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Abuse Suspects Abuse Suspects
- From: 11233455987
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Exotic Animal Stock Video. Lions, Tigers, Bears, Cubs & More! Choose from our online collection! www.walkingwithlions.com
Animals in their naturalhabitat!Onceinalifetimeexperience!www.BaobabExpeditions.com
Big Cats. Huge selection of Big Cat items. Yahoo.com
AnimalLover0104@aol.com is alias email First name is Janice Real email: Chuffer927@aol.com Thinks that people should be allowed contact with Class 1 animals, regardless of size. Supports white tiger breeding and exotic pet trade.
lndmonk@aol.com Has many emails Hates BCR and supports exotic pet trade Claims BCR abuses and breeds Name: Linda Hunnicutt Address: 27 Beaton Path, Leicester, NC 28748 Phone: (828) 683-2009 She uses a number of other names and aliases as well to make it look like several people are responding on an issue, rather than her, or just her.
President, Phoenix Exotic Wildlife Association
Name: Jeanne Hall Website: http://www.PhoenixExotics.org P.O. Box 1132 Chehalis, WA. 98532 Phone: 360-767-0746
Supports exotic pet trade. Hates BCR. Thinks exhibitors and white tiger breeding are ok. Leads exotic pet organization and disagrees with USDA and AZA.
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- 7 months ago
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Big Cats Sold for Meat and Ski Big Cats Sold for Meat and Skins in U.S.
- From: TheirVoice
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Endangered_Animal_Trade
Check out how caring the Smiths were in 2002.Exotic Animal Trader Sentenced To Prison
11/15/2002 11:12:41 PM
One of the 15 suspects busted in a Midwest exotic animal ring was sentenced Friday in St. Louis federal court.
A Newschannel 5 investigation exposed the killing and butchering of endangered animals earlier this month. It's a multi-billion dollar black market business with roots in Missouri.
Friday, Stoney Ray Elam, the former operator of a Ft. Gibson Oklahoma exotic animal farm, was sentenced to one year with the bureau of prisons. The last six months of his sentence will include home detention with electronic monitoring.
Elam pleaded guilty to illegally selling two federally protected tigers and three leopards and falsifying federal documents to list the sale as a donation. Elam was busted after selling the five animals to undercover agents at a New Florence Missouri truck stop.
The judge also ordered Elam to pay 5000 dollars to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife "Save the Tiger" Fund.The Endangered Animal Trade
11/1/2002 5:50:02 PM
By Leisa Zigman
(KSDK) -- Missouri has become a major player in a gruesome industrythat preys on endangered animals. Federal agents say next to the drug
trade, the illegal killing of exotic animals is the second most profitable
business in the world.
Recently NewsChannel 5 learned that Missouri is now a black-markethub where some breeders and brokers are making a killing; literally.
Members of a secret Midwest exotic animal ring with roots in Cape
Girardeau had chilling plans for some federally protected endangered
tigers. According to Federal officials they were going to shoot, butcher,
and sell their hides, their body parts, and their meat. Why? Because
these majestic animals, are worth a lot more dead, than alive.
Bill Hartwig is the Regional Director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife. He says
many endangered tigers are purchased to be killed and made into rugs.It's a billion dollar black market business, and it's led federal agents to
Missouri as part of a multi-state sting.
"Animals from Florida, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, were sent to Missouri,to Cape Girardeau, and were killed, butchered, and shipped to Chicago,"
said Hartwig.
In February, Todd and Vicky Lantz of Cape Girardeau pleaded guilty totheir roles in the exotic animal trade.
Tim Santel, an investigator with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, said, "We find the
illegal animal trade is nationwide, worldwide. The fact that it happened inCape Girardeau doesn't surprise me at all."
Tiger hides sell for up to $25,000 dollars a piece. If the big cats weren't
butchered for their pelts, meat, bones, and organs, collectors would pay
thousands to stuff and display them as trophies.
A government informant, who will remain anonymous said, "The personwho supplied the biggest check, got to keep the animal and of course,
they would shoot the animal usually in a caged situation."
Federal prosecutors said the tigers often came through Missouri, enroute to Chicago where collectors paid thousands of dollars to shoot
caged endangered animals. Federal prosecutors say Doctor Robert
Martinez, of Chicago, paid $7000 to shoot an endangered black
spotted leopard while it was still caged.
Hartwig said, "It was a painful situation for them and anyone who has a
conscience to be able to watch."
In August, Steven Galecki of Chicago pleaded guilty to selling and
slaughtering numerous tigers and leopards. When federal authoritiesbusted Galecki, they confiscated all of his paper work. One of the names
led agents to Warrenton, Missouri, and the Wesa A Geh Ya Sanctuary,
run by Ken and Sandy Smith.
The Smiths admit to selling Galecki two lions, a cougar and a dead tigerin the mid 90's. Those actions are legal, but they were in direct contrast to
the mission of her animal sanctuary.
"I truly thought, I believed it in my heart at the time, he had right intentions,"said Sandy Smith.
The Smiths say they used to breed and sell animals but stopped in 1998,
when Wesa A Geh Ya became a not-for-profit sanctuary .
"When I started a year ago this last August, there were 52 animals, andwhen I left there were well over 70, and a lot of them were cubs," said Pat
Bohler, a former Wesa A Geh Ya board member.
Bohler and the other former Wesa a Geh Ya board members, volunteers,and employees, all say the Smiths are not only breeding exotic animals
but soliciting charitable donations.
"Each animal has a story, and each story is a tear jerker, and the more
people cried the more money you're going to get," said Beth Norman,former grant director for the sanctuary.
Former board members say they repeatedly urged the Smiths to quitbreeding, but the Smiths say they¹re against spaying and neutering.
Former volunteers say there have been several recent deaths at the
sanctuary including Zander, a four-month lion cub. His cause of death has
not been established.
Former board members and employees believe the Smiths need to be
investigated and the sanctuary closed. However, the USDA just renewedthe smith's license and the couple insists they have no part in a Midwestern
black market ring.
Nationwide 12,000 tigers are in private hands and more are born everyday. Federal agents asked us not to reveal where the rescued tigers and
leopards are located. We can tell you, it is within the NewsChannel 5
viewing area.
Today, Dr. Martinez pleaded guilty to killing an endangered animal. Hefaces five years in prison and $250,000 dollars in fines.
If you have information about the exotic animal trade that you would liketo report, contact us fish and wildlife call 612-713-5320 or online at
Midwest.fws.gov - Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 486
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Big Cat Attacks 2008 Big Cat Attacks 2008
- From: TheirVoice
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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: 994
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His Mother Should Be Ashamed His Mother Should Be Ashamed
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:Century student shoots mountain lionNov 03, 2008 - 23:05:06 CST
By JENNY MICHAEL
Bismarck TribuneAndrew Wiseman suspects his mom will be happy with the trophy he brought home on Oct. 25.The 17-year-old Bismarck Century High School junior shot a female mountain lion that day, which was something he had been talking about for so long that he assumed his mom would be glad to hear it was over."I've been hunting since I could walk," he said.Randy Kreil, chief of the wildlife division for North Dakota Game and Fish Department, confirmed the kill as the third of the year in the Badlands.Wiseman said he shot the cat with a .22-250 rifle near Lone Butte."We went out specially, just for the fun of it, to call one in," he said.Wiseman said the mountain lion was a 75-pound female and probably was 1½ or 2 years old.The lion was taken in zone 1, which roughly covers the area of the Badlands south of Williston and encompasses McKenzie, Dunn, Billings, Golden Valley, Slope and Bowman counties. Wiseman's was the third mountain lion shot in zone 1, where there is an eight-cat quota determining the length of the hunting season. The rest of the state is in zone 2, where there is no quota.The first two mountain lions of the season were killed by Rick Mittleider of Tappen and Jake Bloxham of Williston.(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@bismarcktribune.com.) - Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 144
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Tigers Owned by Drug Dealers i Tigers Owned by Drug Dealers in Mexico
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:
Look at the concrete floor this beautiful animal has been living on:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/unexpected-find-in-drug-bust--a-hrefhttpwwwsmhcomauphotogallery200810201224351116523htmlbphotosba/2008/10/20/1224351112717.html
Police seized weapons, tigers and lions when they raided an alleged
drug-trafficking ring in an upmarket neighbourhood of Mexico City.
The sprawling mansion in Desierto de los Leones - whose walls,
ceilings and furniture are made almost entirely of ornately carved
wood - appeared to have been used by the traffickers for parties on
nights and weekends, authorities said.
The house was equipped with a private zoo housing a collection of
animals including two tigers and two lions. It was unclear what the
authorities planned to do with them.
Eleven Colombians, a US citizen, two Mexicans and an Uruguayan were
detained during a raid on the house at the weekend, organised-crime
prosecutor Marisela Morales told a news conference.
