PETA US Seizes 22 Big Cats From Tim Stark’s Roadside Zoo ‘Wildlife in Need’
PETA US Seizes 22 Big Cats From Tim Stark’s Roadside Zoo ‘Wildlife in Need’
Tiger King Subject Threatened Violence, but Group Prevails: All Animals Removed From Now-Defunct Roadside Zoo
London – As a result of the successful PETA US Endangered Species Act (ESA) lawsuit against Wildlife in Need and its operators – Tim Stark of Tiger King and his ex-wife, Melissa Lane – 22 tigers, lions, and tiger/lion hybrids made it out of the now-defunct roadside zoo. All were transported to The Wild Animal Sanctuary and the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.
US Marshals provided security for the operation, which went smoothly despite threats made by Stark in ranting videos he posted to Facebook. In addition to suggesting that his supporters obstruct animal transport vehicles, he identified a PETA US attorney by name, brandished a rifle, and indicated that he was “taught to shoot and kill” people like those at PETA US. In response, the court ordered Stark to stay at least 2 miles from the property on the day of the transfer.
“Stark’s tiger-terrorising days are over,” says PETA Foundation US Deputy General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet, who also appeared in Tiger King. “There were 22 survivors in Indiana of the big cats PETA US has worked for years to save, and we are happy that they will now be able to roam natural terrain, swim safely, and never be exploited again.”
State authorities, along with representatives from the Indianapolis Zoo, removed the other animals from Wildlife in Need earlier this week. Because Stark transferred four young lions to Jeff Lowe – also of Tiger King and the operator of the (also now-defunct) Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma – Lowe was also a defendant in the lawsuit. Any surviving lions transferred to Oklahoma are also subject to the federal court’s orders, and PETA US and an accredited sanctuary will soon remove them from Lowe’s property.
Photographs and video footage will soon be available. PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For information on helping animals, please visit PETA.org.uk.
Contact:
Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]
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