did a real number on Paula Nichols too, following the pattern of
>>>attacking other rescuers. I don't think that Paula Nichols did
>>>anything wrong except to live in Thurston County.Re: [Phoenix_Exotics] Re: Police seize starving fair animals-WA
Why not forward this info to the DA in Washington??
Deborah-Ann Milette & Motzie
Telling Felids Exotic Rescue Facility
The home of the best known SavannahHello, Deborah-Ann.
After Miss Nichols was arrested and charged with the offenses she
committed in Thurston County, I contacted and spoke with Lt. Ware of
the Thurston County Sheriff's Office.Re: [REXANO] Re: [Phoenix_Exotics] Police seize starving fair animals-WA
� http://www.kirotv.com/news/17132596/detail.html
Go to this link, click on the slideshow, and look very carefully at the ribcage
of the "emaciated" llama.� What I see there is a physical impossibility.� It is
like there is a huge concavity just back of the right shoulder from about the
middle of the torso to the spine, including the spine in a way that would
require the crushing of bones to make the shape.� Worse than that, that shape
simply can't exist because the spine of any animal has a certain width and the
photograph shows zero width from the centerline of the spine to the right side
of the animal in the area in question.�
The left side of the animal does not match the right side of the animal.� The
neck is not as emaciated as the appearance of the right side of the torso.� The
belly is completely normal and is not congruent with the appearance of the right
shoulder, ribcage, or withers.� The concavity is the result of a really bad
attempt to morph that part of the picture.� The picture is digitally blurred:�
Compare it to the news photographs where you can clearly what a shaved llama
should look like.� The blurring erases some of the tracks from the morphing.
The animal that is shown being handled is of a perfectly normal weight.� Llamas
don't come with "an ounce of fat."� That llama is young but quite heavy with
muscle, which shows that it is well fed.�
Any of these images can be saved by using the "Print Scrn" button on a PC
compatible, which is just to the right of the F12 key, and pasting into your
favorite viewer.� Then save as and choose your folder and file name.
The victim of this assault on her civil liberties deserves to sue someone over
all of this.� It's way too easy for someone like Hooved Animal Rescue to obscure
who did what to whom, when, and how, and to try to disclaim responsibility.� The
whole thing requires a very careful investigation.� I want her to have money and
sympathetic experts and some kind of pull to get the venue away from the judges
that HAR uses.
Someone accused me of believing everything that I see in the media.� That is
probably doublespeak for "doesn't believe what he sees in the media."� This is
ironic because this person uses the media to manipulate people.� The "underfed
animals" trick is so old it should have gone out with vaudeville.� That was no
lady...� The reason that the news cameras don't show any emaciated animals is
because there were none at the fair.� That is a reasonable thing to say when the
only photograph that shows emaciation was manipulated, poorly and obviously, and
the words of Connie Patterson contradict what is plain to see when she was
showing the news crew. - Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 186
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C.C. Baird Dealing Dogs C.C. Baird Dealing Dogs
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:
C.C. Baird
Chester Clinton (C.C.) Baird, Jr. grew up in Williford, Arkansas. Married to his wife, Patsy, for 40 years, the two have 5 daughters and 8 grandchildren. C.C. received a bachelor’s degree in math, but became a Class “B” dealer and completed his first sale in 1990. Prior to being charged with hundreds of violations of the Animal Welfare Act and losing his Class “B” license, C.C. was also a minister of the Bettistown Church of Christ in Arkansas.
In 1997, Baird was convicted of violating the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and fined $5,000. The charges against him include: failing to maintain complete records showing the acquisition, disposition, and identification of animals from January 1992 through June 1994. Baird also is charged with acquiring "random source" dogs in violation of the AWA from January 1992 through May 1993.
In 2002, Last Chance for Animals began an investigation into C.C. Baird and his facility, Martin Creek Kennels, by sending an investigator, “Pete,” undercover.
Baird Faced Hundreds of Violations of the Animal Welfare Act
As a result of LCA’s undercover investigation, in March 2004, the USDA/APHIS filed a 108-page complaint against Baird, consisting of hundreds of violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Some of the violations in the complaint include:
*“Severe mistreatment and neglect of a multitude of animals”
*“Falsification of health certificates of dogs and cats that the respondents sold to research facilities”
*“Multitudinous record keeping deficiencies and instances of non compliance with the barest standards of care, husbandry and housing for dogs and cats”
*“These respondents have continually treated hundreds of animals cruelly and inhumanely in myriad ways including failure to provide them with the most basic needs: sufficient and nutrient food, potable water, safe shelter, and adequate veterinary care.”
*CC Baird “has a history of previous violations of the Act and regulations…who was previously found to have violated same regulations. Mr. Baird has knowingly disobeyed the cease and desist letter issued by the Secretary in Mr. Baird's previous case.”
In January, 2005, a settlement was reached in Baird's civil case. The consent decision was finalized on January 28th and permanently revoked Baird's USDA license and slapped him with a fine of $262,700, the largest fine ever imposed by the USDA/APHIS.
Baird Faced Criminal Charges
As part of his criminal case, on August 30, 2005, Baird pleaded guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to launder money in an operation involving the sale of dogs and cats to research laboratories.
Baird's guilty plea stems from his role in mail fraud, in which he violated the Animal Welfare Act by transferring dogs and cats to research facilities with false acquisition records through his facility, Martin Creek Kennels. The charge against Baird is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of more than $5 million.
Baird's wife, Patsy, a USDA-licensed Class "A" dealer (animal breeder) and owner of breeding facility Pat's Pine Tree Farm, pleaded guilty to misprision of felony mail fraud. The Bairds consented to criminal forfeiture of $200,000 and approximately 700 acres of land -- which includes their residence and former dog and cat kennels -- in Sharp County, Arkansas, valued at $1.1 million. They also agreed to pay approximately $42,400 in partial reimbursement of investigative costs as directed by the USDA, which will reimburse animal rescue groups that took custody of animals seized from Baird's property.
VICTORY FOR THE ANIMALS!
C.C. BAIRD CASE SETS IMPORTANT PRECEDENT!
C.C. Baird is the First “Class B” Dealer Convicted of Money
Laundering Due to his Class "B" Dealer Activities -
Future Animal Abusers Like Baird are Expected to Face
Prison Time for Their Offenses
In early 2002, an LCA undercover investigator infiltrated Baird’s Martin Creek Kennel in Williford, Arkansas and acquired over 70 hours of video surveillance detailing an overwhelming amount of animal cruelty, abuse, neglect and unsanitary conditions. The documentation gathered during the undercover investigation was handed over to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which resulted in the largest multi-agency (federal, state and local) investigation of animal abuse in U.S. history. As a result, Martin Creek Kennel was raided at dawn break on August 27, 2003. During the raid, 125 dogs and 1 cat were removed from Baird’s premises.
As a result of the raid, C.C. Baird, the largest and most notorious USDA licensed Class “B” animal dealer, was officially charged with hundreds of violations of the Animal Welfare Act on March 11, 2004. These charges included mistreatment of animals, inadequate veterinary care and improper housing. This civil case was settled out of court in January 2005 and consisted of the following:
*The USDA issued Class “B” licenses of C.C. Baird and daughter, Jeanette, were PERMANENTLY REVOKED
*The USDA issued Class “A” licenses of Baird’s wife, Patsy, and daughter Patricia, were PERMANENTLY REVOKED
*Baird and his wife were required to pay a civil penalty of $250,000
*C.C. Baird was personally assessed an additional civil penalty of $12,700
*The combined $262,700 penalties represent the largest civil penalty ever assessed and paid in an Animal Welfare Act case
*A five year probation including a penalty of $250,000 if any Baird is caught engaging in any activities under which their licenses were revoked
Separate from his civil case, Baird was also federally charged with conspiracy to launder money to which he pleaded guilty on August 30, 2005. Baird's guilty plea stemmed from his monetary transactions in criminally derived property (dogs and cats) to research facilities. Patsy Baird pleaded guilty to misprision of felony mail fraud (misprision is neglect in preventing or reporting a crime).
The federal charges against Baird were NOT for animal abuse. An animal abuse charge in the State of Arkansas is only a misdemeanor; therefore the U.S. Attorney deliberately went after Baird on federal charges to attempt a felony conviction. Baird’s violations of the Animal Welfare Act were handled in his civil case.
The outcome of Baird’s federal charges are listed below:
Guilty plea on August 30, 2005:
*Criminal forfeiture of 700 acres of property, valued at approximately $1.1 million. The property includes the Baird residence, another house and their kennel facilities
*Criminal forfeiture of $200,000
*Partial reimbursement of $42,400 to animal rescue organizations involved in taking all the animals after they were relinquished from Baird’s Martin Creek Kennels
Federal sentencing on July 14th, 2006:
*3 years probation for C.C. Baird including 6 months home detention.
*2 years probation for Patsy Baird.
*$7,500 fine for C.C. and $2,500 for Patsy; $10,000 combined fines due in 30 days.
C.C. BAIRD’S CASE SETS IMPORTANT PRECEDENT!
C.C. Baird is the first Class “B” dealer to be convicted of money laundering due to his Class "B" dealer activities. Due to this, future animal abusers like Baird are expected to face prison time for their offenses.
During the sentencing for the federal charges, C.C. Baird asked Judge J. Leon Holmes of the U.S. District for Eastern Arkansas for leniency.
"He was basically kissing the floor of the court room. It was pitiful. I would have liked to see him do hard time, but it was much more important to set a precedent for future violators of the Animal Welfare Act," said Chris DeRose, LCA President.
Judge Holmes admonished Baird for his crimes and then advised Baird that he was fully prepared to sentence him to prison, but reconsidered because of a motion filed by the government for a lesser sentence in response to Baird’s substantial assistance to the USDA and others in multiple ongoing investigations.
Baird consented to an on-camera interview initiated by LCA President Chris DeRose regarding the theft of companion animals for medical research. Baird’s interview provided incriminating evidence against the entire "B" dealer system and the USDA. Baird’s interview is part of the LCA documentary titled, “The Case Against ‘B’ Dealers.” The documentary includes Baird’s interview and interviews with other USDA licensed "B" dealers and documents the failure of the USDA/APHIS to enforce the Animal Welfare Act to protect America's companion animals from ending up in research laboratories. Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and U.S. Representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA) and English (R-PA), are sponsors of the Pet Safety and Protection Act (H.R. 5229, S.451). Both “Dealing Dogs” and “The Case Against ‘B’ Dealers” are crucial pieces of documentation that will help get The Pet Safety and Protection Act (PSPA) passed. The PSPA will amend the Animal Welfare Act by making “B” dealers an illegal source of animals for research, effectively putting all the remaining Class “B” dealers out of business.
Lots of hard work spanning many years was put into Baird’s case by LCA. In addition to the sentences/penalties listed above, there are other positive outcomes in this case, such as:
*Baird operated as a Class “B” dealer for over 15 years, and now that he is out of business, thousands of animals will be spared from ending up in Baird’s horrendous facility
*The numerous dogs and cats confiscated from Baird’s property have all been adopted into loving homes
*The Baird’s are now convicted felons -- several fundamental rights have been taken away from them, including voting and carrying firearms
*The Baird’s annual income has dropped dramatically from their “B” dealer activities of approx $500,000, to $60,000 working for a construction company in Texas
*HBO America Undercover aired “Dealing Dogs,” a documentary on LCA’s undercover investigation into C.C. Baird. As a result, millions of Americans became aware of the horrors of the pet theft trade and that companion animals are ending up in research facilities
*Most importantly, the Baird felony case has set precedent for future violators of the Animal Welfare Act
Click here to find out what you can do to get the Pet Safety and Protection Act passed and put an end to Class “B” dealers forever. - Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 133
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Marcus Cook Trouble June 2008 Marcus Cook Trouble June 2008
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:
Hold that tiger
Duluth News Tribune - 06/29/2008
If a wild animal exhibitor brings a couple of tigers to town, one of which is very pregnant, and sets up shop at a carnival where the female gives birth to four cubs that he displays publicly only to see them die the next day, should he be welcomed back?
How about if he made the trip last year after being socked with a lengthy complaint from the United States Department of Agriculture alleging Animal Welfare Act violations, as well as a $100,000 fine for fraud from the attorney general of Texas?
Well, sanctions or not, Marcus Cook and his Zoo Dynamics tiger show have been barnstorming the South and Midwest this year with the Mighty Thomas Carnival, which is preparing to set up shop in the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center parking lot this week. But hold your horses — or tigers — because this time, the carnies may be stripped of their stripes.
“I’m not sure if the tigers are coming with us or not,” Mighty Thomas co-owner Tom Atkins told the News Tribune ’s editorial page staff early last week, acknowledging that the big cat sideshow had been traveling with the carnival “for a couple of weeks.”
Atkins advised calling back later in the week. In the meantime, the office of Attorney General Greg Abbott of Texas, the state where Cook is based, had plenty to report.
“What name is he operating under today?” asked spokesman Charlie Castillo when the newspaper called to inquire about the status of the “Final Judgment and Agreed Permanent Injunction” signed by Cook and the attorney general’s office in February 2007. Asserting that Cook had fraudulently operated various nonprofit entities — ZooCats Inc., Zoo America, and the Kaufman County Humane Society, among others — the ruling enjoined him from ever again establishing a nonprofit in the state, as well as claiming any affiliation with Save the Tiger funds sponsored by Exxon and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
With regard to dangerous animals, the judgme nt enjoined Cook from “misrepresenting or causing confusion ... as to Defendants’ safety record ... including representing that Defendants have a ‘perfect safety record.’”
It would appear that he does not. In 2005, a woman was bitten in the hand by a tiger cub Cook exhibited at a Florida auto dealership, the St. Petersburg Times reported. A year later, according to numerous news reports, one of Cook’s workers required 2,000 stitches after being mauled by a tiger that had escaped his Texas facility.
In Duluth last year, Cook dismissed the incident, telling the News Tribune the worker was trying to commit “suicide by tiger.” (The worker disputes his claim.) And Cook said the attorney general judgment — which would seemingly enjoin him from making suicide-by-tiger excuses regarding his safety record — wasn’t as severe as it sounded and the fine had been reduced.