Morales identified the gang's leader as Teodoro Fino Restrepo, who
allegedly arranged for sea-borne cocaine shipments from Colombia to
Mexico's Beltran Leyva cartel.
Also detained in the police raid was US citizen Raul Munoz Montalvo,
of Texas. Police did not release the name of his home town and no one
from the US embassy in Mexico was available to comment.
All the suspects are being held on suspicion of drug trafficking,
money laundering and organised-crime activities, Morales said.
Nine Mexicans working as waiters and disc jockeys were briefly held
and released.
Authorities had been investigating the group since 2005, the
prosecutor said.
Almost 400 people have died in the past two weeks in an intensifying
drugs war in Mexico despite a government crackdown on cartels,
trafficking and related violence.
The killings include six people lined up and shot against a wall with
a written warning promising a similar fate to all "rats", and five
others shot dead in a house where a gang lord's corpse was found in a
freezer.
The death toll this year has passed 3800 despite a massive state
crackdown launched two years, including the deployment of about 36,000
soldiers across the country.
Some blame increased Mexican cocaine consumption for the spike in
violence. Until recently, cocaine was exported mainly to the United
States.
Mexico "is no longer only a country of drug transit to the United
States, but has become an important consumer market", federal
prosecutor Eduardo Medina Mora said recently.
National drug consumption rose by about 30 per cent between 2002 and
2008, and by almost 100 per cent for cocaine, the prosecutor said,
citing a federal investigation. - Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 114
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Tiger Man Charged w/ Murders Tiger Man Charged w/ Murders
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:
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.
Tiger man in the tank
Former St. Clements exotic pet owner charged with first degree murder
Friday June 06, 2008
By Mark T. Buss
The one-time Tiger Man of St. Clements has been caged.
Kelly John Clarke, 38, has been charged with two counts of first
degree murder in connection with the brutal killings of Joel
Labossiere and his pregnant wife Magdalena two months ago.
Joel, 34, and Magdalena, 33, were found shot to death inside their
St. Vital house on April 20. Their one-year-old daughter was found
unharmed inside the home by police.
Winnipeg police arrested Clarke without incident at about 6 p.m. on
May 28 as he drove in Garden City. Authorities were unable to release
information as to why their interest turned to Clarke in the double-
homicide.
Clarke's arrest is another twist in a disturbing string of murders
involving the Labossiere family and, what police believe, involves a
court battle for the family estate.
Joel and Magdalena were relatives of Fernand Labossiere, 78, his 74-
year-old wife Rita and their son Remi, 44, all of whom were found
shot in the head in November 2005 in the burned-out remains of their
farmhouse in the St. Leon area.
Last month, RCMP charged three men with first-degree murder in the
2005 shooting deaths. One of the suspects charged was Fernand and
Rita's son – and Joel's uncle – Denis Jerome Labossiere, a known
Hell's Angels associate.
With Remi taking over the family farm prior to his demise, his seven-
year-old will left the estate to nieces and nephews.
After the triple murder, Jerome produced a new will that left the
estate to his teenage son. Relatives claim the second will was a
forgery.
Joel had a protection order against his uncle Jerome and claimed in
court documents Jerome was trying to get him to give up his stake in
the $1.3-million estate prior to his death.
On May 1, members of the RCMP emergency response team arrested Jerome
during a dramatic takedown on Riverton Avenue in Elmwood where
several unmarked police vehicles boxed in a pickup truck before
smashing the truck's windows and tossing a smoke bomb inside the cab.
The tactical unit pulled Labossiere and another man – who turned out
to be Clarke – from the truck at gunpoint. The two men apparently
worked together for a local construction company.
Clarke was released at that time and not charged in connection with
the St. Leon murders.
Sheena
Clarke first made headlines in the Selkirk Journal and province wide
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 an unusual house pet in Sheena, a sixth-generation
born in captivity Siberian tiger.
When the trailer he and his common-law wife and two small children
lived in on Ashfield Road burned to the ground 1998, the blaze forced
surrounding residents to pressure council to bring forward a
restricted exotic animal bylaw. The animals were removed for the
family's safety, as well as the safety of the community at large.
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. Clarke was charged days later while trying to visit Sheena
at Assiniboine Park Zoo.
The tiger was donated to an Ontario zoo in March 2000.
In December 2001, things took a turn for the worse for Clarke, who
was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison and a 10-year weapons
prohibition for 14 armed robberies. Clarke apparently pulled a
bandanna over his face and brandished a knife during most of the
retail thefts. His lawyer at the time said 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. The
intimidation charges were stayed.
http://www.selkirkjournal.com/News /405492.html - Blog post
- 2 years ago
- Views: 589
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Ex-Tarzan Steve Sipek 1 Ex-Tarzan Steve Sipek 1
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:
Former Tarzan insists he'll keep his tigers
By Joel Hood - South Florida Sun-Sentinel
July 14, 2007
Loxahatchee Groves Bo was in a bad mood.
The 400-pound Siberian Bengal tiger stalked angrily inside his shaded iron enclosure, finding little relief from the heat. Visitors watched him pace behind pencil-thin iron bars. Bo wanted nothing to do with them; he held them back with an irritated growl.
"It's too hot for him," owner Steve Sipek said, entering the cage with a small bucket of severed turkey legs. "He's a little cranky."
It's a mood that's spreading around the Sipek compound as the reclusive cat lover prepares for what has become a yearly battle with state and federal officials to keep his exotic felines: two Bengal tigers, an African lioness and a black leopard.
A year ago, federal inspectors denied Sipek an exotic animal permit to legally keep his cats because his five-acre ranch did not meet standards in the Animal Welfare Act. But the former B-movie actor, known around the Groves simply as "Tarzan," was granted a state permit that allowed him to keep the cats if he used them for educational or commercial purposes.
Sipek said he's reapplying for another state license, but remains defiant as ever toward federal officials and what he calls their"ridiculously high standards" for animal care. He said his cats are well cared for and challenges the authority of the federal officials to make any demands for better conditions. His last federal license inspection lasted less than an hour before Sipek ran the officials off his property.
"I told them to get the hell out of here and don't come back," Sipek said. "They have no authority to police me in my own home. Government likes to be the boss over everything. They're only in it to harass you."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health division last toured Sipek's ranch in January 2006. The inspection and licensing arm of the USDA had given Sipek failing grades on two previous inspections and found conditions had improved little this time. Inspection records note that Sipek did not have a veterinarian on site or on call and that no medical records existed for the cats.
Inspectors found a section of fence was only seven-feet high, a foot lower than the minimum standards for these types of animals. They noted vertical gaps in the fencing large enough for outside animals to pass through to gain access to the enclosed tigers and lioness. They also pointed out other potential weak points in the fence.
Records show inspectors told Sipek that he did not provide a proper diet and feeding program for the cats and that his grounds were littered with dangerous debris. As with past failed inspectors, this record concludes that Sipek is not allowed to participate in USDA"regulated activities," such as exhibiting the animals, until he obtains a federal license.
Five months later, Sipek easily passed inspection by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and received a state license.
"We're not in it for the animal's health," said John West, the commission's investigations captain. "We don't need to see shot records or veterinarian records or anything like that. If he wants to live in a trash pile, that's his issue."
Sipek admits he's frustrated by this discrepancy in state and federal standards. While the state last year said he was a good guardian for the cats, the USDA launched an investigation into his care. USDA officials would not say whether the investigation is ongoing.
"It's a lousy situation," Sipek said. "The USDA is not qualified to issue licenses."
West agrees it's a confusing and complicated permit process and said the state has ongoing discussions with the USDA to simplify it.
The Croatian-born Sipek, who starred as Tarzan in a foreign remake of the film in 1970, garnered international attention in 2004 when a 600-pound Bengal tiger he owned, Bobo, escaped from his compound and into the rural residential community of the Groves. The tiger was later shot by Fish and Wildlife officials, but soon after, Sipek received another commercial license from the state for two tiger cubs, Bo and Little Bo. Those cubs are now 2 years old and weigh 400 pounds.
USDA spokesman Jim Rogers said federal licenses trump state permits, meaning that Sipek could face legal action if the agency wanted to
prosecute him for illegally owning exotic cats. Rogers would not comment on Sipek's case specifically, but said "if he's operating in a
way that we regulate without a license, we will pursue it."
If they do, Sipek could face fines or a court appearance. But he said he's not worried.
"Nobody could take better care of my cats than I can," Sipek said."The health of the cats is all that matters. That's all I care about and that's all they should care about, too."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpcat0714pnjul14,0,4576283.storySee an interactive online map of exotic cat owners . See people being stupid with big cats, endangering themselves and others HERE . See the awful conditions that many captive cats endure HERE .
