FLAGLER HUMANE SOCIETY Indiana law stops zoos like the ones on 'Tiger King'

Indiana’s law prohibiting direct public contact with big cats and bears went into effect on July 1. This law brings much needed protection for some of the animals who have been subjected to public handling and forced to live in abysmal facilities.

Operators of roadside zoos pull young animals away from their mothers at birth, pass them around to visitors for cub petting and bottle-feeding opportunities until they age out at a few months old, and discard them when they can no longer turn a profit for the zoo.

When Tim Stark’s Wildlife in Need in Charlestown was shut down in November 2020, he had 16 tigers, six lions, seven tiger-lion hybrids, six cougars, two leopards and three bears on the property. Over the years Stark—who was featured in the Netflix series “Tiger King”—racked up dozens of citations for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. It was only after the Indiana Attorney General won a lawsuit in 2021 against Stark for abuse and neglect of animals that the more than 200 animals at his facility at the time were confiscated, at a cost of $95,676 to the state.

In Flat Rock, authorities removed more than 30 big cats and bears from horrific living conditions in 2005. Two years after two tigers escaped from Great Cats of Indiana in Idaville in 2010, authorities seized six big cats from the facility. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture seized four tigers from a tattoo parlor in Gary in 2010. These facilities all had some involvement in the cub petting industry, either as big cat breeders, dumping grounds for unwanted big cats or allowing public contact with the animals.

Facilities like the ones in Indiana are found in other parts of the country too. The Humane Society of the United States conducted undercover investigations at roadside zoos around the country, including at Joe Exotic’s G.W. Exotics and Tiger Safari in Oklahoma and Natural Bridge Zoo in Virginia. The HSUS documented that cubs who are used for public interaction are torn from their mothers at birth and physically disciplined by being slapped, punched, dragged and choked. At just a few months old, the cubs are too large to handle and are discarded and replaced with new infants. The plethora of captive big cats in the U.S. is largely the result of this abusive industry.

BOW WOW BINGO

Back by popular demand is Bow Wow Bingo on Sunday, July 24, from 2 – 5:30 p.m. at the Elks Club in Palm Coast. We’ll play 28 rounds of Bingo and have a Taco Bar, all for only a $25 donation. Prizes are donated by local businesses. Get your tickets today at flaglerhumanesociety.org/bingo

Jeffery Ritter is development director at Flagler Humane Society and can be reached at jritter@flaglerhumanesociety.org. Flagler Humane Society is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 1980. For more information go to flaglerhumanesociety.org.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Indiana law stops zoos like the ones on 'Tiger King'