Not quite. On Thursday, Texas attorney general spokesman Thomas Kelley gave an update. “Mr. Cook is mistaken,” he e-mailed. “Short answer: yes, the judgment still applies; no, he hasn’t complied with the judgment; and yes, the $100,000 is reinstated.”
It looks like Cook won’t soon be getting any ticket revenue in Duluth to pay down that debt. On Friday, the News Tribune editorial staff called Atkins of Mighty Thomas again to ask if the tigers were coming to town.
“They’re not,” he said, and hung up.
Cook did not respond to requests for comment. His lawyer, Bryan Sample, who also signed the Texas judgment, said of it: “There are ongoing matters that would be improper for me to make any comment.” As for the cause of the tiger cubs’ deaths last year — Cook reportedly sent their remains for a necropsy shortly after the incident — Sample said, “I really don’t know. I don’t believe any criminal charges or charges from the [United States Department of Agriculture] were brought against him or anyone else from the exhibit.”
He’s correct, but the USDA has ot her matters to discuss with Cook in a September hearing on its voluminous complaint against him.
For Duluth and Minnesota, the larger question is what state and local governments can do to control wild animal exhibits gone wrong. A state law passed in 2004 requires residents who own dangerous animals to register them with their counties, but is mum about visiting exhibitors. As for Duluth, city spokesman Jeff Papas was in the process of researching relevant ordinances on Friday when told Cook probably wasn’t coming to town.
“That might solve the whole issue completely,” he said.
Maybe this time, but not completely. - Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 175
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Conspiring to break the law Conspiring to break the law
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:
The following was posted on the Phoenix Exotics Chat Room on June 4, 2008 in an attempt to circumvent the laws that prohibit keeping wild animals as pets:
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Tim's Bobcat Nero.
Here is the link to the petition and the link to the story from the
wral news channel. I'm hoping that if I can get enough signatures maybe
the state will allow me to keep him since it's such a grey area now.
Thanks in advance for your support and signature. Chancey_lullaby1990@
Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/19365.html
Wral news story:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2899371/
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hi I signed your petition, I think the states are totaly stupid when
it comes to this type of stuff, we own a few exotics and are planning
on moving to another state, I looked up the laws for that state and
found out that we can get a license for them but when I called that
states DNR/(Do nothing right)I was told that they didnt care what the
law says it was up to them whether we could get the permits and they
wont give out any permits for our animals. well screw them, we will be
taking our animals and not letting them know. I wish you the best of
luck. Dusty Karen Mastrocola
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Thanks Dusty its not my Bobcat its actually a friend of mines, but I am now in
the process of getting a Serval, and my county laws are wacked so Im going to a
meeting with the mayor and city ordinances director tomorow I'll see how it
turns out. But good luck with your animals. And do nothing right hits it right
on the money lol. chancey brown
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If Tim (Nero's owner) is a friend of yours you know that he brought a bobcat
into the state of NC without regard to the state laws. It would be ground
breaking news if an online petition would result in the State allowing him to
keep the kitty and, thus, setting a precedent for the state. He was advised two
months ago to make arrangments to protect Nero from confiscation. I wish him
luck in his endeavor and hope there is a back-up plan in place for Nero's sake.
Shelleen Mathew - Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 284
- Not yet rated
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300 dead cats found packed in 300 dead cats found packed in freezers
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:A man was arrested Saturday after police found 300 cats packed in three freezers in his Sacramento home, the Sacramento Bee reports. When police entered the house of Michael Louis Vondueren, 47, which was littered with cat feces, they also found 30 cats that were still alive, according the the Bee. Vondueren, who was living in the house with his 81-year-old mother, was arrested on suspicion of possession of an automatic weapon and obstructing police officers. The cats were removed by animal control workers. -- Tony Barboza
- 2 years ago
- Views: 398
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Dog Fur Coats Dog Fur Coats
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:Dog Fur Coats. Do something about it at CatLaws.com
- 2 years ago
- Views: 177
- Not yet rated
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Exotic Pet Owner Profile Exotic Pet Owner Profile
- From: CaroleBaskin
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Description:
Who Keeps Dangerous Animals as Pets?
See an interactive online map of exotic cat owners .
As is often the case, the media is looking for eye candy and bizarre tales to titillate the public because the public is often deemed too dull to really understand matters of substance. It is a self perpetuating prophecy then that reporting entertainment and calling it news creates a society that is apathetic toward real news because it isn't considered main stream, and thus is often labeled as being the work of zealots with some imagined, anti cultural agenda.
Little do the reporters know that when they ask the question, "Who keeps dangerous animals as pets?" they are really asking one of the more profound sociological questions of our age. There is a stereotype; and as someone who grew up being described as a beautiful blonde (who would, of course, be stereotyped as dumb) I disdain stereotyping more than most, but if there is anything at which I excel, it is recognizing a pattern.
Despite my lack of formal education I score at the genius level in IQ tests because the tests do not measure what you know, but rather measure one's ability to recognize a pattern. I became successful in real estate investment by looking at hundreds of properties before buying one. I look at entire trends, or patterns of growth in areas to determine the best deals. I taught myself how to do all of my own legal work by pulling case files of similar cases and looking for what they all had in common and emulating the process. There was a time when I had 60 such foreclosures, evictions and quiet title suits pending in the same year and did them all pro se. I only ever lost one case and won it on appeal.After rescuing 56 lynx from a fur farm and discovering there was virtually nothing available in the literature to enable me to care for the cats I began meticulously detailing every meal, every incremental gain in weight and every observation in order to compile the data into information that could then be relied upon for future reference. This website is a culmination of much of that research and again, I taught myself how to build a website by looking at others and seeing what the good ones had in common.
Regardless of the topic, there will always be exceptions to the rules, but in the case of people who possess wild animals those exceptions are so rare that they even further emphasize the commonality of the rest. The traits are so apparent in the manner of the person and the nature of their handiwork, whether it be a web site, a blog or the way that they exploit the wildlife in their possession that even the most gullible can see through the transparent veneer.
Some of the characteristics are embraced by both genders and others are gender related.
What is almost universally shared by those who keep wild animals as pets, or props and even most of those who operate private zoos and sanctuaries is that they are uneducated, poor, unattractive, hot tempered, attention seekers. Marked differences in the genders are that men are usually slovenly, womanizing, have a criminal history or leanings, and are dependant on drugs or alcohol to manage their depression. Whereas women are most often blonde, fat, have low self esteem, are childless or estranged from their families, and prone to rages of jealousy. This generalization may sound harsh but you don't have to be a genius to observe the people involved and verify the validity of such statements yourself.
Considering these personal traits it also makes clear the necessity of having something that makes them feel good about themselves. In the case of those who make pets of wild animals, there is a universal need on their part to portray themselves as having a bond with the wild that other "mere mortals" cannot achieve. They will always tell you that they have a special gift or training that sets them apart, so that THEY can pet the tiger, but YOU cannot. They call themselves "Educators" and drag their wild animals around from flea market to fair ground, espousing the reasons that OTHER people (the mere mortals) should not attempt to have these as pets, because only THEY are special enough to have such a pet. Roy Horn would surely have uttered the same sentiments just minutes before his tiger, Montecore, nearly killed him on stage in Las Vegas.
If you meet an exotic pet owner without a boa around their neck, or a tiger on a chain, within two minutes they have pulled out a dog-eared photo album of all of their pictures of them restraining animals that would never allow a human near them if they had the choice. In their eyes it is an immediate way to even the playing field and let others know that they are equals, if not superior. The overwhelming need to do so is a manifestation of the great lack of self esteem they feel but dare not admit, even to themselves. The mood elevating drugs (legal and illegal) and the alcohol are the only ways they can deaden themselves to the pain that cannot be remedied no matter how much they talk about their wild animal connection.
On the flip side of this gender role is the woman who is so physically and emotionally undesirable that no man will have her, but if she has a back yard full of tigers she can attract the attention of young men who come seeking a way to prove their manhood by subduing a wild animal that would kill him in an instant were the two to meet in a natural situation. It is the same unquenchable desire to feel empowered without paying the price of self introspection and change and could be likened to the gambler's quest for easy money without work.
By the early 1990's science was beginning to discover the extent to which animals exhibited intelligence and emotion. Anyone who has ever had a pet cat or dog could tell you that they are intelligent and that they feel loneliness, anger, resentment, embarrassment, joy and a host of emotions, but it took science hundreds of years to catch up. Keeping wild animals captive began to be considered cruel and self serving as people became aware of the fact that the tiger in the cage could experience the pain of being held against his will. It became fashionable then for exotic pet owners to call themselves "educators" and some even manage to give an educational spiel but it doesn't matter how good the message may be; if you are standing there with a cougar on a leash, no one is hearing the message. They are just thinking how cool it would be if they could have a cougar on a leash. The litmus test is the fact that these people were not doing conservation education before they needed that label to justify their behavior and the minute they can't use the animal as a prop they wouldn't choose to be in the education business.
The roadside zoo operators and pseudo sanctuarians are, in many cases, just a more organized version of the exotic pet owner and have found ways to get the public to support their delusions of grandeur. They portray themselves as rescuers and martyrs for their cause. When they are poor and filthy and uneducated they can tell themselves and others that it is because they are so altruistic that all of their time and energy is being sacrificed for the good of the animals they have saved. They quickly learn that high profile rescues and having cute babies around bring in donations. They claim to breed the animals to save them from extinction, when none of the animals in these collections are really involved in any conservation breeding programs. They claim to be educating the public to save habitat and the planet by taking their cats out to parking lots in circus wagons and setting up a donation jar. Some do a better job of fooling the public than others and the media often plays into their hands, but the only real purpose they serve is their own self aggrandizement and a way to pay their bills without having to get a real job.
These exploiters can rescue far more cats if the cats kill each other and for that reason these places are often closed to the public. If the fighting and killing becomes known to the public it is rationalized by the sanctuarian who protests that it is the cat's fault if they won't get along, claiming that they did their part to rescue the animal and if it insists on getting killed, then it is the animal's lack of gratitude at fault. The same irrational reasoning is used to excuse why they do not provide medical care for the animals by caustically replying to you, as if you were the idiot, that these animals don't get medical care in the wild. The same excuse is used for not providing contraception and the side benefit they get from that is that the cubs produced are often food for the rest of the animals in the group and if they need a new baby for photo ops or for media attention there is always one to use. In order to cover their misdeeds the policies in these kinds of places are to not give the animals names, under the guise of avoiding anthropomorphism, but the real reason is because there are virtually no state or federal laws that require positive identification of the animals and not having a name makes it even harder to track what has happened to an animal after it was "rescued."
These operations invariably implode. When they do, the owners move away, abandon the animals, and tell themselves and the world that they have done their part and must retire because it has taken all they had, which was nothing to begin with. They will dramatically sweep a hand to their brow and announce that they are dying and that it is time someone else stepped up and took over. When they walk away from all of the animals that they so professed to love, they do so with no feelings of remorse because they are more affected by their sense of entitlement than to anything that resembles responsibility.They move to a new place, change their name and do it all over again.
Even those "sanctuarians" who do not publicly speak out against more protective laws do virtually nothing to assist in their passage. Some may pay lip service to the activity but it doesn't take long to figure out that they know nothing of the pending legislation in their state nor at a federal level. They love to cite the IRS as their reason to not get involved, implying or stating that charities cannot participate in any way, but that isn't true. They frequently excuse their behavior by saying that they "don't like politics" or will say they are too busy with their mission to get involved. That makes as much sense as feverishly bailing out an overflowing bathtub and saying you are too busy or too averse to knobs to turn off the water. The fact of the matter is that they define themselves by being perceived as saviors and if there were no wild animals to save they would lose their only redeeming feature.
We now have nearly half a century of data on the subject of people who keep wild animals captive and yet until the time that you read these words you probably never saw an in depth investigation into the troubled and delusional minds of those who are the captors. And that begs an even more important question..."why not?"
Not to minimal its deleterious effects on the person practicing it, but consider how much attention has been focused on women who vomit after every meal to stay thin. Oddly, the initial instigator is one and the same in that television portrays the perfect women as being gaunt to the point of it being an unrealistic achievement barring bulimia or some latter stage disease. You can't check out in a grocery store line without seeing headlines about celebrities weight struggles, and yet, to my knowledge, no one was ever so fat or so thin that an innocent bystander was killed or mauled by coming in close contact with people who are diagnosed as being obsessed with their appearance. Just since 1990 there have been more than 650 incidents involving captive big cats in the U.S. So why is it that you rarely hear more than a passing comment about the mental instability of most wild animal owners?
I think it may be the same reason that it took me, someone who takes great pride in their ability to recognize a pattern, more than 15 years to see what was undeniably before my eyes. To look objectively at the similarities in these tiger-tamer-wannabees meant that I had to look within as well. Not only who I was; blonde, fat, uneducated, poor, lacking self esteem and estranged from my family, but who I am today. It wasn't until I was willing to take a good hard look in the mirror that I could plainly see underlying neurosis that so many of us share.
I am fortunate to not have grown up impoverished or in the presence of domestic violence. The very thing that makes so many "animal people" unemployable; their disdain for conformity, is what makes me successful in business, so I am fortunate to have been able to turn that to my advantage. My estrangement from my family was only because I felt like I wasn't good enough for them, and once I came to appreciate my talents we were rejoined and have worked together, side by side in caring for the animals. Having overcome obesity, cigarettes and alcohol I feel empowered and in control of my own life. Perhaps if I had not been so blessed, I would never have been able to cast the harsh light of reality on the mass illusion that I once shared. Mass illusion, because it extends to much of our society; not just those who are in possession of animals who were meant to live free.
We are a generation who was raised with zoos and circuses and even our religions proclaimed man to be master of all beasts, with little or nothing said about the command to be good stewards. We want to believe that our goodness is so palpable that even the most ferocious of animals would give up their freedom just to live in our homes. Even those who do not currently live that way often will say, "if I won the lottery, I'd have a pet tiger" as if to say that money is all that keeps them from indulging such fantasy. When we see that cute baby animal being cuddled on some talk show we choose to NOT think about where the animal's mother is, or how it came to be that he was taken from her to be used this way. When we pay to see a film about tiger brothers, even when we know that more than 30 tigers were used in the film, we choose to NOT think about where those animal will be a year from now.