Tarzan Buys New Tiger Cubs After State Shoots His Escaped Pet Tiger
LOXAHATCHEE -- Steve Sipek still wears grief like a heavy overcoat a year after a wildlife officer shot and killed his escaped tiger, Bobo , igniting a torrent of outrage.
His massive shoulders sag. His bright-blue eyes suddenly shed tears.
But just as suddenly, the retired actor who played Tarzan in B movies brightens and sings a ditty he wrote about the two new loves in his life:
Bo and Little Bo.
The 3-month-old tiger cubs are asleep on the floor when Sipek cracks open the door of his jungle-motif bedroom and coos like the proudest of new papas.
"Where are Daddy's kisses?" he asks, bending to nuzzle the fur balls. "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?"
Bo and Little Bo -- Bengal-Siberian mixes like their beloved namesake -- are lifelines pulling Sipek back from the depths of despair. They are not unlike the lion that rescued him from a burning movie set 35 years ago, kindling his love affair with exotic cats.
The 26-pound cubs also are ready for showtime as the star attractions of Tarzan's Big Cat Sanctuary, Sipek's latest plan to fill the gaping hole in his heart.
Unable to obtain more big cats under an old personal pet license last issued by the state in 1980, Sipek applied for and recently received a state license to exhibit exotic wildlife. That allowed him to buy Bo and Little Bo for $3,200. He's still working on getting a federal license.
But there's another hitch. He says he must open his 5-acre compound in the secluded Palm Beach County neighborhood of Loxahatchee Groves to the public, inviting in the very beings he has spent much of his life avoiding:
People.
"I have no choice," he said. "I have to, or else I lose my license."
The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, which objects to any private person keeping exotic cats in backyard cages, says Sipek is wrong. Noting there are no legal requirements for exhibitors to actually show their cats, the foundation says he is simply using a loophole in the law to obtain more personal pets.
"Lots of people get the exhibition license, and they fulfill that by having a few people come in and look at the animals," said Heather Veleanu, managing direction of the foundation. "They do it by inviting their neighbors or their brothers and sisters over."
Sipek, who also owns a lioness, a Bengal tiger and a black leopard, readily admits he's a reluctant exhibitor. But he says he'll do whatever he must to keep his new cubs. In the meantime, he's working on a Web site, jungleworld.org , where would-be visitors can learn more information.
It's a classic Catch-22 for a self-described loner who has felt betrayed by those closest to him.
After all, Sipek prefers the company of big-fanged felines that could kill with a single pounce to humans, who he says have caused him nothing but heartache during his 63 years.
His mother, he says, orphaned him in his native Croatia as a baby and then reclaimed him when he was 8, only to beat him regularly. He says he hasn't talked to his son in a year.
And he has had nothing but bad luck with his ex-wives and girlfriends who, he says, have left him, his cats and his granite and marble house behind.
"Cats are the only creatures who love you forever, who are loyal forever," he said. "You never have to wonder if they betray you."
'They murdered my Bobo'
Sipek suspects an angry former girlfriend coaxed Bobo out of the house and left a series of cages and gates open the afternoon of July 12, 2004, when the 600-pound cat greeted a startled mail carrier on C Road with a swipe of his declawed paw.
Within hours, C Road became a media roadshow, with live images from the fringes of the intensive hunt for Bobo beamed around the world. The next day, five shots rang out just beyond Sipek's compound, and Bobo fell dead.
Prosecutors found no evidence that Sipek was responsible for the cat's getting loose.
Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission called the shooting a necessary tragedy by an officer left with no other option. While the officer waited for a tranquilizer team, the big cat whirled around, bared his teeth and lunged, they said.
But an inconsolable Sipek called the shooting "murder," insisting the brush above Bobo's body was undisturbed, an impossibility had the big cat really turned and leapt.
"They murdered my Bobo ," he wailed in grief at the time. "They want the glory. They want to say, 'We killed the tiger. We saved the people.' "
His pain and outrage struck a chord, generating songs, poems, paintings, bumper stickers and vigils in Bobo's memory. It also unleashed such a torrent of hate mail and threats against the wildlife commission that biologists were encouraged not to wear their uniforms in public.
Consumed by grief, Sipek retreated behind his gates, only to face more misfortune. A week after Bobo's death, an electrical fire badly damaged his house. Then, in September, his cougar Missy died, and hurricanes Frances and Jeanne finished off what the fire started. The final kick came the next month, when his lion Elvis succumbed to old age.
For the next eight months, Sipek ricocheted between rage and grief and the desire for revenge. He didn't recognize neighbors who dropped by with food or a helping hand. He quit his daily swims and exercises, adding 35 pounds to his once astonishingly fit physique.
He relied on a retinue of women who, drawn by the former movie star's pain and the magnetism of his big cats, donated countless hours to help him get his place and his self back in shape. Four of them still come around regularly, happy to take Sipek's tall orders --"hot and sweaty guy-work with lots of tools" -- to be around him and his cats, especially the new cubs.
"Seeing him on TV so distressed broke my heart," Kathi Carchia, a volunteer from Wellington, said while taking a break from fixing a pool filter. "Definitely, there's been a big change in him since the babies came."
35-year love affair with cats
Sipek's romance with big cats began in 1970, while filming Tarzan and the Rainbow, one of two movies in which he portrayed the ape man he had worshipped since watching Johnny Weissmuller in the role as a boy. But his life changed forever when he was captured and staked to the ground for one scene and fire broke out, engulfing Sipek in flames.
Sipek, who went by the stage name Steve Hawkes, knew he would die, until Samson, a lion who also starred in the film, dragged him to safety. From then on, he devoted his life to caring for big cats, many of them maimed discards from breeders and zoos.
To date, he said, he has spent more than $7 million of his movie-industry revenues on 102 cats who shared his home like children.
But none, Sipek reluctantly allows, was quite as special as Bobo . The bond between man and beast was so strong, the 6-year-old tiger would suck Sipek's thumb like a pacifier before climbing in his bed to sleep.
So, Sipek said, he agonized over whether Bobo would approve of his acquiring two new cubs: "Would he think I was abandoning him in death? Would he think I didn't love him anymore?" he asked
Sipek, who visits Bobo's elaborate grave marked by a headstone and statues of lions, giraffes and elephants, twice a day, found his answer after a calico house cat crawled through a hole in the garage apartment where Sipek has lived while his house is repaired.
Fearful the big cats would maul the little cat, he gave the stray away. Weeks later an identical -- but different -- calico crawled through the same hole and stayed. For Sipek, it was a sign.
"It had to be," he said. "Two identical cats found the same hole. That was too much for me."
Laissez-faire neighbors
Some of Sipek's neighbors say his expanding menagerie is too much even for live-and-let-live Loxahatchee Groves, 12.5 square miles of large homesteads, nurseries, stables and a nudist colony where animals -- horses, dogs, cats, ostriches and emus -- still outnumber people.
Backdoor neighbor Kim McLain, citing Bobo's escape and his 2002 mauling of a woman who let herself into Sipek's property, said Sipek hasn't shown himself responsible enough to keep wild animals.
But the majority seem to enjoy having the king of iconoclasts in their iconoclastic neighborhood.
"I actually like it," said Richard Harkleroad, a painter who lives nearby. "In the morning I can hear the animals roar."
And now, on occasion, a rejuvenated Sipek will join them, letting loose an unmistakable Tarzan yell.
Maya Bell can be reached at 305-810-5003 or mbell@orlandosentinel.com .
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-asec21tigers05aug21,0,3205327.story?page=2&coll=orl-home-headlines
Dear Maya Bell
Orlando Sentinel
What a shame that so many people are being deceived into feeling sorry for Sipek, when he is the reason the tiger was shot. His desire to have a "chick magnet" to get stupid women to do his dirty work for him all these years and his desire to feel power over a chained, cage creature has caused 102 cats to die as his pets. Exotic cats live for 20 years; how could so many be dead?
Shortly after the Bobo incident he had one of these women, who identified herself as Cindy, call Big Cat Rescue and ask us to take his adult cats because he wanted to buy more baby tigers. We don't provide a dumping ground to enable people to continue being irresponsible and low and behold, the ones he wanted to get rid of have died and he gets to be seen as the victim by you and your paper. It makes me so mad, I could spit.
You also failed to mention that just two days ago a 17 year old girl, also drawn by a Tarzan type with big cats, was mauled to death posing with the cat for her photo. http://www.bigcatrescue.org/big_cat_news_files/2005/17yroldkilledbytiger.htm
Now THAT is sad.
Tarzan the tiger collector adopts 2 cubs
Steve Sipek, who owned a tiger that was fatally shot, plans a zoo at his home.
By Shahien Nasiripour | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted June 23, 2005
LOXAHATCHEE -- Tarzan's got two new tiger cubs.
Bo and Little Bo, 6-week-old Bengal-Siberian tigers, arrived at former B-movie Tarzan Steve Sipek's compound Friday.
Sipek is best known as the man who owned Bobo , the 600-pound declawed Bengal tiger that was fatally shot by a state wildlife officer in July after it escaped from his home.
Sipek bought the cubs from an exotic-cats breeding center north of Orlando for $3,200.
Despite losing his state license to own tigers as pets, Sipek said he found a loophole that allowed him to own more: a commercial license.
He applied for the license, an annual permit that requires him to operate a business in which he exhibits the animals, and was approved last month.
Sipek now has the two male cubs to go along with a 15-year-old Bengal Tiger named Princess, a leopard named Oko and Steffi the lioness.
He may get more.
Sipek plans to open his home as a zoo, he said. It was the only way the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission would let him own another tiger, he said.
"Tarzan's Big Cat Sanctuary" is scheduled to open in six weeks, he said. Visitors will be able to schedule tours of the compound with Sipek by logging on to his soon-to-be-created Web site. Visitors will be led through Sipek's home and along the series of intricately designed cages. They also will be able to have their pictures taken with Bo and Little Bo.
Neighbors seem to be happy for him.
"If I had little kids, I might be a little nervous," said Gene Melchiori, who lives behind Sipek. "If I see them in my yard, I won't go out and poke them with a stick, but his cats are usually friendly."
Despite Sipek's portrayal of the state wildlife commission as being in an adversarial role, the agency supports him too.
"We look at him the same as we would any other applicant," state wildlife spokesman Willie Puz said. "There are certain criteria that need to be met, and so far he's met them."
Shahien Nasiripour is a reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-locbobo23062305jun23,0,1568056.story?coll=orl-news-headlines
FL Bengal tiger escapes from cage
Officers use tranquilizer darts to capture Tristan
By Akilah Johnson
Staff Writer
Posted February 27 2005
A 500-pound tiger escaped from its cage at Panther Ridge Sanctuary in Wellington and trotted around its compound sniffing at horses for more than two hours Saturday before wildlife officers captured it, officials said.
About 9:40 a.m., a woman feeding Tristan didn't latch the cage completely, and the Bengal tiger pushed past her and escaped, officials said. Tristan's owner, called 911.
More than 20 Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies and state wildlife officers arrived at 14755 Palm Beach Pointe Blvd. By noon, wildlife officers -- with the help of David Hitzig, executive director Jupiter's Busch Wildlife Sanctuary -- were able to tranquilize the tiger and return it to its cage, Willie Puz, a Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman, said.
Two tranquilizer darts were be used because the first had little effect, Puz said. The second dart startled Tristan, making the cat take a couple of quick steps, Puz said. But the tiger didn't run, and its actions weren't much of a threat, he said.
Then, 4-year-old Tristan became groggy, lay down and went to sleep, he said.
Tristan's escape reminded many of an incident seven months ago, when a 600-pound Bengal tiger named Bobo escaped from his cage and his compound in Loxahatchee. Bobo was on the loose for 26 hours before he was shot dead by a Conservation Commission officer, who said the cat lunged at him while he was waiting for other officers to arrive with a tranquilizer gun.
During Tristan's two-hour jaunt Saturday, the cat approached several horses on the 10-acare property, which is both a refuge for abused, neglected or abandoned cats and a horse farm.
"The horse kind of kicked at it, and the tiger said, `I don't want any part of this' and just walked away," Puz, said.
Judy Berens, Tristan's owner, was cited for escaped captive wildlife, a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by 60 days in jail or a $500 fine. This was her first infraction, Puz said.
Berens could not be reached for comment despite attempts by phone.
According to the sanctuary's Web site, Panther Ridge has 16 large cats, including Amos, a black leopard, and Eros and China , two spotted leopards. Some were left with her; others Berens bought because she felt they weren't being taken care of properly.
A German film crew doing a documentary about how easy it is to buy exotic animals in the United States bought Tristan but was unable to find a qualified zoo to adopt the tiger when the film was completed, according to the Web site.
Tristan never made it outside of the sanctuary's perimeter fence or came in contact with the public Saturday, but officials didn't take any chances.
"If a wild animal gets out of its cage there's a potential for anything," Puz said. "Even for the people who were in the compound."
The sanctuary provides tours, but it was unclear Saturday if one was taking place when Tristan escaped.
There were sheriff's deputies and wildlife officers with rifles inside and outside the perimeter fence in case the tiger ran or got out of the fence, officials said.
The incident with Bobo created a public furor. Bobo's owner, former B-movie Tarzan Steve Sipek, accused the officer of killing the declawed cat unnecessarily, claiming the officer panicked and disputing the officer's account of Bobo lunging at him.
Commission officers around the state where threatened after the shooting, something Puz said has sense subsided. He got his last piece of hate mail about Christmas, he said.
Akilah Johnson can be reached at akjohnson@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6645.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ news/local/palmbeach/sfl-ptiger27feb27,0,6619459.s tory?coll=sfla-news-palm
Exotic pets dwelling closer to home
By Mark Schwed, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 18, 2004
For two years, Antoine Yates kept a 400-pound tiger named Ming in his small N ew York City apartment -- until the tiger mauled him and sent him to the hospital with serious injuries.
In Colton , Calif. , state officials raided a former animal trainer's ranch and found 39 tigers, including 11 cubs hidden in a crawl space in the attic, and 58 dead tiger and lion cubs stuffed in his freezer.
New Jersey officials gunned down an escaped tiger, only to find he belonged to a woman who was keeping 29 of the beasts in her back yard.
And today a public funeral is scheduled for Bobo, the 600-pound Siberian-Bengal mix who escaped from his owner's compound in rural Loxahatchee, only to be shot and killed by a wildlife officer who said he feared for his life. Bobo was buried Saturday in a private service.
What in the world is going on with all these tigers?
Quite simply, a population explosion of one of the most magnificent creatures on the planet, and one of the most endangered. But this mating marathon isn't happening in the wild, it's in America , especially Florida .
According to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, there are now 15,000 captive tigers in the private sector, three times the number of wild tigers in Africa and Asia combined, more tigers than people know what to do with.
"Virtually every day I get a call from someone who wants to get rid of a tiger or big cat," says Carole Lewis, 43, who has 150 of the beasts at her Big Cat Rescue in Tampa . "I turned away 312 last year. The problem is that number is doubling every year. It's getting worse and worse. It's insane. It's reached a crisis point."
Even though Florida has an outright ban on possessing tigers as personal pets, the state now has 1,455 registered tigers, a 50 percent increase in 15 months and second only to Texas in the nation. Florida also has 262 U.S. Department of Agriculture-licensed exhibitors for big cats, more than any other state. And wildlife activists say there are now more tiger breeders in the state than anywhere else.
Dangers of the business
Florida is on its way to becoming the tiger capital of the world.
"It's downright scary," says Linda Howard, a captive wildlife specialist who keeps track of big cat populations in America . "Those 1,455 registered tigers are the legal ones. It doesn't include people possessing them illegally. It's shocking."
And dangerous. In the past five years, nine people have been mauled to death by big cats in the United States . Just last year, three people were killed, 14 were injured and hundreds of the animals either escaped or were confiscated from their owners, according to the Humane Society of the United States .
"These are highly endangered species," says Kim Haddad, a veterinarian and manager of the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition. "Yet in this country we're breeding them in the back yard and selling them like cats and dogs. It's dangerous for people and inhumane for the animals."
Hogwash, says Randy Davies, 43, of Phoenix , who's been selling exotic animals for 20 years and now operates the www.wildanimalworld.com Web site. "Over the years, we've saved every animal you see in a zoo -- elephants, giraffes, tigers. The only way they're going to survive is if we keep them breeding and have places to put them."
The exotic animal trade is a $15 billion worldwide business and it's flourishing. Primates, venomous snakes, elephants, giraffes, lions, bears and tigers -- all are for sale, wildlife experts say. There are 1,000 sites on the Internet that offer exotic animals.
These days, animal experts say you can pick up a cuddly tiger cub for $300, half the price of a Shih Tzu dog. A cougar costs even less.
Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States , says people buy them for all sorts of reasons. "They eat them, they shoot them, they keep them as pets," he says. "It's a whole underworld that is operating in the U.S. that victimizes literally tens of millions of animals a year."
Jim Lolli, 55, of the Lolli Brothers Livestock Market in Macon , Mo. , has been auctioning and selling exotic animals since 1978. "I haven't sold a tiger at auction for 20 years," he says. "But there are a lot of people who do it. There's a huge black market. I've had people say they sold a tiger to someone to shoot. It's illegal. It's as bad as selling cocaine."