If we acknowledge great suffering and choose to look the other way, how can we reconcile our conscience? When the answers are so easy and cost us little more than a few letters and phone calls to our legislators, and yet we are unwilling to do even that small thing to alleviate the suffering of tens of thousands of wild animals who are languishing in cages, possessed by a class of people who would be criminals if they treated people the way they treat their "beloved pets" how can we feel good about ourselves? Sometimes the truth hurts, but no one suffers more than the exotic animals when the only thing they have; their desire to live free, is taken from them. The purpose here is not to insult or cast blame, but to demystify the nature of the typical exotic cat owner. I believe that we are all on a path to our higher self and that even the worst of the abusers will one day look inside and redirect their actions. Until that time comes the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. still ring true, "Legislation cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless.
- Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 403
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Ex-Tarzan Steve Sipek 4 Ex-Tarzan Steve Sipek 4
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:
LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. -- A two-day search for a 600-pound Bengal tiger named Bobo that had escaped from a five-acre compound ended Tuesday when a wildlife officer shot and killed the big cat as it lunged toward him.
Bobo, a 6-year-old declawed cat owned by former Tarzan actor Steve Sipek, escaped from his home on C Road in Loxahatchee Monday afternoon.
"This has been a long 26 hours for all of us," Maj. Brett Norton, regional commander for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission said. "We made every attempt to try and capture Bobo."
Norton said an officer saw the tiger along a fence about 5:30 p.m. and radioed for the dart team. As the unidentified officer waited for the team, Bobo turned around and faced him. With his ears down and teeth showing, the cat lunged. Fearing for his life, the officer fired his rifle and shot Bobo.
Sipek was distraught.
"I told them, `Please do not go out there without me,'" said a tearful Sipek, who was smeared with blood after cradling the body of his pet. "They promised."
Sipek said he could have brought Bobo home if he was called. He said he got a call that Bobo was seen in a neighbor's yard. As he approached, he heard five shots, he said.
"They murdered him. They murdered him. They murdered my Bobo," he wailed.
Wildlife officials would not reveal how many times Bobo was shot or the name of the officer. A necropsy will be performed.
The reaction to Bobo's death was swift and passionate from neighbors, big cat experts and animal lovers.
Friends and acquaintances who had known Bobo came from all over the county to comfort Sipek.
Roxanne Feola, who pulled onto the shoulder of Okeechobee Road as Sipek was addressing news crews, threw her arms around his chest and buried her head in his shoulder.
"Bobo was the last cub Steve bought and I raised him from a baby," cried Feola, of Lake Worth, who helped Sipek care for his animals for 10 years. She remembered Bobo drinking from a baby bottle, the "sweetest tiger you ever could imagine."
Cheryl Churchill, a friend of Sipek's, hadn't seen him in more than a year.
"I knew Bobo and he was not an aggressive animal," she said. "I've petted him. I've given him water."
About 40 friends and neighbors gathered at the corner of C Road and Okeechobee Boulevard at 8:30 p.m. for a candlelight vigil. Many in the community have pets such as peacocks, goats and even a camel. They're united in their affection for these animals.
After hugging neighbors and well-wishers waiting for him on the road, Sipek trudged up the dirt drive, pressed open the gate and went to the first fenced area. Princess, a 15-year-old tiger who limps because of an early injury, ambled over to the gate and rubbed her head against the bars.
"Hello, baby, I've got something to tell you. They murdered Bobo," sobbed Sipek, letting himself inside the tiger's cage. Flies and bugs dotted his stained shirt and jeans.
Postal worker Jan Mahoney first noticed Bobo outside the compound around 2:30 p.m. Monday. He was lying behind a mound of freshly cut palm fronds and appeared harmless as he chewed on grass next to Sipek's property.
"I was nervous, but I didn't feel threatened," Mahoney said. "He was close enough to touch."
Throughout the day Tuesday, scouting teams combed the woods looking for Bobo. Officers were stationed at three vantage points: up high, in open spaces and along fence lines. The search involved rotating shifts of 12 to 15 state wildlife officers, four to six sheriff's officials and Sipek. State wildlife's Special Operations Group provided a five-man team, armed with 9mm pistols, 12-gauge shotguns and M-4 rifles. Three other state wildlife investigators were armed with 50-foot-range tranquilizer rifles, wildlife commission Lt. Charles Dennis said.
Officer Jorge Pino, a wildlife agency spokesman, said all options for capturing the animal were considered. The notion that the wildlife officers aren't trained to catch large animals is a common misconception, he said.
"The investigators are certified to do exactly what they did," Pino said. "I'm talking about investigators who have 20-plus years doing just this."
Part of that training means using lethal force only as a last resort, Norton said.
"Our officers were made very clear on the rules of engagement," he said. "They were not to take direct shots unless their lives were in imminent danger."
Officers initially set up to contain Bobo so that he would go back home on his own, said Dennis, lead investigator for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. "He's more than likely trying to get back home," he said at 2 p.m. Tuesday. "We're trying to assist him."
Sipek could be billed for the as-yet undetermined cost of the search if he is found to be negligent, though no decision has been made, said wildlife commission spokesman Willie Puz.
Officers were within seven feet of catching Bobo late Monday afternoon before a news helicopter hovering above scared Bobo away, wildlife officials said.
Sipek holds one of about 10 licenses in the state allowing him to keep exotic animals as pets, said Henry Cabbage, a wildlife commission spokesman in Tallahassee. Sipek has four other large cats on his property. Sipek has an excellent record, with only one violation in 1993 for not renewing his license, which he corrected, Cabbage said. He hasn't had any violations since.
After an investigation about two years ago into an incident in which Bobo pounced on and hurt Sipek's friend, Carol Pistilli, state wildlife officials found no evidence of negligence by Sipek, wildlife officials said. Sipek renewed the license this year.
Some experts warn of more exotic animals meeting the same fate as Bobo.
"There is an epidemic of people keeping big cats as pets and that problem needs to be addressed in a fundamental way," said Wayne Pacelle, chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States. "These animals belong in their native habitats in Asia or Africa and they should not be languishing in cages in people's back yards or basements."
Still, he didn't think the animal should've been killed.
"You would think that the animal could have been tranquilized," Pacelle said. "But the blame really rests with people who somehow think that they can safely keep one of the largest and most lethal predators in the world as a pet."
Judy Berens, who owns Panther Ridge Sanctuary, has 16 large cats, including a tiger, seven cougars, leopards and others. She was saddened by the news of Bobo's shooting. But she said she couldn't blame wildlife officials for what happened.
"I can't criticize the police for this," Berens said. "They don't deal with this on a regular basis."
Staff Writers Diane C. Lade and Sam Tranum and Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.
Luis F. Perez can be reached at lfperez@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6641.
http://www.newsday.com/news/ nationworld/nation/ny-ustig0715,0,3455271.story?co ll=ny-nationalnews-headlines
Woman who offered pig to lure tiger faces cruelty charge
By Scott McCabe, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 15, 2004Someone squealed on the lady who brought the pig.
The Loxahatchee woman who offered her pig as bait to capture Bobo the tiger will be cited for animal cruelty for hauling the 5-month-old porker in her trunk, according to Animal Care and Control Director Diane Sauve.
Linda Meredith drove from her home to C Road and Okeechobee Road with her Yorkshire pig Monday shortly after learning that the 600-pound tiger belonging to a one-time B-movie Tarzan Steve Sipek had escaped his 5-acre compound.
Meredith, wearing a tiger print and a gold lion medallion, pleaded with deputies to take the piglet named Baby by its hind legs or twist its ears to make it squeal and attract the hungry tiger.
Animal Care and Control Director Diane Sauve immediately ordered her staff to check into the incident, she said, even before complaints from animal rights activists poured in.
"I was appalled," Sauve said. "Carrying an animal in a trunk in 90-degree heat, where it's probably 140 degrees inside, is not acceptable."
Even pigs transported for slaughter are required by law to be moved humanely, Suave said.
An investigator told Meredith that she'd get at least a $91 citation, Meredith said. Suave said she'll meet with her counterparts in the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office today to determine the charges.
Meredith said her Cadillac's trunk is air conditioned and that she was going to eat the pig anyway when it got full grown. Meredith's upset that state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials didn't try to use a live animal to lure the exotic animal before shooting it to death Tuesday.
"I can't believe they have the gall," Meredith said. "I was just trying to help the tiger find his way back home. Apparently, it's not nice to be nice."
scott_mccabe@pbpost.com
htt p://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto
/epaper/editions/thursday/local_news_045fce 3ca30630b4004a.html
State wildlife agency slammed over shooting of pet tiger
By Nancy L. Othón, Shahien Nasiripour and Akilah Johnson
Sun-Sentinel
Posted July 15 2004LOXAHATCHEE -- State wildlife officials defended themselves against an onslaught of criticism Wednesday for killing Bobo, the nearly 600-pound tiger that made international headlines by escaping from a former Tarzan actor's home.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission again refused to name the officer who shot Bobo Tuesday, because of an ongoing investigation and to protect the officer, officials said.
Since the shooting, which happened a few hundred yards from the 5-acre C Road compound where Steve Sipek lives with five other exotic big cats, local residents have harassed wildlife officers about Bobo's death. The agency has received thousands of irate e-mails and calls from around the globe.
"It's a really bad scene for our agency right now," Maj. Brett Norton said. "If this had gone the other way and my officer was laying there mauled, what would be the take on this now?"
Sipek, who portrayed Tarzan in two movies and keeps his animals in a maze of cages, appeared on three network television morning shows Wednesday, accusing wildlife officers of killing his beloved pet without provocation. He appeared on CNN's Larry King Live and was to appear early today on ABC's late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live.
As well-wishers visited Sipek Wednesday to offer condolences and express their rage and frustration with state wildlife authorities, he fought back tears while offering his account of the killing.
"They murdered him in cold blood," Sipek said. "They killed a poor, defenseless animal. They killed him deliberately."
Sipek said he has been overwhelmed by the public support, getting calls from as far away as England, Germany and Sweden. He plans to bury Bobo on the property, next to the cat's two friends Tony, a tiger, and cougar Misho.
Bobo escaped Monday afternoon through gates opened by someone who knew the cages had hidden locks, Sipek said. He has cared for 102 exotic cats since 1969, and now wants more tigers.
"I'll get 50 more tigers. They think Tarzan is crazy, but he's not," he said. "They've been trying to get rid of my animals for 35 years. I'd like to see them do that now. I'll die with my babies."
But the mission for wildlife officers and a wildlife expert who helped with the search was always to reunite Bobo with Sipek, officials said.
David Hitzig, executive director of the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in Jupiter, hoped for a happy outcome.
"It made perfect sense that what we needed to do was to get Steve Sipek and the cat together. There was never any dispute or discrepancy over that," he said.
If they saw Bobo, wildlife officers were told to immediately radio for the tranquilizer dart team -- composed of Hitzig and two lieutenants -- and keep the cat in sight without disturbing him, Hitzig said. The plan then called for Sipek to come to the scene, and to tranquilize Bobo only if he couldn't be coaxed home.
Hitzig was on his way to Bobo when he heard gunshots. Immediately, there was radio traffic and a flurry of questions, Hitzig said.
"We were in a dead run at that point, going to where the cat was," Hitzig said. "The cat was still alive when I got to it. I did everything that I could."
Fatally wounded, Bobo was bleeding from his mouth and nose.
Within moments, Hitzig said, the officer was apologizing for shooting Bobo, but repeatedly said he had no choice. Bobo had hissed and lunged at the officer, who shot it with an M-4 rifle.
Norton said five bullet casings were found but officials don't yet know how many times Bobo was shot. The cat will be taken today to the University of Florida so the head of pathology can perform a necropsy. Norton said the agency decided to have it done there to get an unbiased opinion.
Bobo was shot in the shoulder area, but the necropsy will provide forensic evidence showing how many times Bobo was shot, the bullets' trajectory and an exact cause of death.
Not all wildlife officers have tranquilizer guns because the narcotic in darts is strictly regulated and each officer would have to receive additional training to carry a dart gun, Norton said.
But even if the officer had a tranquilizer gun, Hitzig said, Bobo would have been able to attack the officer because a tranquilizer can take one to six minutes to take effect. If Bobo was lunging at the officer, the dart would not have stopped his actions, Hitzig said.
Sipek rushed to the scene after the shooting. Because the officers were moving west and Bobo was found facing in that direction as well, Sipek think the cat posed no threat.
"He never had a chance to escape," he said.
Wildlife officials said they had sent someone to get Sipek at home and a lieutenant tried to call Sipek but couldn't find his phone number on his cell phone. Norton said he authorized lethal force only if an officer's life was threatened.
Wildlife commission Lt. Patrick Reynolds was part of the dart team sprinting toward Bobo. He said having an officer with more experience dealing with large, caged animals as first responder might have changed the ending.
Bobo showing his teeth and hissing might have been nothing more than a bluff, said Reynolds, an investigator with 25 years of experience.
"I would tend to think all that a bluff," he said.
Still, Reynolds said he was not second-guessing the officer's actions.
Two investigations, one to determine how Bobo escaped Sipek's compound and another into the shooting, will be conducted. Sipek could face criminal charges and be billed for the search if the investigation concludes he was negligent.
At least two animal advocacy groups on Wednesday called for the state's wildlife commission to revoke Sipek's exotic animal license.
The Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition, a group representing 20 zoos, sanctuaries and animal organizations, said Sipek should conform to current laws. Sipek holds one of a handful of licenses in Florida allowing him to own exotic animals as pets.
"He's putting the community at risk," said Kim Haddad, a veterinarian and coalition manager. "And he's putting the tiger at risk."
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to the wildlife commission, listing two other incidents involving Sipek's cats: Bobo's attack on a friend of Sipek's two years ago that left permanent injuries and a 1985 escape of a three-legged black panther that returned a day later.
"Given Sipek's history and this most recent occurrence, revocation of his license is justified, and Sipek's remaining big cats should be confiscated and transferred to an accredited sanctuary," wrote Lisa Wathne, an exotic animal specialist with PETA.