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Marcus Cook of Zoo Dynamics or Marcus Cook of Zoo Dynamics or Zoo Cats 2
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:
Man mauled by tiger remains hospitalized
DALLAS, June 21 (UPI) -- A man remained hospitalized in Dallas Wednesday after being mauled by a Bengal tiger at a facility that supplies exotic animals to zoos and exhibitions.
The incident happened last Friday at Zoo Dynamics. Part-time employee Don Roberts was mowing a strip of grass when the 300-pound tiger jumped a fence and attacked him, The Dallas Morning News reported.
The sheriff's office told the newspaper a power failure allowed the animal to jump an electrified fence. Roberts said the tiger attacked as he ran to warn another employee it was on the loose.
The company, which has had exotic animals on its 5-acre property for 15 years, said it is investigating how the mauling occurred.
A hospital spokesman said Roberts was in the intensive care unit through the weekend and was in good condition Tuesday. He lost an ear, had claw marks all over his body and needed thousands of stitches.
The tiger is under quarantine and the victim reportedly does not want to press charges against the facility
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060621-104855-3483r
State halts roving big cat exhibit
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has obtained an emergency court order in Kaufman County to stop a traveling hands-on exhibit featuring wild jungle cats and cubs.
Abbott on Friday said the action was taken to prevent harm to the public from exhibits put on by ZooCats Inc. The nonprofit organization brings animals such as tigers, leopards, lions and cougars to exhibit at children's birthday parties, weddings, commercial and media events and educational settings.
In addition to the emergency court order, the charitable assets of ZooCats and related nonprofits, as well as operator Marcus Cline-Hines Cook, have been frozen. District Judge Howard Tygrett also named Dallas attorney Robert Trimble as temporary receiver.
Trimble will oversee placement of the wild cats and other animals in the professional care of the International Exotic Feline Sanctuary in Boyd, northwest of Fort Worth .
"This operator deliberately downplayed the potential danger of these animals, as well as the group's safety record and trainer qualifications, letting children and adults touch and hold them without regard for disease or possible physical harm," said Abbott in a statement. "This dangerous deception against the public, and the organization's false assertions about its charitable intentions, led our legal experts to conclude that we needed to act quickly."
ZooCats officials were not immediately available to comment.
ZooCats has exhibited the animals at the Mesquite Rodeo, Six Flags Over Texas, the Dallas ArtFest and various private schools. It has also set up show booths at a number of events in North Texas where children and adults may hold and feed the animals and have their pictures taken for a fee.
The principal facility housing the animals, which also include wolf pups, a bear and a zebra, is near Kaufman. ZooCats obtains its animals through donations from zoos, sanctuaries and refuges, but the group also buys them from exotic breeders.
Cook has made public claims about his group's perfect safety record. But, according to Abbot, ZooCats has been cited numerous times by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violations such as failing to keep the adult animals under the control of a trained animal handler and for failure to maintain structurally sound facilities to prevent escape.
The attorney general said the organization also falsely claims to be distributing charitable funds it collects for its services. It purports to represent, and donate funds to, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Save the Tiger Fund, and wildlife programs underwritten by Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp.
But, said Abbot, these organizations claim no affiliation with ZooCats and have not given Cook permission to use their logos or trademarks in exhibits. Cook also has falsely claimed an affiliation with the Dallas World Aquarium, the attorney general said.
Abbot said he also suspects that Cook has misappropriated charitable assets for personal use and will ask the court to correct this abuse of public funds.
The state will request civil penalties under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Texas Nonprofit Corporations Act. Also requested are attorneys' fees and reimbursement of investigative costs associated with the case.
ZooCats related nonprofits, which are also named in the lawsuit, include Zoological Studies Group, ZooCats Zoological Systems, Specialized Species Humane Society Inc., Zoo America Inc., and Technology Specialities and Research Group Inc.
2003 American City Business Journals Inc.ZooDynamics Exhibitor Has Abysmal History of Mistreating Animals, Endangering Public
August 11, 2005
Contact:
Amy Rhodes 757-622-7382
Miles City, Mont. - Today, PETA sent an urgent letter to the Eastern Montana Fair president, urging the implementation of a strict policy prohibiting exotic-animal displays at the fair, which opens on August 25. PETA's request comes after the group learned that the carnival booked for the fair, Thomas Carnival, includes an attraction called Zoo Dynamics (formerly called ZooCats). Zoo Dynamics, owned by Marcus Cook, has been cited numerous times by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), and the big-cat display has resulted in injuries to members of the public.
In 2003, the USDA filed charges against Cook for alleged AWA violations including using a cattle prod to stun a tiger as a means of discipline, exposing young animals to excessive handling, causing animals trauma and harm, unsupervised public contact, mishandling an injured zebra, dozens of instances of unsafe handling of dangerous animals during public exhibition, allowing a bear cub to be teased with a stick, filthy enclosures in disrepair, exposing animals to extreme heat and inadequate ventilation, failing to provide minimum space, food and water, and failing to comply with veterinary care requirements.
Cook was recently charged with unsafe handling by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission after one of his tiger cubs bit a woman at a car dealership in Tampa . PETA filed a formal complaint with the USDA after obtaining photos of two of Cook's tiger cubs at the dealership with bloody abrasions around their noses and eyes. Another cub used by ZooCats bit an employee while on display at Six Flags Over Dallas in 2002 and the exhibit was later removed from the park.
Animals used for photo ops are often still babies and are typically forcibly removed from their mothers, causing extreme stress to both mother and baby. When they outgrow their "cuteness," exotic animals are often sold at auctions, where they may be purchased by "canned-hunt" operators or people who kill them illegally for their body parts.
"The Eastern Montana Fair would do the animals and the public a favor by banning exotic-animal acts," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "Tearing babies from their mothers for stressful and potentially dangerous public contact isn't wholesome family entertainment."
PETA's letter to the Eastern Montana Fair president is available upon request. For more information, please PETA's Web site WildlifePimps.com.
Big-cat exhibitor Marcus Cook of ZooCats and Zoo Dynamics is traveling the country with Thomas Carnival, which operates at local and state fairs. Cook charges a fee for visitors to have their photos taken with tiger cubs.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees animal exhibits, filed charges against Cook, in part for allegedly failing to handle animals safely, failing to protect animals from temperature extremes, and using a cattle prod to stun a tiger as a means of discipline during an exhibit.
In February, Cook was charged by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with unsafe handling of wildlife after it was revealed that a visitor to an exhibit at a car dealership was bitten by one of his tigers. Another cub used by Cook bit an employee while on display at Six Flags Over Dallas in 2002
Group Sends USDA Photos of Displayed Cubs With Bloody Facial Sores
For Immediate Release:
March 10, 2005Contact:
Amy Rhodes 757-622-7382Tampa, Fla. - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has launched an investigation of exotic-animal-trainer Marcus Cook for possible violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. PETA contacted the USDA about a woman who was reportedly bitten on the hand by one of Cook's tiger cubs. According to news sources, on February 12, Sandra Hopps-Caraballo received two puncture wounds on her hand during a controversial photo op with the cub at the Tampa Bay Auto Mall on Tampa Road. Cook, who does business as Zoo Dynamics, was exhibiting two adult and two baby tigers at the dealership when the incident occurred. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission charged Cook with unsafe handling of captive wildlife.
PETA also complained to the USDA that the two cubs had bloody abrasions on their noses and around their eyes and provided photos of the tiger cubs' marred faces to aid in the investigation. PETA has asked the auto mall to ban exotic-animal displays from its properties.
Cook has been cited by the USDA for failure to provide veterinary care, failure to provide shelter from inclement weather, inadequate ventilation, filthy cages, failure to provide minimum space, and improper handling during public exhibition. In 2002, Six Flags Over Dallas dismissed Cook's tiger exhibit over concerns for public safety. In August 2004, Cook was charged in federal court with conspiring to violate laws pertaining to wildlife. Cook was named, along with eight others, in a 55-count indictment that alleges that the accused bought or sold more than $200,000 worth of endangered or threatened animals between 1999 and 2003, violating interstate provisions of the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act.
Tiger cubs used in traveling acts are prematurely removed from their mothers, denying them proper nutrition and maternal care. If the animals survive the stress of transport and handling, exhibitors typically dispose of them a few months later when they become more difficult to handle, replacing them with new cubs. Since 1990, there have been at least 177 dangerous incidents involving big cats in 36 states.
"Besides the cruelty of taking baby tigers away from their mothers, these cats become ticking time bombs when constantly subjected to handling and stress," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "The best way to protect the cats and the public would be to revoke Cook's license to operate."
The Federal Wildlife Officer
REGION 3
Paul Beiriger, Regional Rep
Nine Individuals Indicted on Wildlife Related ChargesMinneapolis - In a 55-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury, a Racine, MN, couple faces additional charges related to their operation of an animal park and animal brokerage business. In addition to the charges against Kenneth G. Kraft and his wife, Nancy L. Kraft, seven others were charged with various wildlife related charges.