Staff Writer Luis F. Perez contributed to this report.
Nancy L. Othón can be reached at
nothon@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6633.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorid a/sfl-pbobo15jul15,0,6121707.story?coll=s fla-home-headlines
Tiger Loose in FL
Cat owner devoted to his animals, friends, peers say
By Rachel Sauer, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Say what you want about Steve Sipek, but the man loves those cats. That's the one thing people who know him agree on.
So when Bobo, a 6-year-old, 600-pound Bengal-Siberian mix tiger escaped from his Loxahatchee compound Monday night and was killed Tuesday, Sipek was devastated.
"Bobo's his baby," said Roxanne Feola, who has worked with Sipek's cats for 10 years. "I think he stayed out there all night looking for him."
Sipek, who is 62 and has a 38-year-old son, has raised big cats for more than 30 years. He came to his love of cats through a love of Tarzan, who he portrayed in two Spanish-language movies. In a 2000 New Times story, he said he grew up in Croatia watching Johnny Weissmuller play Tarzan and was mesmerized. At 17, he fled Croatia through the mountains, bouncing from Austria to France to Canada and landing in Miami in 1959.
Lion saved him in 1972
Sipek told the newspaper he sent a photo of himself to a movie producer, who arranged an audition. In 1970, he starred under the name Steven Hawkes in Tarzán en la Gruta del Oro (Tarzan in the Grotto of Gold) and in Tarzán y el Arco Iris (Tarzan and the Rainbow) in 1972. He also co-wrote and starred in 1972's Blood Freak.
However, he told New Times, it was an incident that occurred while filming Tarzán y el Arco Iris that turned him on to big cats. He said a fire lit for dramatic effect got out of control, burning 90 percent of his body. The crew ran, he said, but a lion on the set dragged him to safety.
Shortly thereafter, Sipek moved to South Florida . He has lived on 5 acres on C Road in Loxahatchee for more than 10 years.
He supports himself doing granite and fencing work.
A constant concern, he told New Times, is money -- not so much for himself, but to support his cats.
"He just loves those cats," said next-door neighbor Hertha Horner, in whose driveway Bobo was discovered lounging Monday afternoon. "He's an eccentric, he's different, but he loves the cats."
"That's something you never question about him," said Barbara Harrod, who co-owns Vanishing Species Wildlife Sanctuary in Pembroke Pines .
Compound called confusing
What some do question, however, is the way in which Sipek and the cats live. Mark McCarthy, owner of McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary in The Acreage, said he doesn't feel comfortable at Sipek's compound because "I can't tell if I'm in a cage or out of a cage."
"I personally think he takes good care of his animals," McCarthy said. "However, his place is, how should I put this, it's kind of like Sanford and Son with cats. It really needs to be brought up to code. You go to his place and it's very confusing."
Carole Lewis, director of Big Cat Rescue in Tampa and president of the Association of Sanctuaries, said Sipek and other big cat owners like him concern her because for $150 they can get a state permit to have big cats, regardless of whether they know how to care for them.
Sipek's friends contend he does. Feola said his bond with his animals is obvious, as evidenced by the fact that he mingles freely with them and sleeps in a room that the cats can wander into whenever they want.
"The other day Steve was showing us out on the street where he'd fallen asleep next to Bobo on the floor and that big ol' 700-pound cat will still suck on his thumb like a baby," said neighbor Doug Cuthbert, whose son Josh loves the big cats. "He was talking about the cat started having a nightmare... and he popped ol' Steven's side and bit him a little. He had a couple marks on his side. But I guess that's your choice if you want to live with a freakin' animal."
Sipek knows they're animals, Feola said, and knows they can be dangerous. But he loves them just the same.
rachel_sauer@pbpost.com
One-time Tarzan actor mourns after wildlife officer kills tiger
By Luis F. Perez, Shahien Nasiripour and Akilah K. Johnson
Sun-Sentinel
Posted July 14 2004
Loxahatchee -- A two-day search for a 600-pound Bengal tiger named Bobo that had escaped from a five-acre compound ended Tuesday when a wildlife officer shot and killed the big cat as it lunged toward him.
Bobo, a 6-year-old declawed cat owned by former Tarzan actor Steve Sipek, escaped from his home on C Road in Loxahatchee Monday afternoon.
"This has been a long 26 hours for all of us," Maj. Brett Norton, regional commander for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission said. "We made every attempt to try and capture Bobo."
Norton said an officer saw the tiger along a fence about 5:30 p.m. and radioed for the dart team. As the unidentified officer waited for the team, Bobo turned around and faced him. With his ears down and teeth showing, the cat lunged. Fearing for his life, the officer fired his rifle and shot Bobo.
Sipek was distraught.
"I told them, `Please do not go out there without me,'" said a tearful Sipek, who was smeared with blood after cradling the body of his pet. "They promised."
Sipek said he could have brought Bobo home if he was called. He said he got a call that Bobo was seen in a neighbor's yard. As he approached, he heard five shots, he said.
"They murdered him. They murdered him. They murdered my Bobo," he wailed.
Wildlife officials would not reveal how many times Bobo was shot or the name of the officer. A necropsy will be performed.
The reaction to Bobo's death was swift and passionate from neighbors, big cat experts and animal lovers.
Friends and acquaintances who had known Bobo came from all over the county to comfort Sipek.
Roxanne Feola, who pulled onto the shoulder of Okeechobee Road as Sipek was addressing news crews, threw her arms around his chest and buried her head in his shoulder.
"Bobo was the last cub Steve bought and I raised him from a baby," cried Feola, of Lake Worth , who helped Sipek care for his animals for 10 years. She remembered Bobo drinking from a baby bottle, the "sweetest tiger you ever could imagine."
Cheryl Churchill, a friend of Sipek's, hadn't seen him in more than a year.
"I knew Bobo and he was not an aggressive animal," she said. "I've petted him. I've given him water."
About 40 friends and neighbors gathered at the corner of C Road and Okeechobee Boulevard at 8:30 p.m. for a candlelight vigil. Many in the community have pets such as peacocks, goats and even a camel. They're united in their affection for these animals.
After hugging neighbors and well-wishers waiting for him on the road, Sipek trudged up the dirt drive, pressed open the gate and went to the first fenced area. Princess, a 15-year-old tiger who limps because of an early injury, ambled over to the gate and rubbed her head against the bars.
"Hello, baby, I've got something to tell you. They murdered Bobo," sobbed Sipek, letting himself inside the tiger's cage. Flies and bugs dotted his stained shirt and jeans.
Postal worker Jan Mahoney first noticed Bobo outside the compound around 2:30 p.m. Monday. He was lying behind a mound of freshly cut palm fronds and appeared harmless as he chewed on grass next to Sipek's property.
"I was nervous, but I didn't feel threatened," Mahoney said. "He was close enough to touch."
Throughout the day Tuesday, scouting teams combed the woods looking for Bobo. Officers were stationed at three vantage points: up high, in open spaces and along fence lines. The search involved rotating shifts of 12 to 15 state wildlife officers, four to six sheriff's officials and Sipek. State wildlife's Special Operations Group provided a five-man team, armed with 9mm pistols, 12-gauge shotguns and M-4 rifles. Three other state wildlife investigators were armed with 50-foot-range tranquilizer rifles, wildlife commission Lt. Charles Dennis said.
Officer Jorge Pino, a wildlife agency spokesman, said all options for capturing the animal were considered. The notion that the wildlife officers aren't trained to catch large animals is a common misconception, he said.
"The investigators are certified to do exactly what they did," Pino said. "I'm talking about investigators who have 20-plus years doing just this."
Part of that training means using lethal force only as a last resort, Norton said.
"Our officers were made very clear on the rules of engagement," he said. "They were not to take direct shots unless their lives were in imminent danger."
Officers initially set up to contain Bobo so that he would go back home on his own, said Dennis, lead investigator for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. "He's more than likely trying to get back home," he said at 2 p.m. Tuesday. "We're trying to assist him."
Sipek could be billed for the as-yet undetermined cost of the search if he is found to be negligent, though no decision has been made, said wildlife commission spokesman Willie Puz.
Officers were within seven feet of catching Bobo late Monday afternoon before a news helicopter hovering above scared Bobo away, wildlife officials said.
Sipek holds one of about 10 licenses in the state allowing him to keep exotic animals as pets, said Henry Cabbage, a wildlife commission spokesman in Tallahassee . Sipek has four other large cats on his property. Sipek has an excellent record, with only one violation in 1993 for not renewing his license, which he corrected, Cabbage said. He hasn't had any violations since.
After an investigation about two years ago into an incident in which Bobo pounced on and hurt Sipek's friend, Carol Pistilli, state wildlife officials found no evidence of negligence by Sipek, wildlife officials said. Sipek renewed the license this year.
Some experts warn of more exotic animals meeting the same fate as Bobo.
"There is an epidemic of people keeping big cats as pets and that problem needs to be addressed in a fundamental way," said Wayne Pacelle, chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States . "These animals belong in their native habitats in Asia or Africa and they should not be languishing in cages in people's back yards or basements."
Still, he didn't think the animal should've been killed.
"You would think that the animal could have been tranquilized," Pacelle said. "But the blame really rests with people who somehow think that they can safely keep one of the largest and most lethal predators in the world as a pet."
Judy Berens, who owns Panther Ridge Sanctuary, has 16 large cats, including a tiger, seven cougars, leopards and others. She was saddened by the news of Bobo's shooting. But she said she couldn't blame wildlife officials for what happened.
"I can't criticize the police for this," Berens said. "They don't deal with this on a regular basis."
Staff Writers Diane C. Lade and Sam Tranum and Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.
Luis F. Perez can be reached at lfperez@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6641. Email story
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Maze of ownership rules
A dizzying array of federal, state and local laws regulate who can and cannot possess exotic animals like tigers. The Endangered Species Act makes it illegal to possess, sell or buy an endangered animal like a Bengal tiger. Except many of the tigers in the United States are "generic," or mixed breeds like Bobo, and can be legally bred and possessed. The Lacey Act provides for prosecution of those who possess animals illegally obtained in a foreign country or another state.
But with thousands of breeders in America , no one needs to cross a U.S. or state border to own a tiger. State laws vary, with 13 states banning private ownership altogether; seven, including Florida, having a partial ban; 14 requiring a license or permit and 16 having no permit requirements at all.
Thus, in most states, "You only need a license if you're dealing, breeding, exhibiting or conducting medical research," says Howard, the captive wildlife specialist. "Unless there's a municipal or state law prohibiting that, you're home free."
The USDA issues licenses to people who buy exotic animals with the intent to sell, or for exhibitors such as zoos and circuses. "You have to fill out an application, pay a fee and pass a prelicense inspection," says USDA spokesman Jim Rogers. "We come out, look at your facility to see if you're in compliance.... With Bobo or that guy in N ew York with a tiger in his apartment, we have no authority."
Florida does have authority. It passed a law in 1980 that outlaws the possession of tigers and 21 other exotic animals as pets. Yet, wildlife activists say the state and federal requirements are easily dodged.
"All you need is 40 bucks in your pocket to get a USDA license," says Lewis, of Tampa 's Big Cat Rescue. She says getting around the state law is equally simple. " Florida is known nationwide for having the toughest laws," Lewis says. "It went from $5 to $150 for a permit to have a tiger. All you have to do is say you're an educator, a breeder, or you're open to the public like a zoo. Anything except, 'I want the tiger as a pet.' "
You also must have 5 acres of land, a perimeter fence and 1,000 hours of experience handling the species you want to be licensed for, says Willie Puz, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is charged with enforcing the law.
"You can have your mother or brother write the letter," Lewis says. "It's a giant loophole."
Three years ago, Carol Asvestas , operator of the Wild Animal Orphanage in San Antonio , had 25 big cats in her compound. N ow she has 200, including the cats from the N ew Jersey woman who kept them in her back yard. "I have animals that have bitten children, bitten models in photo shoots, that have gotten loose," she says. "Most of the states and counties are faced with such a huge crisis with displaced exotics, that they have nowhere to put the animals. So they're not enforcing the laws."
What's needed, animal experts say, is a federal law that prohibits the possession of exotic animals like tigers and the money and manpower to enforce it.
"We've been screaming at the top of our lungs that we need a federal law," says Asvestas. "You can't allow people to have these animals, whether they're operating a sanctuary or not. This problem is absolutely going to be devastating in the next five years unless a government entity has got the guts to stand up, put their foot down and say this is not going to continue to happen."
mark_schwed@pbpost.com
ht tp://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto/
epaper/editions/sunday/local_news_049f8ea 0417d2190000b.html
Dear Mark
I just wanted to thank you for writing such a well informed article. So much of the drivel that has been posted about "Tarzan's Tiger" missed the point. The bigger issue of how little this industry is regulated, despite the illusion of being governed, is the important story and you covered it well. It was obvious that you really dug beneath the surface and found the discrepancies in the way things really are, vs the way the public thinks they are. It is this sort of wake up call that educates people and I appreciate you doing your part to inform the public about these issues that are important from a safety standpoint as much as from a compassionate perspective. If you are ever in Tampa , feel free to give me a call on the cell and I will give you a behind the scenes tour of the result of so many people making ill informed decisions.
Posted on Tue, Oct. 26, 2004
No charges filed against Tarzan actor in escaped tiger case
Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH , Fla. - Prosecutors have decided not to charge a former Tarzan actor in the escape of a 600-pound tiger last July.
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer shot and killed the tiger July 13 after the big cat allegedly lunged at him following a 26-hour hunt for his capture.
Commission investigators had filed a probable cause affidavit charging Steve Sipek with allowing captive wildlife to escape and causing a threat to the public.
But prosecutors filed a court document Monday saying it was unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Sipek negligently left his tiger in an unsafe situation which allowed it to escape, The Miami Herald reported.
The state also couldn't disprove Sipek's allegation that a third party let the tiger out of the compound, Palm Beach County Assistant State Attorney Paul Zacks wrote in the document.
Sipek, who played Tarzan in B-movies decades ago, lives with five other big cats in a compound about 10 miles west of West Palm Beach .
Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/10021505.htm?1c
Shooting of escaped tiger justified agency says in report
Posted on Mon, Jul. 26, 2004 Herald Staff Report
A state wildlife officers issued a report today that concluded an officer used sound judgment and complied with the agency's procedures when he fatally wounded an escaped Bengal tiger named Bobo on July 13 in Loxahatchee.
After the death of the escaped, 600-pound tiger, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission received so many death threats that employees who were not sworn officers were urged not to wear their uniforms.
The incident set off public outcry from people who are calling the shooting ''murder,'' including the tiger's owner, former Tarzan actor Steve Sipek.
The critical incident review issued today was described by the agency as a routine measure to determine if an officer followed agency protocol during a high-profile event and whether the FWC should change current policies.
According to the news release from agency spokesman Willie Puz, ``The tiger escaped from its compound at Loxahatchee July 12, and remained at large for 26 hours before FWC officers moved into position to tranquilize the highly agitated and disoriented cat. Three previous encounters with the escaped animal failed to return it safely to its owner, despite the owner's attempts to calm the tiger.
'On the fourth attempt, the tiger lunged toward an FWC officer while the tranquilizer team sped to the scene, and the officer fired five rounds to end the threat to himself and other officers at the scene. `` `People have second-guessed the officer from an emotional vantage point,' said FWC Capt. John West. `But place yourself in the officer's position. You're face to face with a 600-pound tiger. The cat is hungry, disoriented and agitated. The tiger turns to you, pins its ears back, bares its teeth and moves toward you. You have a fraction of a second to decide what action to take. What would you do?'
``In a similar situation at the Knoxville Zoo in 1974, an escaped tiger killed a veterinarian, even after the veterinarian had hit the cat with a tranquilizer dart. Tranquilizer darts, even with the appropriate dosage and a direct hit, take a minute or more to take effect on an animal that can break a human's neck with one swipe of its paws.
' `There should be no mistake about these large, carnivorous predators,' said Lt. Col. Don Holway, deputy director of the FWC Division of Law Enforcement. 'These are not pets that can be treated like a house cat. These are dangerous animals, capable of killing a human. They do not have control over their innate, basic instincts. This should be clearly obvious in light of the documented attacks that have occurred.' ''
The incidents listed by the agency in its report include:
. Orlando -- In 1977, a female lion cub was seized from an unlicensed individual and turned over to a permitted handler in the Orlando area. Three years later the same lion attacked and killed the handler, while the handler fed the animal.
. Miami -- In 1993, a zookeeper entered the paddock area of an exhibit thinking he had secured all the animals. A tiger appeared from the moat area, about 50-60 feet away. The keeper attempted to retreat to safety, however, the tiger quickly closed distance and attacked the man, resulting in his instant death.
. Webster -- In 1996, an FWC officer saved a man from an attack by a tiger. The tiger had pounced on the man, in a paddock area, knocking him to the ground and critically injuring him. The man remained still and the tiger left him on the ground while it paced 20 feet away. The tiger occasionally moved to the man and pawed at him. The officer, armed with only his service pistol, maneuvered a vehicle between the two and successfully rescued the handler.
. Alachua -- In 1998, while attempting to maintain control of a tiger, an assistant slipped and fell. The tiger attacked and killed the man.
. Alachua -- One month later, the same tiger attacked and killed the owner. She had raised the tiger since birth.
. Bushnell -- In 2001, a tiger attacked and killed a maintenance worker who was completing repairs on an adjoining cage. The animal lunged at a small hole in the chain link separating the two areas. This tore the fencing open and allowed the tiger to gain access to the area where the man was working.
The agency's statement continued:
``Meanwhile, a criminal investigation into conditions that led to the tiger's escape from its compound still is in progress to determine whether the cat's owner was negligent in keeping the animal in unsafe conditions. Investigators will turn their findings over to the State Attorney's Office for review.
``This was the third time dangerous large cats have escaped from the compound owned by Steve Sipek. On the two previous occasions, the state wildlife agency managed to return the escaped animals safely. ``In another incident the same tiger attacked a woman and crushed her skull inside Sipek's compound. The victim survived. Sipek is one of three people in Florida who have permits to possess extremely dangerous cats as personal pets. The FWC no longer issues such permits but allows current permit holders to retain their pets.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/ 9247745.htm?1c
Rules followed in tiger's death, inquiry finds
By Akilah Johnson
Staff Writer
Posted July 27 2004
The officer who shot and killed Bobo waited more than 20 minutes for backup officers equipped with tranquilizer guns before he opened fire on the nearly 600-pound tiger that escaped from a former Tarzan actor's home, a preliminary state investigation concluded Monday.
During that time, Officer Jesse C. Lee told investigators that he worried that surrounding noises -- his radio, a hovering helicopter and loud passers-by -- were upsetting the tiger, which began to roar, pinned his ears back and show his teeth.
He asked the team to hurry but was forced to shoot the cat twice in the head before backup arrived.
State investigators determined that Lee, whose name had been previously withheld because of death threats, acted "in good faith" and complied with agency use of force standards in the July 13 shooting.
Still, the investigation revealed there were several factors that contributed to the outcome. One was the delay in getting the tranquilizer team on the scene. The second was Lee's lack of training in dealing with what the state classifies as "dangerous species." And the third was Lee's proximity to the animal, which the report determined was too close.
Bobo's owner, Steve Sipek, doesn't believe the report.
"The lying continues. It just never stops," Sipek said. "Jesse Lee was trigger happy, had no common sense and had no reason to go near that tiger. He just freaked out and started shooting."
Lee, 24, has been a Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission officer since April 2002. He is a member of the special operations group, skilled in such things as close quarters combat, man tracking and land navigation, according to wildlife officials. The group is a quasi-military, reconnaissance team trained to deal with anti-terrorism efforts in Florida 's swamps and marshes, not to capture escaped tigers, officials said.
"Only certain officers in the division of law are certified in handling exotic animals. N one of our [special operations group] team are," Capt. Lee Beach, southeast commander of the team said Monday.
Lee was given the location of a paw print, which was to be his assigned post. He spotted another paw print and got in his truck and headed north toward Kimberly McLain's property. As he looked for additional tracks, McLain showed up.
Lee asked whether there was water on the property, and the two began to walk north along a fence toward a pond. They approached a clearing and saw Bobo's hindquarters sticking out from some undergrowth. They backed out of the area.
"Because of his contact with this person, he ended up in a little bit closer position," wildlife spokesman Officer Jorge Pino said. "Should he have? Yes. That's his job. He needs to intervene whenever he feels there is something there."
Back at their trucks, he told McLain to get back in her vehicle while he radioed for assistance. As he waited for other wildlife officers to arrive, Lee grabbed his M-4 rifle. Lee was to keep an eye on the tiger, and Officer Scott Van Buren arrived to back him up. Both were to wait for the tranquilizer team.
The request for the tranquilizer went out at 5:02 p.m.
About 15 to 20 minutes passed "when Lee gave him a gesture indicating, `Where are they?'" the report says. As Van Buren tried to find out, Lee told him Bobo was moving. Van Buren called it in and moved forward, shouldering his shotgun. As he did that, the report said Lee began moving back, "repeatedly saying, `Scott, Scott, Scott.'"
Lee told investigators that he took three steps back, the tiger lunged, and he opened fire.
"It all happened so fast. I remember backing up, and after everything was said and done, I shot until the cat was down," Lee told investigators. Lee fired five times; Bobo was struck twice.
The "shots fired" call came in about 5:20 p.m. , and officers armed with tranquilizer guns still had not arrived.
"The area where this whole thing happened is not like running 300 or 400 yards in the middle of the street," Pino said Monday. Besides struggling through heavy terrain, the officers were trying to position themselves around Bobo in case he did not respond to the sedative, he said.
According to necropsy reports, the cat died from "massive hard and soft tissue damage in the head and neck region." Upon impact, the bullets "mushroomed and fragmented," the report says. There were extensive skull fractures, and hundreds of metal fragments were removed from Bobo's head area, the report said.
Akilah Johnson can be reached at akjohnson@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6645.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ news/local/broward/sfl-cpbobo27jul27,0,270496.stor y?coll=sfla-news-broward
Shouldnt house pets actually fit in the house?
Posted on Mon, Jul. 26, 2004
By KEVI N COWHERD
The Baltimore Sun
Let's begin with this hypothetical situation: you've just moved into a new house and now it's time to meet the neighbors.
Which is when you discover the neighbors have a pet.
But this pet isn't a golden retriever or a Siamese cat or a cockatiel, or something like that.
No, this pet is a tiger.
And not some cute little tiger cub that weighs 20 pounds and gets fed with a baby bottle and makes everyone laugh when he claws the drapes.
No, this is a 600-pound tiger.
With a head the size of a microwave oven and big teeth that look like they could rip through bank vaults.
Would you have a problem with this?
If your answer is something like: '' N o, that would be fine, I love animals and would have no problem living next door to a large jungle cat that could kill and strip the carcass of a water buffalo in 20 minutes,'' there is no point in you reading any further.
Because there's obviously something wrong with you.
And you probably subscribe to the philosophy espoused by the lunatic fringe of pet owners, a philosophy that seems to be: N o matter how big or how dangerous an animal is, if I want it in my home, I should be able to have it.
In fact, our hypothetical example above closely mirrors the case of Steve Sipek, the Florida man who, until last week, owned a tiger named Bobo.
Bobo, you may have heard, is now deceased.
The reason Bobo is no longer with us is that he escaped from Sipek's home in a rural area 10 miles from West Palm Beach and was shot after he lunged at wildlife officers who cornered him after a 26-hour search.
The officers were hoping to get close enough to fire a tranquilizer dart and capture him alive, but things didn't go according to plan.
They often don't when you're dealing with wild animals.
Generally, when a tiger sees a bunch of guys with rifles and badges creeping up on him, he's not thinking: Well, the jig's up. Might as well go quietly.
Instead, if he's hungry, he's thinking: Yo, my take-out order just arrived!
I'm not going to get into whether the shooting of Bobo could have been prevented -- although if I were an armed wildlife officer and a 600-pound tiger lunged at me, I don't think yelling ''Bad Bobo!'' would be enough to save me.
And there's no doubt that Sipek, a former actor who played Tarzan in two movies in the late '60s and '70s, genuinely loved Bobo and was grief-stricken over his death.
But the question is: what in God's name is a homeowner doing with a pet tiger?
Rural Sumatra -- now that's a good place for tigers.
Not rural Florida .
According to the Florida newspapers, though, Sipek is one of only two people in the state to have a permit to keep large cats as pets.
And I'm sure his neighbors will be comforted to know that Sipek has another tiger at home, along with a panther, a cougar and a pair of lions.
But just because you have a permit for these animals, that doesn't make the whole situation right.
Sipek told The Palm Beach Post that Bobo probably escaped when a woman Sipek had a ''bad relationship'' with broke into his compound and left the gate open.
At my house, if someone leaves the gate open, you got an 11-pound Shih-Tzu running around the streets, ready to lick someone to death.
A gate gets left open at Sipek's place and half of South Florida 's law enforcement agencies get called out for a safari.
Of course, it's not just Florida where idiot pet owners are keeping animals that are too big and dangerous for the environment.
It's everywhere.
In Carroll County , Md. , animal control officers were called to remove a pet African lion from a home in Finksburg four years ago.
I know, I know hasn't everyone had a pet lion at one time or another?
Sure they have.
You start with the box turtle and goldfish, move up to the gerbils and hamsters, go through rabbits and parrots and into the puppy and kitten phase.
Then next thing you know, you're leafing through Exotic Animals Today and thinking: ''Boy, wouldn't it be cool to have a lion around here? The back yard's big enough, don't you think?''
By the way, Carroll County Animal Control has also received calls to remove pet jaguars, orangutans, boa constrictors and giant lizards from homes.
And I used to think people were nuts to own ferrets.
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/living/9245242.htm
mheditor@montereyherald.com
Shoul dn't house pets fit in the house?
I thought the article was right on target, but there was a quote from the Florida Department of Game and Fish that was misleading to the press; ie that Steve Sipek is one of two people in Florida licensed to have a pet tiger. The key word there is "pet" but the fact is that there are over 400 places in Florida that are licensed to have tigers and other big cats in their back yard. Three are accredited sanctuaries and five or six are accredited zoos. The rest are people who claim to be sanctuaries, but who breed and sell big cats as pets, places who admittedly are breeding facilities who say all their tigers go to zoos, when in fact most are sold as pets and people who charge a fee for you to come see their private collections who are referred to as road side zoos. There are 4700 such exotic pet licenses floating about Florida that include animals up to the size of cougars.
The scary thing is that all of these people qualified for a license by having someone (anyone) write a letter saying they had 1000 hours experience with a big cat, a $150.00 permit fee and a cage that was 12 x 15 for a tiger. The permit fee was only 5.00 until last year and you can have as many animals as you want for that one fee. No one counts your animals. N o one is notified when you buy and sell. You may see an inspector once in a year, or five. They are underpaid and understaffed and cannot handle the enormity of the problem.
The biggest issue is that there is no need for all of this breeding. The Tiger Species Survival Plan calls for 2 cubs to be born in Florida this year and they are to be the pairing from two accredited zoos. Everyone else who is breeding is doing so to profit from the sale of the cubs to people who are ill prepared to care for nature's most powerful predator.
Big Cat Rescue is an accredited rescue facility and had to turn away 312 big cats last year and over 100 already this year. Each year that number has been doubling. People love the cubs, but don't want what they become. Amazingly, there are a huge number that still don't know that cubs grow up to be big cats. That is where the media can play such an important role. Dry up the demand and the suppliers go away.
The following is a partial listing of incidents involving captive big cats since 1990. These incidents have resulted in the killing or deaths of 178 big cats, 55 human deaths, and more than 185 human injuries.
Since April 2003, big cat incidents include, 4 human fatalities, 18 human injuries, 124 animal fatalities, 28 animal escapes & 224 confiscations. http://www.bigcatrescue.org/big_cat_news.htm
150 attend slain tiger's elaborate public funeral
By Shahien N asiripour
Staff Writer
Posted July 19 2004
LOXAHATCHEE -- More than 150 people -- some mournful, others curious -- gathered at Steve Sipek's C Road compound Sunday evening for one final memorial to the former Tarzan's slain tiger, Bobo.
Buried on the property during a private funeral the previous day, Sunday's public funeral was replete with flowers, songs, poems, prayer and a eulogy for the slain feline.
Guests gathered near the many petitions and donation buckets around the compound.
Before rain scattered the crowd and ended the memorial, Sipek, wearing a white T-shirt with Bobo's picture, passed out pictures the Bengal-Siberian tiger.
Similar to Thursday's vigil, questions swirled about why the escaped tiger was shot Tuesday by a Florida Fish and Wildlife officer.
But Sipek, exhausted from the Bobo blitz that has been his life since the feline escaped his compound Monday, addressed the crowd in a much more subdued tone, choosing to memorialize Bobo rather than rail against the state wildlife agency.
Still, after a week of coping with the tiger's loss, Sipek said he and his supporters, many of whom he had not met until this week, will continue to fight for their justice.
It's never going to stop. We want justice for Bobo," Sipek said. "Bobo had to die to bring all of us together and fight for our rights. He did not die in vain. The people have spoken."
Sipek and his army of full-time supporters will focus on fund raising by holding a few concert benefits, a race at Moroso Motorsports Park and starting a national foundation in Bobo's name to raise money for exotic cat sanctuaries.
There are also petitions to persuade the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to allow Sipek to keep his felines.
The one-time actor, who portrayed Tarzan in Spanish-language films, still has several big cats on his compound.
"The movement hasn't even started," said Jessica Laurain, a Sipek friend. "We've only just begun."
The state wildlife commission investigation into the tiger's escape and subsequent shooting death will not be completed for several weeks, but Sipek has hired private investigators because he said he doesn't trust the agency.
The memorial, though, did not focus on Bobo's death. It focused on Bobo and Sipek, who has become a tragic figure to many in the neighborhood.
"He's been through so much. We're just here to support Steve," said Josie Otero, of West Palm Beach . "He's doing a wonderful thing with these cats, and Bobo never should have happened. He needs all the love and support he can get right now."
While many of the guests were animal activists wearing tiger print clothing or recently made Bobo T-shirts, some neighbors were there just to support a fellow Loxahatchee resident.
"The community bonded together because of [Bobo's death]. We're a family now," said Jeffrey Bohorquez, 20, of Loxahatchee.
Bohorquez moved from West Palm Beach eight months ago.
"We have to show our support for Loxahatchee," he said.
Shahien Nasiripour can be reached at snasiripour@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6690.
Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-
pbobo19jul19,0,7956723.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Dear Shahien
I too am outraged at this senseless loss of life, but it is obviously the fault of any person who would make a pet of a wild animal. I would go a step further and say that stupid people can't be held entirely responsible when our government allows them the right to own nature's top predator. I would also find fault with the general population who is so apathetic to the situation that legislation is driven more by those who breed and sell tigers than those who think there is no good reason to do that. If not for people like Sipek who portray these animals as pets there would be no market for the breeders.
There are laws (finally) against selling big cats across state lines as pets and in the state of Florida you cannot get a permit to own a big cat as a pet, but the loopholes in both laws are so gaping that even someone with the IQ of Tarzan could leap through them. All you have to do is say that you are a tiger breeder to avoid both laws. Why is that OK?
Ron Tilson , the head of the tiger species survival plan, that is carried out via accredited zoos, says that the state of Florida needs to produce 2 or 3 tigers this year for the plan to work and that those pairings are already planned in two major zoos. N o one else needs to be breeding tigers, or any other exotic cat, so why is that allowed?
The following is a partial listing of incidents involving captive big cats since 1990. These incidents have resulted in the killing or deaths of 178 big cats, 55 human deaths, and more than 185 human injuries.
According to the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition, since April 2003, big cat incidents include, 4 human fatalities, 18 human injuries, 124 animal fatalities, 28 animal escapes & 223 confiscations. http://www.bigcatrescue.org/big_cat_news.htm
I hope your article about Steve Sipek using this tragedy to line his own pockets and to encourage ownership of big cats as pets, despite the fact that he has proven himself unable to deal with them in a responsible manner, will outrage enough people with some intelligence that this sort of trade in exotic cats is finally stopped.
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Dennis Hill Dennis Hill
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Dennis Hill
3,977 of you responded in time to let the Indiana DNR and USDA know that you are opposed to allowing exotic animal breeders like Dennis Hill to breed exotic cats for lives in cages. The hearing has already been held, and the comment period was supposed to be for the next few days. Due to the number of responses the comment period has been closed by the Indiana DNR as of the morning of January 17, 2006.
Carole's note: On Jan. 17, 2006 at 2:10 PM Dennis Hill called my cell phone from an unlisted number and threatened to have some of his friends in Florida track me down and kill me. I am not worried about that happening, but report it here just to give you some insight into the kind of person who is currently allowed to keep dangerous animals.
USDA revoked his license and fined him 20,000.00 on 10/8/2004 in federal case number 04-0012 here: http://www.usda.gov/da/oaljdecisio ns/Hill.AWA.DO.agdec.pdf
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 .
Here is what the DNR decided:
State ready to grant permits for 3 tigers
Farm that had more than 30 animals is down to 4 tigers and has been improved, official says
By Paul Bird January 21, 2006 paul.bird@indystar.com
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources plans to approve permits for a rural Flat Rock man to keep three white tigers.
DNR Director Kyle Hupfer said Friday that once Dennis Hill transfers one of four tigers to another location, he would be in compliance with an agreement that would allow the permits.
Hupfer said Hill worked very hard to make improvements at his farm and spent a lot of money updating fences and cages.
"Other than reducing the number of cats to three, he has complied with everything we've asked him to do," Hupfer said.
Hill's farm was raided Sept. 23, and several wild animals were seized from what was characterized by DNR officials as deplorable conditions.
That same day, Hill, 51, gained an injunction from Shelby Superior Court, blocking the seizure of 19 Bengal tigers, five white tigers, three spotted leopards, three black leopards, four black bears, a mountain lion and a ringtail lemur.
Hill and DNR officials reached an agreement to relocate all but seven of the animals by Oct. 31.
"I have four cats now because I have a tiger kitten," Hill said. "I'll have to move one of the adults within the next few days, and then I'll get my permits."
Hill acknowledged he had acquired too many animals.
"I am very respectful of the DNR and their respect, integrity and concern for the animals," Hill said Friday.
Hupfer said Hill has agreed to regular inspections and veterinary care for the three tigers.
The DNR also plans to address neighbors' concerns by assuring them that inspections at Hill's farm will be ongoing.
"He has met all the conditions necessary for the permits," Hupfer said. "We'll grant them once he's in total compliance."
Call Star reporter Paul Bird at (317) 444-2709.
Carole's note:
I remember the day we rescued Shere Khan, his little baby teeth rotted through his face, his limp little legs that couldn't support him for any length of time and seeing all of the poor miserable cats we had to leave behind. I cry as I think about those cats suffering for the last ten years and now there is no where for them to go. Every week I read a similar story, but this one hurts worse because I saw the agony in their eyes and I couldn't do a thing for them then or now.
Saying no is the hardest part.
3/12/95 Don and I were flying a small plane of ours across country and Don had heard there was a man with leopards in the area so we landed, asked around, found the guy and drove out to his place. I don't remember if we rented a car, or asked someone at the airport to drive us there. It was a small, private airport. Don just wanted to see the black leopards. We had Simba and Nyla but no lions or tigers. Don didn't want anything bigger than a leopard.
Dennis Hill lived in a shack (trailer, I think) and had a broken down barn behind the house. In the barn was row after row of cages about 5 feet wide and maybe ten feet deep, make out of old pieces of junk fencing wired together. The cats were standing in mud, feces and rotten food. It was dark and nasty. There were holes in the roof. There was no way for the cats to get up out of the filth.
He showed us the biggest tiger I have ever seen and said his name was Tony. He took us inside and as he and Don talked cats I noticed a pet taxi rocking in the corner. He pulled out Shere Khan who immediately tried biting everyone in the room and said that he had been pre sold as a white tiger, but that when he didn't turn out white the buyer kept putting off taking him and Dennis didn't have anything but the carrier to keep him in.
As you can imagine, he was stir crazy and had rubbed his nose raw because all he could do in that little carrier was sway his head back and forth. He was pressed up against every side of the carrier. Dennis shook the poop and old rotting food out of the carrier, onto his living room floor and commented on how bad the cat, he called Scrappy, was. All Scrappy wanted to do was fight and bite and Dennis kept him focused on biting a blanket and a boot while he was showing us the cat. Scrappy could barely use his back legs, so all he could do was drag himself for the most part.
We told him we would give the cat a good home and he finally decided to give the cat to us. Scrappy was far beyond salable and had sores rotting through his face from his rotten teeth, holes in his underbelly from sitting in his own urine and a personality that no one was going to be able to train.
We had to rip the back seat out of our little plane and left it there. We never did go back for it.
The bad teeth (baby teeth) finally had to be extracted. The vet had to insert holes in Scrappy/Shere Khan's face from right below his eyes, down the inside of his jowls and out the bottom of each cheek. She put tubes in to keep the drains open and three or four times a day I had to take big syringes of some antibiotic fluid and inject those drain holes and force the liquid through until he finally began to heal. Even though it was obviously painful for him and he put up a terrible fuss verbally, he never once put his mouth on me. I thought surely he would come to hate me as the days of this dragged out, but he was so brave and always so kind. He could have stopped me at any time.
While the cats in those broken down cages, in that dark Indiana barn haunted me, there was nothing we could do. You can't buy a tiger or a leopard from across state lines and Dennis Hill had them for profit. He had no reason to want to give away his breeding stock and Shere Khan was just lucky enough NOT to be born white, or he would have found a terrible way to exploit him or probably would have kept him for breeding.
When I heard that USDA had revoked his license and the state was going to shut him down, I called him to ask about Shere Khan's parents. Both were already gone, but his half sister was still there. Dennis got irate that I had exposed the conditions we had seen and would not allow any of the cats to come here. He wanted them to go to a friend of his; probably so that he could get some of them back when this blew over. As expected he tried to keep some and wanted to have more. I would expect that is so that he could continue to breed and sell.
Dennis Hill is not accredited by The Association of Sanctuaries and does not meet the sanctuary standards for an accredited animal refuge.
Animals & Stolen Equipment Found During Meth Lab Drug Raid
September 4, 2002
The Shelby Countyprosecutor's office on Tuesday charged a FlatRock man with three felony countsfollowing a drug raid Friday. Dennis Hill,47, of the 3000 block of West Willow Road, faces charges of dealing methamphetamine, manufacturing meth-amphetamine and maintaining a common nuisance. Friday's bust was part of anongoing investigation that involved numerous federal agencies – and theShelbyville Animal Control office after exotic animals were found on Hill's property. According to Brian Jennings, director of the Metropolitan Drug Task Force, officials encountered numerous animals, including Bengal tigers, white tigers, black panthers, wolves, bears and lemurs. Animal control officers are considering pressing charges. According to Apsley, officers found methamphetamine lab equipment on Hill'sproperty. The dealing charge came from an Aug. 27 undercover purchase of methamphetamine, Apsley said. Officers also found stolen equipment, including a backhoe, construction generator, trailer and a tractor, Jennings said. -Indianapolis Star
Shere Khan's breeder is finally shut down (somewhat)
Indiana DNR finds tigers and other exotic animals living in 'horrific' conditions Back to NEWS Back to TIGERS
September 23, 2005
Star report
Department of Natural Resources officers found more than 30 exotic animals today from a farm near Shelbyville, describing their living conditions as "horrific."
The officers found 11 adult and eight juvenile Bengal tigers, four adult and one juvenile White tiger, three spotted leopards, three black leopards, three adult and one juvenile black bear, one mountain lion, and one ring-tail lemur from an unlicensed facility near Shelbyville in central Indiana .
"The living conditions of the animals are horrific," said DNR Director Kyle Hupfer. "No reasonable person could stand by and watch these creatures suffering in not only filthy quarters, but unsafe ones."
The DNR learned of problems with Dennis Hill's Flat Rock facility after the U.S. Department of Agriculture revoked his license to breed and sell exotic animals. Hill violated state law by possessing the animals without the USDA permit, DNR officials said.
"We can't subject our fellow Hoosiers and their children to the threat of an escaped wild animal. Indiana law dictates that we seize these exotic animals because Mr. Hill lacks a proper license, the welfare of the animals is in jeopardy and human safety is at risk," Hupfer said.
The tigers were found living in a six-inch deep mixture of mud, feces and urine. The state agency said the cages were not secure. The roof of the mountain lion cage, for example, had a hole in it.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/20050923/NEWS01/509230583
Ric hard Hahn was the only person to speak out in the press in defense of Dennis Hill. His reputation explains why: More here on Richard Hahn .
Raided property looks to keep 3 big cats
Associated Press
FLAT ROCK - Some who live near a farm where wildlife officers last fall removed several Bengal tigers, spotted leopards and black bears want state officials to deny a request from the exotic animals' owner to keep three of them.
A public hearing Tuesday night on the wild animal permits Dennis Hill has sought to keep a mountain lion and two tigers on his Shelby County property also drew supporters who said they felt safe.
Hill said that since state Department of Natural Resources officers raided his farm about 40 miles south of Indianapolis in September he has spent $15,000 of his own and donated money to make improvements. That work included installing an 8-foot-tall chain-link fence around the animal pens and putting 18 inches of gravel inside each cage.
"We put 120 pairs of heavy-duty clamps on all five cages here," he said. "Totally reinforced them, to the hilt."
Despite Hill's work, more than 30 people signed a petition seeking the state hearing on whether to approve his permit request. Hill gave the hearing officer a petition that he said had at least 700 signatures from supporters.
Ron Hamilton, who has farmed the property next to Hill's for more than 20 years, has worried for years about the possibility of the tigers escaping and threatening his wife and two children.
"If one of these animals gets loose, does the guy asking for this permit have means of stopping this animal?" Hamilton said during the DNR hearing.
Hill agreed to give away most of his animals after the Sept. 23 DNR raid. Wildlife officials said Hill's 27 animals were living in squalor amid a 6-inch-deep mixture of mud, feces and urine.