The grand jury charged the Krafts will conspiring to violate a number of laws including the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act. The Endangered Species Act generally makes it unlawful to buy/sell in interstate commerce animals that have been designated as either endangered or threatened. The Lacey Act generally prohibits the interstate sale or purchase of endangered or threatened animals with a market value in excess of $350, and it also makes it unlawful to make and/or submit a false record or label for any endangered or threatened animals in interstate commerce from 1999 to 2003.
The other individuals charged by the grand jury on wildlife-related charges were: Robert E. Baudy, age 80, from Bevilles Corner, FL; Marcus Cook, from Dallas, TX, and the operator of Zoocats, Inc.; Troy Allen Hyde, from Bozeman, MT, the operator of Animals of Montana, Inc.; Hans Jakob Lueck, age 50, from Shoreline, WA, the operator of Wild Eyes Animal Adventure and Photography in Montana; Merle Multhauf, age 50, from Emerald, WI, Craig Perry, from Center Point, IA, the operator of Perry's Wilderness Ranch & Zoo; and James F. Rienow, age 55, from Suamico, WI, an animal broker and taxidermist.According to the indictment, the Krafts advertised their interest in buying, selling, and trading exotic wildlife, including endangered and threatened animals through several means, including the Internet and a national exotic animal publication "Animal Finders' Guide". The Krafts bought and sold numerous protected animals, including tigers, grizzly bears, and leopards. They had sources and customers around the country, including, but not necessarily limited to: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The indictment alleges that at the same time the Krafts were illegally buying and selling protected wildlife from their property in Racine, MN, under a number of different names, they also operated an animal park called BEARCAT Hollow. BEARCAT Hollow stands for Beautiful Endangered and Rare, Conservation and Therapy. The Krafts solicited donations, memberships, and other forms of sponsorships for BEARCAT Hollow by representing that the funds raised would go to feed and otherwise support the animals of BEARCAT Hollow, but they failed to disclose that the animals at the Racine, MN, property were regularly bought and sold as inventory of Kraft Game Farms or Kraft's Animal Escapades.Because protected wildlife may not generally be offered for sale, bought, sold, or transported in interstate commerce, the Krafts allegedly made false records and false identifications of the wildlife involved in the transaction on forms of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to the indictment, Nancy Kraft told at least one person that, for instance, the Krafts would make an illegal sale of a protected grizzly bear appear lawful by declaring the animal to be a "Syrian grizzly," believed by the Krafts not to be protected, on the federal APHIS Form 7020. The Krafts are also alleged to have falsified records in order to hide their illegal activity by claiming the transactions were a "donation" or "breeding loan" instead of the sale or transfer of animals.
The indictment also charges Kenneth Kraft with witness tampering for allegedly instructing a person to lie to federal officials and maintain that animals he bought from Kenneth Kraft had been illegally donated rather than illegally purchased.If convicted on the conspiracy or wildlife-related charges, the Krafts and the other defendants face a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine. If convicted of tampering with a witness, Kenneth Kraft could face a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine. Any sentences would be determined by a judge based on the federal sentencing guidelines.
The case is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Koch is prosecuting the case. Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.The Christian Science Monitor
Trouble at wild-animal parks? Study cites lax US regulations for private exhibitors.
By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor August 31, 2006The grainy picture, taken at a private wild-animal park, shows a girl reaching out to pet, or grab, the tail of a full-grown leopard. How will the leopard react?
As the debate over private ownership of exotic pets intensifies in the US, attention is also beginning to fall on private wildlife exhibits that display "big cats" like lions, tigers, and leopards.
TIGER HUG: Gloria Johnson with Casanova at her Havana, Fla., farm. As states ban private custody of exotic pets, some owners seek USDA licenses.
PHIL COALE/AP/FILE
Licensed by the US government, these parks are required to put "significant barriers" between visitors and big cats. But there's enough gray area in the law so that some facilities permit close contact with the animals, including touching them - sometimes with tragic results.In the year since 17-year-old Haley Hilderbrand was fatally mauled while posing for her senior photo with a leashed tiger at a Kansas wild-animal park, pressure has grown at federal and state levels to explicitly ban public contact with big cats at facilities that are licensed and regulated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In April, Kansas became the first state to ban direct contact between humans and potentially dangerous animals at wildlife exhibits. It also joined 21 states that prohibit private ownership of certain big cats.
Last month, Rep. Jim Ryun (R) of Kansas introduced legislation in Congress to beef up the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which governs animal safety at USDA-regulated facilities. His bill would prohibit direct contact between big cats and the public and require the USDA to write public-safety regulations for exhibitor licensees.
Activists say AWA rules are too weak to ensure that the animals are securely kept and well maintained - or to protect humans from the animals on display. "We're not even that critical of the USDA because it doesn't really have the authority it needs to deal with the public-safety problem," says Greg Wetstone of International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), a Yarmouth Port, Mass., animal rights group.
About 5,000 lions, tigers, and other big cats are kept by nearly 700 USDA big-cat licensees in the United States. Someone seeking a license to exhibit tigers is subject to requirements similar to those for someone seeking a goat license, IFAW reported last week, after a year-long investigation of such facilities.
As a result, in states where private ownership of exotic animals is banned, people can legally keep their animals by getting a USDA license as an exhibitor. In a rising number of cases, license applicants are mom-and-pop outfits building animal collections.
"These animals are dangerous, and it takes a lot to contain and feed them," says Mr. Wetstone of the IFAW, which included in its report the grainy photo of the girl touching the leopard. "So some folks decide to make a few bucks and escape state rules barring them as pets. They go get a USDA license."
The IFAW report - which looked at 42 wild-animal exhibits in 11 states, all USDA-licensed - cites these problems.
• Most of these big-cat facilities are "structurally unsound."
• Most allow public contact between people and big cats.
• "Vermin and grossly inadequate sewage disposal" are often evident. Meat fed to big cats is often rotten.
• Many facilities have no attendants at big-cat exhibits, and some "allowed children to work as attendants."
In the past decade, there have been 13 big-cat-related incidents in Florida, 12 in Texas, six in California, and five each in Illinois, Nevada, Minnesota, and Kansas. Since 1990, 13 people have died in these incidents, IFAW says.
A USDA spokesman says AWA regulations are adequate to keep the public safe and are zealously policed by its team of inspectors.
"There is no public-safety crisis," says Darby Holladay with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. "Whenever any incident occurs, the USDA animal-care program looks into it. If there's a possible violation of the Animal Welfare Act, enforcement action is taken."
The process can be slow. In the case of the park in Kansas where Hilderbrand was mauled, the USDA has yet to decide on whether to revoke the operator's big-cat license.
Critics of the IFAW report say it fails to deliver specific violations at specific facilities. "I don't think it's a well-informed report," says Marcus Cook, spokesman for the Feline Conservation Federation, which represents big-cat exhibitors. "If they know something, let's report it. If you've got a valid complaint, let's make it to the USDA. Don't just throw a bunch of numbers out there."
An IFAW member says the group has more than 2,000 photos documenting the violations cited in its report. "Our staff member was at [one] facility when a leopard bit the finger off an untrained worker," says Josephine Martell, a principal author of the report. "You can't just say, 'here's the tiger. Take care of him. I'm going to get some coffee.' But that's what's happening."
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Josip Marcan Tabby Tigers Josip Marcan Tabby Tigers
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Josip Marcan
Josip Marcan , is the owner of Adriatic Animal Attractions or Tigers of India. Check for yourself to see if they meet the sanctuary standards for an accredited animal refuge. He claims to be breeding white tigers and tabby tigers for conservation purposes, but his tigers are not part of the only internationally sanctioned Species Survival Plan. Given the amount of inbreeding necessary to create a white tiger or a tabby tiger (a color that sometimes appears when trying to breed the recessive white mutation) it is understandable why no real conservation program would include his stock. 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 .
FL:Tiger bites man said to be drunk (Josip Marcan's tiger)
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20060320/LOCAL/2032003
39/1078/newsArticle published Mar 20, 2006
Tiger bites man said to be drunkThe trucker who pulled a caged tiger to the Putnam County Fair left in a helicopter with a bitten arm early Sunday morning.
Jason Wayne Hardin, 25, of Westville, was attacked after he stuck his arm into the sleeping tiger's cage about 2:25 a.m., said Major Keith Riddick of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.
Riddick said Hardin's sister, Heather Bass, alerted a deputy working at the fair that she needed help transporting her injured brother, who she said was very drunk.
Hardin was taken to the Putnam County Hospital and then flown to Shands at the University of Florida, where he was treated and released for severed tendons in his forearm, said Kat Kelley, a public information officer for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
She said a deputy spotted Hardin stumbling down a flight of stairs earlier that night and told him to go sleep it off. On his way to his trailer, Hardin either brushed the cage or put his hand in the cage, and Kelley said she suspects the tiger was frightened by him. She said the animal has no record of problems at public events.