Volunteers from Black Pine Animal Park in Albion traveled to the Flat Rock farm in October and adopted three Bengal tigers. The tigers - females Luna, 6, Darly, 2, and 5-year-old male Montrose - were on display in late November during an open house the non-profit held in their honor.
Donations from area businesses and residents have allowed the park to build an enclosed structure for the tigers as well as an outdoor pen.
Hill, who now has three tigers on his property, said he did not want to have more than 10 exotic animals at any given time.
"I hand-raised every tiger, every cat I had from 1 day old. I gave my life to them," he said. "I've lived and died and begged, borrowed and stole for them. It's my compassion; it's what I do.
DNR officials said a decision on Hill's permit request is expected this month.
Kara Hull of The Journal Gazette contributed to this story.
Jan. 5, 2006 Supporters back man who kept tigers
By Paul Bird
State officials heard numerous supporters for exotic-animal enthusiast Dennis Hill's application to keep three big cats at his 20-acre farm near Flat Rock.
The comments came during a Indiana Department of Natural Resources public hearing Tuesday at the Flat Rock Fire Station to determine if Hill's request should be approved.
DNR officials went to Hill's farm Sept. 23 to seize 19 Bengal tigers, five white tigers, three spotted leopards, three black leopards, four black bears, a mountain lion and a ringtail lemur.
Hill, who refers to his 20-year wild-animal venture as a labor of love, blocked the DNR from seizing his animals through a Shelby Superior Court 2 order. He reached an agreement with the DNR to remove all but seven by Oct. 31, then apply for permits to keep only three.
He also agreed to comply with state regulations governing the living conditions for wild animals.
DNR officials allege Hill lost his U.S. Department of Agriculture permit to breed and sell exotic animals.
People with an interest in the case have until Friday to submit opinions about Hill's new application to the DNR.
No decision is expected for two weeks.
In little more than an hour Tuesday night, 29 area residents and others paraded before a table to express their support and concerns to DNR officials.
While the hearing was public, the DNR's format prohibited the majority of the 67 registered visitors from being able to hear most people's comments. Speakers were instructed not to speak toward visitors.
DNR staff specialist Linnea Petercheff, who led the hearing, said the format allowed her and another DNR official to receive the public comments, not the audience, and prevented the meeting from becoming confrontational.
Petercheff said Hill's facility now is in compliance with state regulations. Hill said he spent $15,000 of his own money updating his animal compound.
Four times during the hearing, applause broke out supporting Hill.
Julie Lamb, an administrative law clerk in Franklin , believes Hill should be permitted to continue his passion and should receive the permits.
Hill and his animals have been displayed to multiple generations in schools and nursing homes. Several speakers said they had taken their grandchildren to the farm to see the "big cats."
One woman said Hill has a special relationship with his animals that goes beyond ownership.
Another woman said she gave Hill $7,000 to help update and bring his facility into compliance.
Al Bushby said he visited Hill's animals and felt safe and secure while helping with the renovation.
A woman, who is a property manager for 1,000 apartment residents, said she would feel very safe for her residents if they lived by Hill's property.
But others had concerns.
Ron Hamilton's farm adjoins Hill's property. Hamilton said his comments were not personal, but he urged DNR to keep track of Hill's activities. He said he expects the permits to be granted.
"You need some policing of what he does," Hamilton said. "If you do allow the permits, police it. It has been a fiasco."
Hamilton said he found a tiger carcass on his property last spring.
Hill contends the animal died of natural causes and he had buried it. He believes other animals dug it up.
Another Hill critic was Tom Winterrowd.
He raised issues about Hill's allegedly weak financial status, a criminal history that prohibits him from owning a firearm, and dangers presented by living along a floodplain. Floodwaters could cause the animals to go free.
Hill points to his safety record.
"Never a problem, not a scratch to anyone in 20 years," he said.
DNR Director Kyle Hupfer said in October he thought Hill had taken on too much responsibility with too many animals. He did not think there was any malice on Hill's part.
Hill, 51, has a long gray beard and long hair. He adopted his "mountain man" image as a teenager.
"I was requested by the USDA to testify as a professional witness for them in a case over in Ohio ," Hill said. "This woman had these tigers chained around the neck and allowed them to leap out at people walking by.
"I was totally against anything like that."
Call Star reporter Paul Bird at (317) 444-2709.
January 4, 2006
DIVISION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE
Glen Salmon, Director
402 W. Washington St. , Room W273
Indianapolis , IN 46204
(317) 232-4080
(317) 232-8150 - Fax
Dear Glen
I am writing to urge you to deny Dennis Hill's request to keep exotic cats. I had to rescue a cat from him 10 years ago and saw first hand the deplorable conditions that obviously have only gotten worse over time.
There is no reason for any private citizen to be buying, breeding or selling big cats for lives of deprivation and confinement. To claim to do so out of love only underscores the mental instability of the person making the claim.
Dennis Hill is no savior to the many exotic cats that are in need of shelter and would never be a candidate for approval by The Association of Sanctuaries as his facilities, care and ideals are not consistent with true sanctuaries.
I hope that Indiana takes this opportunity to re assess their captive wildlife laws. Anyone who can fill out a 7 question form and pay USDA 40.00 can call themselves a commercial enterprise and circumvent federal laws that prevent the sale of big cats across state lines as pets.
Because our federal government is incapable of swift and intelligent action, the burden shifts to the states to create laws that protect their citizens from people like Dennis Hill.
For the cats, Carole Baskin, Founder (813) 493-4564 cell phone and best way to reach me.
Posted on Thu, Jan. 05, 2006
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Gert & Abby Hedengran Gert & Abby Hedengran
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Gert & Abby Hedengran
We are all guilty of the tiger's blood. unless we act now
They could have told the authorities that this was a declawed animal that had never associated killing with eating. They could have called out to the disoriented, starving animal who had known only them as his providers for his whole life. They could have provided valuable insight into the animal's habits and possibly coaxed the animal into a familiar transport. After nine days of being lost and hungry he might have given up his freedom for security. They could have pled for his life. Could a sharp shooter pull the trigger so quickly if they knew the cat's name or knew that there was some tearful owner standing by who would take him home?
The owners could have been fined $500.00 for the escape and saving the money and saving their reputation was more important to them than saving the cat they had bottle raised from a cub. Who would support them with their donations if they knew that the "sanctuary" owners had released a big cat because they didn't want him any more? Coming forward would have been bad for business and in most cases that is all it means to exotic owners; a way to get paid to play with dangerous animals that most people aren't allowed to have. It is an industry of greed and ego masked as a charity in many cases of unaccredited pseudo sanctuaries.
More than 10,000 tigers are thought to be in the hands of private owners across our country. No one knows exactly how many, nor where they are because there is very little regulation requiring notification. They often hail themselves as rescuers and heroes and educators, but when they fall on hard times the animals pay the price.. in this case, the ultimate price.
Even in the best of circumstances these captive animals are paying a price that is far too high. They are born and bred for life in cages, so that we can thrill at their beauty and majesty. They live out 10-20 years of abject boredom, confined to areas that amount to little more than a jail cell; all for crimes that they never committed.
This tiger died free.
We are a nation of people who were rallied to action by the words, "Give me liberty or give me death!" Over the centuries we have fought for. and killed for freedom. It is so important to us that we invade other countries and fight for their freedom as well. Our deterrent to crime is a sentence of confinement. When it is imposed on humans we call it jail, when we impose it on animals we call it a zoo, a "sanctuary", a cage, an ark for the future.but by whatever name you call it, the fact remains that it is imposed deprivation. We do this to animals that we proclaim to love.
Imagine what it might have been like to be this tiger: You have spent your entire life in a 10 foot square room that is barren and devoid of any plant life because you are so enormous, in such a small area, as to crush the life out of every blade of grass. Your water dish is covered in a layer of scum in the summer or a layer of ice in the winter. You have eaten the same meal every day for the past four years and it isn't something that you ever would have chosen to eat had you been free to choose. When times were bad for your owner you may not have eaten for days on end and all you could do was sit there and cry out to the wind because no one could hear you.
Because of the lack of nutrition and exercise you suffer excruciating pain due to your paper shell bones and aching joints. Your teeth have broken and have exposed roots from a lack of calcium and from you chewing on the bars of your cage in a feeble attempt to escape. Your declawed, butchered feet, often with bones protruding through the surface, ache from your constant pacing. Deep inside you know that you were meant to roam free, to be the king of beasts, but that seems like an unreal dream because you don't know anything of the world outside your little cell. You roar out, with a powerful and fearful sound that can be heard 5 miles away, but no one calls back. No one tells you that you aren't alone in the world.
One day your world changes. The door is opened and you think that someone has finally called for your amnesty. At first you just cannot believe your good fortune. There is soft grass beneath your feet for the first time ever. You see sights that you could only imagine before, like the tranquility of the mountains as dusk settles in, like the beauty of a sunrise over the water or just the unimaginable freedom of the coyotes and cougars and bobcats. The ecstasy of the first couple of days over powers the pangs of hunger. You were designed to roam and defend a 400 square mile territory and in nine days your mangled feet have carried you almost 30 miles.
The only food you have ever known was a pile of bloody, fatty mush. You haven't seen anything resembling what you know as food and a 425 pound tiger does have to eat. Instincts from thousands of years are coursing through your veins, but because you never knew your mother, and she never had the three years to devote to your training, you have no idea how to feed yourself. You are weak from hunger, dehydration and more exercise than you have had in your entire life now. The people who had pulled you from your mother's soft, warm, nursing belly and force fed you so that you would depend on them are no where to be found.
Until now you have avoided humans because you wanted to savor every moment of this exhilarating freedom. But now they are coming to you. You see them stalking you through the brush and hear the roars of the helicopters and ATV's. You would like to think that they are coming to bring you something to eat, but you sense the tension in the air. You know that they are afraid of you. If you walk toward them they will shoot, if you turn and run, they will shoot. So you just stand still. and still they shoot.
As you are gasping for air and feel the life blood running from searing bullet holes through your body, what scenes would flash before your eyes? Being torn from your mother. Being handled by countless people who were paying to have their photos taken holding you as a cute little cub. Being forced to perform in a circus act or for some commercial. The monotony of thousands of days from inside your little cage. The hot days with no shade or the cold nights with no way to shield yourself from the blowing snow and rain.
This is all that most captive cats could revisit in those last moments before death, but at least this tiger had a couple of days to add to his experience; a few precious days of what it felt like to be free.
It is easy to be angry at the people involved in this sad situation in California last month but we need to look at how we are promoting this sort of abuse by our actions and more commonly our inaction. Buying products that use animals in their commercials or testing helps to promote this very industry. Two Brothers may have had a nice message, but it used 30 tigers for the film. Where are those cats now? As long as zoos sell or give their animals to brokers who sell them to these road side menageries your support of the zoo is supporting this misery. If you shake your head and say, "What a shame!" and do nothing, you are just as guilty of this tiger's blood.
We
have made it so easy to contact your representatives in government that there
is absolutely no excuse for inaction. By entering your zip code you find your
senators, state representatives, the USDA, and the press in your area. With
simple forms to fill in your name and address you can click to send pre-written
letters or you can add your own thoughts. There is legislation pending that
can curb the abuse. Some of it has failed six years in a row because not enough
people cared to speak up. Visit our site at: CatLaws.com and
see how you can really make a difference with just a few mouse clicks. Don't
let this tiger die in vain. The top photo was the un named tiger who was shot in CA in 2005. Federal authorities said charges were filed relating to the possession of exotic cats by Gert "Abby" Hedengran and his wife, Roena "Emma" Hedengran, owners of Wild World/Tiger Creek Foundation, in the escape and death of Tuffy the tiger. They have denied all responsibility.
Read Big Cat Rescue's Daily Updates on Wildcats in the Wild at Field Projects
Twenty servals, caracals, Canada and Siberian Lynx ended up in this shelter. Click on the image to see the slideshow.
Judge questions whether charges should be heard in criminal court
By Jean Ortiz, jortiz@VenturaCountyStar.com
September 16, 2006
A federal court case involving a former Tierra Rejada Valley couple accused of owning an escaped tiger that was shot and killed in Moorpark last year has hit another snag.
U.S. District Judge George H. King has thrown out the recently submitted signed plea agreements of the alleged owners of the tiger, Gert "Abby" Hedengran and Roena "Emma" Hedengran, until a prosecution issue is resolved.
King questions whether some of the charges the couple face are violations of criminal statutes or more properly heard as regulatory violations, according to court records.
Abby Hedengran had agreed to plead guilty to six counts, including four misdemeanor charges for transporting exotic cats in enclosures of "insufficient structural strength" and in a manner that could cause them harm; exhibiti
ng exotic cats without a license; and keeping the animals in facilities that couldn't prevent their escape, according to court records summarizing the plea agreements submitted Aug. 21. The remaining charges, according to the complaint, are felonies: making a false statement to a federal authority, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
Emma Hedengran had agreed to plead guilty to the same misdemeanor charges minus the exhibiting without a license charge.
King has called into question only the misdemeanor charges and suggests that they could be violations of administrative rules, subject to an administrative hearing before the Department of Agriculture. If so, punishment would be in the form of fines rather than prison time. It does not affect the felony charges Abby Hedengran faces, which are still intact, nor indicate the case could be thrown out.
"It's better to figure it out now than it is to convict them and then find out later through the appellate process at the U.S. Court of Appeals that this was never a crime and have the convictions reversed," said Alfred Vargas, a Ventura lawyer not connected with the case but familiar with federal court proceedings.
The matter is not unusual, but merely an area of untested law, he said.
Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor and former federal prosecutor, agreed, saying it's always good when there is thorough consideration of a case.
"It's an indication that they're a bit in uncharted territory and they want to make sure they are on the right track," she said.
The couple were to appear in court Sept. 5 for the change of plea hearing, but that was pushed off pending resolution of this latest issue.
Lawyers have until Sept. 25 to submit briefs arguing whether the couple violated the criminal code or administrative rules.
The Hedengrans were at the center of controversy during a weeklong search for the exotic cat in February 2005. The 352-pound tiger was found in a city park and shot and killed by wildlife officials out of concern for public safety. Authorities alleged the animal belonged to the couple, who had recently moved to the area with nearly two dozen exotic cats, and that the animal escaped two weeks before the search began. A ranch worker's sighting prompted the search.
The couple now live in Nevada.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Johns, the prosecutor in the case, did not return repeated calls seeking comment.
Janet Sherman, who represents Emma Hedengran in the case, declined comment.
Kimberly Savo, Abby Hedengran's lawyer, was unavailable for comment.
When the couple were initially charged in March 2005, Abby Hedengran faced as much as 60 years in federal prison, while Emma Hedengran faced a maximum 10-year federal prison sentence.
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Ken & Sandra Smith's Wesa-A-Ge Ken & Sandra Smith's Wesa-A-Geh-Ya
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Ken & Sandra Smith's Wesa-A-Geh-Ya
is not accredited by The Association of Sanctuaries. Check for yourself to see if they meet the sanctuary standards for an accredited animal refuge. 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 .
USDA findings HERE
Warren County: Exotic animal owner charged for violating registration rules
Cited by USDA in 2004 for more than 35 violations
By Kevin Spradlin
Saturday, August 4, 2007 10:36 AM CDT
Warren County resident Rosella Baller only wants county officials to enforce the rules regarding the registration and upkeep of exotic animals.
Doing so might be easier said than done, the commissioners said Monday. That's because the commissioners, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Missouri Department of Conservation, are still trying to figure out what the rules are.
At issue is whether an animal sanctuary - a 17-acre parcel of land called Wesa-A-Geh-Ya - owned and operated by Ken and Sandra Smith in northern Warren County has been properly registering its animals with the Warren County Sheriff's Department.AdSys ad not found for news:instory Ken Smith, of Highway A between Interstate 70 and New Truxton, was charged by Warren County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wright on June 1 with one count of keeping dangerous wild animals without registering with local law enforcement. The charge is a misdemeanor.
The Smiths could not be reached for comment.
Ken Smith has a court date scheduled for Aug. 21 before Associate Circuit Judge Wesley Dalton.
Until then, Presiding Commissioner Arden Engelage said, there's not much the county can do. He said the commission sent Baller's complaints and mounting evidence - a pile of papers going back seven years - to the county attorney last week.
Engelage said he didn't know when he might hear from county counsel. The situation might resolve itself in court, he said.
Baller, who lives near the Smiths, said it was nearly impossible to ensure the Smiths were following the law and registering their animals - which include nearly 60 lions, tigers, wolves and cougars.
Baller suggested Monday the county commissioners should adopt an ordinance requiring exotic animal owners, such as the Smiths, to insert microchips into each animal. That would help identify an animal's owner should one escape, she said, and keep track of the animals in captivity.
Northern District Commissioner Jim Logan said that wouldn't fix the registration issue because a female animal could have babies - which, of course, wouldn't be born with the microchips.
Baller pointed out this is not a new issue. The Smiths were cited for roughly three dozen violations of the Animal Welfare Act in November 2004 by the USDA.
Those complaints, which were administrative in nature and not civil or criminal, were settled early last year. The Smiths agreed to a $13,000 fine and two years' probation.
The USDA said the Smiths operated "a dilapidated backyard animal menagerie" which "masquerades as a sanctuary while breeding lions and tigers and confining animals to small, barren cages," according to a report from www.bigcatrescue.org, a Florida-based sanctuary and educational facility.
The USDA report filed in 2004 said the Smiths "failed to provide minimally adequate veterinary care." Examples of that substandard care included a malnourished bear with sores on the pads of both front feet, a young lion who was "lethargic, cold to the touch and dehydrated," a lion with bite wounds on its legs and a tiger whose hind legs were paralyzed.
The Big Cat Rescue organization also reported USDA officials "found maggot-infested food storage; unsafe caging; inadequate shelter from inclement weather; unsanitary drinking water; and insufficient perimeter fencing for dangerous animals."http://suburbanjournals.stltoday .com/articles/2007/08/04/news/sj2tn20070801-0801wa r_zone.ii1.txt
Wesa-A-Geh-Ya Charged With Denying Care to Dying Animals
January 25, 2005
Contact:
Lisa Wathne 757-622-7382
Warrenton, Mo. - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed multiple charges against Wesa-A-Geh-Ya, a dilapidated backyard animal menagerie in Warren County, Mo., which masquerades as a sanctuary while breeding lions and tigers and confining animals to small, barren cages. The USDA launched an investigation and charged Wesa with violations of the Animal Welfare Act after PETA filed a formal complaint with the agency in June 2003, based on eyewitness reports of atrocious conditions at the facility.
The USDA's 13-page complaint states, "The gravity of the violations alleged in this complaint is great. They include instances in which respondents impeded an inspection and failed to allow access to their facility, and repeated instances in which they failed to provide minimally adequate veterinary care." The USDA cited the following examples of Wesa's failure to provide veterinary care:
* A bear who "appeared malnourished and had sores on the pads of both front feet"
* A juvenile lion who "was lethargic, cold to the touch, and dehydrated"
* A lion with an abscess on his face and bite wounds on his legs
* A tiger whose hind legs were paralyzed
The USDA also found maggot-infested food storage with foul-smelling, rotten meat; unsafe caging; inadequate shelter from inclement weather; unsanitary drinking water; and insufficient perimeter fencing for dangerous animals. Wesa's menagerie includes more than 65 animals, including tigers, lions, cougars, wolves, and a bear.
In December 2003, PETA also filed a formal complaint with the Missouri Attorney General's Office, asking that it declare Wesa in violation of the Missouri Nonprofit Corporation Act. The attorney general determined that Wesa was in violation of state law for continuing to advertise as a zoo after forfeiting its USDA exhibitor's license.
"Wesa-A-Geh-Ya bills itself as a sanctuary, when it's nothing but a hellhole of animal misery," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "The only thing that can stop perpetual suffering at Wesa is to rescue these animals and padlock the place for good."
For more information, please visit PETA's Web site WildlifePimps.com.
Big Misery for Big Cats at Wesa-A-Geh-Ya
Update January 2005: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed multiple charges for violations of the Animal Welfare Act against Wesa-A-Geh-Ya.
The USDA's 13-page complaint states, "The gravity of the violations alleged in this complaint is great. They include instances in which respondents impeded an inspection and failed to allow access to their facility, and repeated instances in which they failed to provide minimally-adequate veterinary care. Respondents have continually failed to comply with the Regulations, after having been repeatedly advised of the deficiencies."
Wesa was charged with failing to provide veterinary care for the following animals:. A juvenile female bear named Hazel who "appeared malnourished and had sores on the pads of both front feet"
. A juvenile male lion named Jeffrey who "was lethargic, cold to the touch, and dehydrated"
. An adult male lion named Pooh who had an abscess on his face and month-old bite wounds on his hind legs
. An adult male tiger named Samson whose hind legs were paralyzed
. A lion named Simbanala who had a lacerated ear
. A tiger named Brutus who had an injured tailThe USDA also found maggot-infested food storage with foul-smelling, rotten meat; unsafe caging; inadequate shelter from inclement weather; unsanitary drinking water; and perimeter fencing that was insufficient to safely contain dangerous animals.
In December 2003, PETA also filed a formal complaint with the Missouri Attorney General's Office, asking that it declare Wesa in violation of the Missouri Nonprofit Corporation Act. The attorney general determined that Wesa was in violation of state law for continuing to advertise as a zoo after forfeiting its USDA exhibitor's license and notified Wesa that it must amend its articles of incorporation and advertising.Background
Down a rural road 60 miles west of St. Louis, in Warrenton, Missouri, sits a collection of haphazardly constructed dog runs at a facility called Wesa-A-Geh-Ya (Wesa), operated by Ken and Sandra Smith. At first glance, Wesa appears to be yet another backyard puppy mill so prevalent in the Midwest-but its dilapidated, barren cages aren't filled with neglected and overbred dogs; they're crowded with an estimated 63 tigers, lions, cougars, wolves, and other exotic animals. Warehoused, the animals have neither environmental enrichment nor adequate space to exercise. Wesa is a classic roadside zoo and backyard breeder of big cats that masquerades as a sanctuary, preying on people's sympathy to collect donations while exploiting the animals in its care.
Whistleblowers-many of them former board members and volunteers-have come forward with shocking and persistent complaints of overbreeding, inbreeding, abuse, animal disappearances, malnourishment, neglect, and preventable animal deaths. State officials charged the facility with violating caging laws, and Wesa has been repeatedly cited by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for failure to provide adequate veterinary care, failure to provide adequate shelter from inclement weather, improper food storage, sub-standard perimeter fencing, poor construction of animal enclosures, and unsanitary conditions.
Sick, Dying, Malnourished, Crippled Animals Left to Suffer
Witnesses report animals dying slow, agonizing deaths without any veterinary care, including an 18-year-old tiger who lay in her cage for more than a month, not eating or drinking. She withered away to skin and bones until she died. A black bear cub was in so much pain with raw and bleeding wounds on the soft, tender pads of her paws, apparently caused by living on rough gravel, that she actually tried to walk on the tops of her front paws. After being shot and killed by the Smiths, a sick horse was found to have had an untreated broken hip. A goat who approached a wolf cage to eat straw out of sheer starvation was badly injured when the wolf attacked, perhaps out of hunger. Volunteers claim that the animals are often fed only once every five days.
An animal nutritionist, funded by a local veterinarian concerned about the animals' care, had found vision problems attributable to vitamin A deficiency; bowleggedness in big cats from rickets, metabolic bone disease, or vitamin A deficiency; unsanitary food storage; and failure to provide enough time between pregnancies to allow animals' nutritional stores to recover.
A former board member reported seeing Ken Smith punch, hit, and kick the animals on numerous occasions. In one instance, Smith repeatedly kicked three lion cubs in the face and head because they jumped on him when he entered their cage.
A veterinarian who visited the facility was appalled at the shocking conditions: "Animals were cramped in crowded cages. Males were not separated from females, encouraging breeding. . The animals had nothing in their tiny enclosures for enrichment. Cages were barren, with cement or gravel floors. Ken and Sandy Smith did not seem to care about enhancing the lives of the animals." In fact, conditions are so overcrowded that a former board member reported four cougars were stored in a horse trailer for an entire year before being moved to a cage.
Jeffrey was a young lion cub who suffered and died because of Wesa's apathy and greed. According to volunteers, Jeffrey was not given enough to eat so he consumed straw, gravel, and bone that caused an impaction. Over several weeks, Jeffrey lost weight and grew listless. In August 2002, Jeffrey was obviously in severe pain and deteriorating. Volunteers expressed concern to the Smiths, who not only refused to seek veterinary care for Jeffrey, but also denied permission for a volunteer to take him to a veterinarian. Fearing Jeffrey was on the brink of death, the caring volunteer finally rushed Jeffrey to a vet hospital anyway.
The veterinarian who treated Jeffrey wrote, "[Jeffrey was] gravely ill ... On presentation, this lion appeared to be dying. His body temperature was 96°F, and he was virtually lifeless. . A large foreign body mass was found in the stomach." The lion cub was operated on, but it was too late. Jeffrey died following surgery.
Despite overwhelming evidence that Wesa had failed to provide adequate care to Jeffrey in the form of wholesome and ample food and health care, and therefore was in direct violation of Missouri's cruelty-to-animals statute, the county prosecutor declined to prosecute the facility for Jeffrey's unnecessary suffering and tragic death.
"Scamtuary"
In violation of any legitimate sanctuary's guiding principles, Wesa breeds animals in order to remain well stocked with cute babies to draw visitors to the backyard menagerie and to sell for a profit. No legitimate sanctuary would make a bad situation worse by breeding and selling exotic animals. Volunteers report that more than half of Wesa's "rescued" animals were actually born there. And it has been documented that the zoo has sold at least a few animals to a man who was recently convicted of selling and slaughtering tigers and leopards to sell their meat and skins on the black market.
In addition to breeding animals, Wesa-A-Geh-Ya engages in the harmful practice of prematurely removing baby animals from their mothers, which is psychologically cruel to both the infants and their mothers and deprives the babies of proper maternal care and normal development. The lion and tiger cubs have been sold or carted around to state fairs where people pay to have photos taken with them, a practice that perpetuates the exotic pet trade by inspiring others to obtain wild animals. The additional stress of transport, excessive handling, confusion, and other unnatural aspects of these events puts further stress on the babies' delicate immune systems and increases the chances of their becoming ill. No legitimate sanctuary would ever tear babies from their mothers or take animals off site except for medical reasons.
PETA has filed a formal complaint against Wesa with the Missouri attorney general for violations of the state Nonprofit Corporation Act and deceptive trade practices. PETA is asking that Wesa's nonprofit status be revoked and that Wesa be required to immediately terminate all public and private deception, fraud, misrepresentation, and use of false pretenses in connection with the solicitation of funds for charitable purposes or, in the alternative, face criminal prosecution. PETA is also asking that Wesa's assets, including the animals, be placed in receivership for their own protection.
What You Can Do
Please write a polite letter to the Missouri attorney general. Ask him to seriously and carefully review PETA's complaint regarding Wesa-A-Geh-Ya, which thoroughly documents the many ways in which the facility is violating the state's nonprofit rules and engaging in deceptive trade practices, and to revoke Wesa-A-Geh-Ya's nonprofit status, to institute criminal proceedings if necessary, or to institute any proceedings deemed necessary to protect the animals' welfare:Please write a polite letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture officials. Thank them for thoroughly investigating and pressing charges against Wesa-A-Geh-Ya. Urge them to pursue aggressive prosecution of this case and to levy the maximum penalties possible against Wesa-A-Geh-Ya.
Dr. Chester A. Gipson, Associate Deputy Administrator
USDA-APHIS-VS
4700 River Rd., Unit 84
Riverdale, MD 20737-1234
301-734-7833
301-734-4993 (fax)
Chester.A.Gipson@usda.govNo genuine sanctuary would make a bad situation worse by engaging in or condoning commercial activities such as breeding, buying, selling, and exhibiting animals or by keeping animals in deplorable, overcrowded, neglectful conditions. Please contact PETA (e-mail CaptiveAnimals@peta.org) for help in combating pseudo-sanctuaries in your area.
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