"This was strictly human error and poor judgment," she said. "These are wild animals, and no matter how tame they are, they're still animals."
Kelley said Hardin was visibly traumatized and had several punctures in his arm. When she talked to him at the hospital Sunday afternoon, he told her he remembered brushing against the cage, but he thought the tiger pulled his arm in with its claw before biting him. But a witness told her otherwise.
"We may never know whether he put his arm in or whether it was pulled in," she said.
The tiger could be seen playing with other tigers on display at the fair Sunday after Florida Wildlife Lt. Rick Brown inspected the exhibit and ruled it safe. The fair officially opens to visitors today.
Under state safety requirements, there must be a certain distance between the animals' cages and a perimeter fence around them, and it was set up correctly, Kelley said.
She said Hardin's trailer was inside the perimeter fence, which is why he was able to access the tiger. The tiger's owner, Josip Marcan of Adriatic Animal Attractions, recently hired Hardin to transport the animal and put up the fencing, but he was directed not to bother the tiger, Kelley said.
Hardin's wounds aren't life threatening but a 15-year tiger stuntman who has nursed several tiger bites of his own said there's a high risk of infection when a tiger punctures someone's skin.
If the tiger recently ate and had food particles in its mouth, the risk runs even higher, Randy Miller said.
He should know. Miller owns several tigers, and he's president of the stunt company Predators in Action, which has reenacted tiger, lion and bear attacks for countless television networks.
A tiger similarly punctured Miller's forearm while he staged a stunt for the movie, "The Gladiator." He said doctors typically prescribe heavy antibiotics for such wounds, and often stitches are required.
The stuntman hears of at least one serious tiger biting incident each year. He said he thinks the tiger attack on Roy Horn of famed entertainers Siegfried and Roy - which he has reenacted several times - made tiger attacks seem more common than they are.
"There's tens of thousands of tigers in captivity. For the amount of exposure there is in zoos, parks, the film industry and private owners, I think that's a pretty low (injury) ratio from an animal that's potentially deadly," he said.
Miller said professional handlers can work with animals that know them, but strangers shouldn't tamper even with the tamest of tigers.
"Some people misread the animals and think they appear to be affectionate and friendly, and then they stick their arm in and get bit. It's hard to say why the cat bit the guy, but it's just bad practice to try to play with the tiger," he said.
Tiffany Pakkala can be reached at 338-3111 or pakkalt@gvillesun.com
FL: Tiger Bites Worker at Putnam County Fair
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?ref=rss&storyid=54059
Tiger Bites Worker at Putnam County Fair Start Video
By Grayson Kamm
First Coast News
PALATKA, FL -- The Putnam County Fair will still open Monday even though a fair worker was bitten by a tiger in an exhibit there the day before.
Investigators say the man stuck his hand into a white Bengal tiger's cage.
Deputies say Jason Hardin was so drunk early Sunday morning, they threatened to arrest him if he didn't go to bed. According to officers, Hardin agreed to head back to his trailer and walked off.
But instead of going to bed, deputies say Hardin climbed over a four-foot-high security fence, walked through a grassy area, and stuck his hand into the locked cage of a four-year-old tiger.
Hardin is not one of the people approved to work with the animals.
He was treated for bite wounds to his forearm and hand and later released from Shands Gainesville.
"As soon as the owner came out of the trailer, the tiger released its grasp of him -- so it's probably about a thirty second event," said Putnam County Sheriff Dean Kelly.
"A foolish thing, and I'm sure the subject -- if he had to do it all over again -- wouldn't stick his hand inside the tiger cage," Kelly said.
The state says the cat involved has no past problems.
"Wild animals -- when provoked -- are going to do what wild animals do, and that's protect themselves and their territory," Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officer Kat Kelley explained.
The state's Fish and Wildlife Commission inspects every traveling exotic exhibit like this one. This particular show passed a state review just two weeks ago, Officer Kelley said.
"It [also] passed the inspection this morning. They've done everything right, they've got the correct safety barriers, the cage is locked, everything is in order. This was simply a matter of an error in judgment," Officer Kelley said.
"There's no fault of the owner here at all. So it's, again, a safe event for the citizens to come here and enjoy the fair," Sheriff Kelly added.Created: 3/19/2006 8:29:57 PM
The fact that Florida's Wildlife Conservation Commission permits and defends this sort of reckless behavior is an embarrassment to Floridians. This story was picked up by Associated Press and run all over the globe. These are just a few of the places that aired the story:
Worker is bitten by tiger at fair
Palatka Daily News - Palatka,FL,USA
EAST PALATKA — A 4-year-old Bengal tiger bit the hand of an exhibit employee who, for unknown reasons, stuck his arm in the cage Sunday morning, according to ...
Man bitten by tiger at county fair
St. Augustine Record - St. Augustine,FL,USA
A 25-year-old man was bitten by a Bengal tiger at the Putnam County Fair when he stuck his arm into the tiger's cage while he was intoxicated, according to ...
Tiger bites man at county fair in Florida
ABC7Chicago.com - IL, USA
March 20, 2006 (GAINESVILLE, Fla.) - Authorities say a trucker who transported a tiger to a county fair in Florida was treated at a hospital after the animal ...
Tiger bites man at Putnam County Fair
Miami Herald - FL,USA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - A trucker who transported a tiger to the Putnam County Fair was treated at a hospital after the animal bit his arm, authorities said. ...
Tiger bites man at county fair in Florida
Seattle Post Intelligencer - USA
-- A trucker who transported a tiger to the Putnam County Fair was bit in the arm after he apparently stuck his arm in the big cat's cage, officials said. ...
See all stories on this topicTiger bites big cat hauler at Fla. fair
Florida Today - Melbourne,FL,USA
... "This was strictly human error and poor judgment," she said. "These are wild animals, and no matter how tame they are, they're still animals.". ...
Tiger bites man at Putnam County Fair
Gainesville Sun - Gainesville,FL,USA
trucker who transported a tiger to the Putnam County Fair was treated at a hospital after the animal bit his arm, authorities said. ...
Animal Worker At Putnam County Fair Bitten By Tiger
News4Jax.com - Jacksonville,FL,USA
PALATKA, Fla. -- A 25-year-old employee of the tiger exhibit at the Putnam County Fair was bitten by one of the tiger early Sunday morning. ...
Tiger Bites Worker at Putnam County Fair
First Coast News - Jacksonville,FL,USA
PALATKA, FL -- The Putnam County Fair will still open Monday even though a fair worker was bitten by a tiger in an exhibit there the day before. ...
Man's Arm Bit While Transporting Tiger
All Headline News- 52 minutes ago
Gainesville, FL (AHN) - A Central Florida man who transported a tiger to the Putnam County Fair was treated after authorities say he used “poor judgment ...Tiger bites man at county fair in Florida
KESQ,CA- 4 hours ago
GAINESVILLE, Fla. Authorities say a trucker who transported a tiger to a county fair in Florida was treated at a hospital after the animal bit his arm. ...
Tiger Bites Man at County Fair in Florida
ABC News- 2 hours ago
GAINESVILLE, Fla. Mar 20, 2006 (AP)— A trucker who transported a tiger to the Putnam County Fair was bit in the arm after he apparently ...
Tiger Bites Man at County Fair in Florida
Forbes- 4 hours ago
A trucker who transported a tiger to the Putnam County Fair was bit in the arm after he apparently stuck his arm in the big cat's cage, officials said. ...
Tiger Bites Man at County Fair in Florida
Newsday,NY- 4 hours ago
By Associated Press. GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A trucker who transported a tiger to the Putnam County Fair was bit in the arm after he ...
Tiger bites man at Putnam County Fair
PensacolaNewsJournal.com,FL- 1 hour ago
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A trucker who transported a tiger to the Putnam County Fair was treated at a hospital after the animal ...
Tiger bites man at county fair in Florida
ABC7Chicago.com, USA- 1 hour ago
March 20, 2006 (GAINESVILLE, Fla.) - Authorities say a trucker who transported a tiger to a county fair in Florida was treated at a hospital after the animal ...
Drinking and tigers don't mix
Tampa Bay's 10,FL- 1 hour ago
Putnam County ,Florida - Authorities say a trucker who transported a tiger to the grounds of the Putnam County Fair was treated at a hospital after the animal ...
Tiger bites drunk man at county fair in Florida
WIS,SC- 2 hours ago
(Gainesville, Florida-AP) March 20, 2006 - Authorities say a trucker who transported a tiger to a county fair in Florida was treated at a hospital after the ...
Tiger bites drunk man at Fla. county fair
The News-Press,FL- 2 hours ago
By The Associated Press. GAINESVILLE — A trucker who transported a tiger to the Putnam County Fair was treated at a hospital after ...
Tiger Bites Man At Floria County Fair
WCSH-TV,ME- 3 hours ago
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- The Putnam County Sheriff's Office says 25-year-old Jason Hardin of Westville apparently stuck his arm ...
Tiger bites man at county fair in Florida
News & Observer,NC- 4 hours ago
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - A trucker who transported a tiger to the Putnam County Fair was bit in the arm ...
Police: Tiger Bites Drunken Fair Worker Trying To 'Communicate' ...
Local6.com - Orlando,FL,USA
-- A Florida fair worker was hospitalized Sunday after he put his hand into a tiger cage at ... The white tiger bit the man and severed a tendon in Hardin's arm. ...
Tiger Bites Worker At Putnam Co. Fair
WESH.com - Winter Park,FL,USA
PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. -- A drunken man learned a tough lesson Saturday after being bitten by a tiger . ... The tiger severed a tendon in Hardin's arm. ...
Tiger Bites Man At County Fair In Florida
NBC 10.com - Philadelphia,PA,USA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Authorities said a trucker who transported a tiger to a county fair in Florida was treated at a hospital after the animal bit his arm. ...
Drunken driver bitten by tiger
United Press International - USA
Jason Wayne Hardin had been hired to drive a tiger to the Putnam County Fair and to put up fencing around the tiger's cage, the Gainesville Sun reported. ...
Tiger bites man at county fair in Fla.
Chicago Sun-Times - United States
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A trucker who transported a tiger to the Putnam County Fair was bitten after he apparently stuck his arm in the big cat's cage. ...Tiger Bites Worker at Fair
ShortNews.com - Regensburg,Germany
Early Sunday morning, while drunk, he stuck his hand into the cage of a four-year-old white Bengal tiger . Hardin had bite wounds on his forearm and hand. ...
USD A twice cited event for violations
By Lisa Wolverton
Ka Leo Copy Editor
June 03, 2004Lisa Wolverton * Ka Leo O Hawai'i
An investigation by the United States Department of Agriculture found that tigers from Adriatic Animal Attractions were being mistreated. Animal Rights Hawai'i now wants to boycott the show.Animal rights activists gathered outside Aloha Stadium's 50th State Fair last Sunday, in order to protest the Bengal tiger show.
Members of Animal Rights Hawai`i, a local nonprofit animal anti-cruelty organization, encouraged fair patrons to boycott the tiger show. They distributed bright yellow flyers, which revealed the animal cruelty citations against the tigers' owner.
"The whole traveling animal act business is wrong for the animals," said Cathy Goeggel, founding member and president of Animal Rights Hawai`i. "The lives these animals live is pretty terrible".
The traveling tiger show is comprised of seven adult tigers and two cubs. It is sponsored by Adriatic Animal Attractions, which is based in Florida. The adults perform three 20-minute shows each day. The cubs are kept in a small pen for patrons to watch as they play with plastic balls and interact with their handlers.
According to a United States Department of Agriculture investigation report, Josip Marcan, owner of Adriatic Animal Attractions, was cited in 2000 and 2001 for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. The investigations found unsanitary food preparation and storage, inadequate ventilation and water supply, and failure by handlers to make regular checks on the tigers. The report was obtained by Goeggel from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the world's largest animal rights organization.
"The violation write-ups were intentional", said Mike Inks, a tiger handler for Marcan's show.
Inks said that after a group of tigers was contracted out to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Marcan was told the animals must travel by train. A train does not allow for a proper watering system or allow the handlers to give the tigers the attention they require. Because of this, Marcan chose to report the situation to the USDA, realizing the negative publicity, in order to allow the tigers to travel by semi trailer.
"'If this is the only way I can get them off the train, I'm going to do it,'" Inks said, quoting Marcan.
Inks said the tigers were transported to Hawai`i via container ship. The voyage took four days.
The fair will host the tiger show through the month of June. Because the tigers only perform on weekends, they spend most of their days sleeping in open metal cages on a flatbed truck or on wood shavings in the performing arena.
"Tigers naturally sleep for 15 to 20 hours a day," Inks said, adding that when the tigers return home to the 80-acre Marcan Tiger Preserve in Florida, they usually spend their time sleeping, despite having more than enough room to roam and run.
According to Inks, there are 30 tigers in Marcan's breeding program but only 7 adults are in the traveling act. Some are out on loan and the rest stay home due to their varying inabilities to perform.
"We pick the animals that thrive in this kind of atmosphere," Inks said of the animals on tour. "The performing tigers are usually on the road for a couple of months then home for a month", Inks said. All were born into Marcan's breeding program.
Marice Horiuchi attended the show but was not aware of Animal Rights Hawaii's flyers.
"They demonstrated their natural behavior. I don't think they exploited them," Horiuchi said about the act.
Although the fair usually hosts an animal act every year, this is the first year for the tiger show.
Goeggel said Animal Rights Hawai`i has been protesting animal acts at the fair for the past 10 years, which include a high diving mule, alligator wrestler and a chimpanzee show.
Goeggel said about 300 flyers were handed out, and the group plans to hand out more in the coming weekends in hopes of persuading patrons to boycott the show.
Goeggel concluded, "It's a bad life for the animals and it does nothing to enhance people's appreciation for their beauty."
© 2004 Ka Leo O Hawaii
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:9qysJ9t7tL8J: www.nopuppymills.com/forum/showpost.php%3 Fp%3D62911%26postcount%3D1+USDA+adriatic+
animal+attractions&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk &cd=5
On March 8, 2006 while Josip Marcan's Tigers of India show was in Tampa we interviewed his keeper Andy about the life these 9 tigers have on the road and what life is like at their facility in the panhandle.Andy said that Josip was a vet in Germany and we did a search on him under the name Josip Marcan and can find no professional license in that name.He said he was involved in a circus act and then bought some tigers and started breeding them.He said there are more than 30 tigers now and the nine we saw were on the road most of the time;sometimes for three months at a time.He claimed the tigers liked to travel because they were so bored at home.
He described home as being in the panhandle on 80 acres but said that only a small portion of the land was being used.He said the tigers live in a barn that is much like the trailer they live in on the road that opens up on one side to a small cage and on the other side to a cage about 60 x 100.He said as long as the tigers are getting along, they can all share the same space, but if they fight, as they do when the females are in heat, then some of them have to be locked up.He said they are not open to the public and that no one can come in and see how the cats live when we pressed him to let us visit.Andy said that they are starting a 501 c 3 charity so that they can ask for donations to support them since he said they can't make much money doing these traveling shows.He acknowledged that the cost of setting up at one of these shows costs about what they make from it.
He said that Josip breeds and sells tigers but he didn’t know for how much and couldn’t name anyone who had bought a tiger. He said, “Places like Busch Gardens” but when we asked if Busch Gardens had actually gotten any cats from Marcan he didn’t know. Andy seemed to believe that the SSP wouldn’t include Marcan tigers because they didn’t have any pure Bengal tigers for breeding, but that makes one wonder why an ex-circus performer would have pure bred Bengals when no zoo in America does. More curious is why one would intentionally breed for characteristics, such as white coats, that cannot survive in the wild when the supposed reason for breeding is conservation.
Andy volunteered that the cats get stir crazy with nothing to do, but that the cats at home never get a break from the boredom because they do not get to travel. He said the oldest cat was 18 and that most of them were around 7 years of age. He said that during shows he walks around with the 9 unrestrained cats and “loves all over them to show people how nice they are.” In a country where almost anyone can go out and buy one as a pet, this is particularly disturbing “education.”
Seeing an air conditioner on the human portion of the travel trailer, I asked if the cats had air conditioning. He said that to have air conditioning would be worse for them than the heat. He said the metal trailer, with metal doors that fold in to make it totally enclosed for travel, had fans but I couldn’t see them. There were small vents at the top of the trailer about 6 inches high by 12 inches long that slide half open to allow air into the trailer while it is in motion. How many times have you been stuck in traffic where there was motion to create any breeze?
In a state where temperatures are often up into the 90’s and traffic is always a problem, imagine being one of nine 500 pound, fully furred cats locked inside a metal trailer atop a virtual parking lot of asphalt. When you visit the Renaissance Festival or a Fairground is this the sort of thing that you want your ticket to be paying for?
Andy said that Josip is working on legislation that will allow him to exchange breeders with pure bloodlines from India. Currently CITES does not allow tigers to be taken from the wild and bred for circus acts or the pet trade. Andy really seems to believe that what he is doing is good for the cats and he was not trying to disparage Josip Marcan in his candid answers. It is this abject ignorance of the big picture and all that is wrong with breeding a big cat for a life of confinement and boredom that is most disturbing.
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By Joel Hood - South Florida Sun-Sentinel