The Tiger Truck Stop, the infamous gas station in Gross Tete, Louisiana, held Tony — an endangered Siberian-Bengal tiger — from the age of 6-months until his death at the age of 17 in 2017.
Tony...
After multiple lawsuits filed and fought by the Animal Legal Defense
Fund, the Tiger Truck Stop has finally stopped exhibiting animals and tore
down its cages. The animals who had recently lived at the gas station have
been removed, and the chain-link cages have been demolished.
The Tiger Truck Stop, the infamous gas station in Gross Tete, Louisiana,
held Tony — an endangered Siberian-Bengal tiger — from the age of 6-months
until his death at the age of 17 in 2017. The center of significant
controversy, the truck stop’s owner, Michael Sandlin, used his political
clout to circumvent one law after another — including the Louisiana big cat
ban which passed unanimously in 2006. A lawsuit filed by the Animal Legal
Defense Fund stripped the Tiger Truck Stop of its improper permit from the
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries — a decision that was
affirmed on appeal.
In his zeal to continue to exhibit tigers at the gas station, Sandlin
sued Louisiana over the constitutionality of the state’s big cat ban. The
lawsuit, which the Animal Legal Defense Fund successfully intervened in to
assist in protecting the ban, remains pending for now.
“The Animal Legal Defense Fund is pleased that no additional animals will be
exploited at the Tiger Truck Stop,” says Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive
Director Stephen Wells. “Though we were not able to rescue Tony in time, we
have continued to fight in his memory for other captive animals who suffer
at roadside zoos across the country.”
After Tony died, Sandlin acquired other animals, including a camel, a red
kangaroo, and coatis — which have been relocated.
In 2019, the Animal Legal Defense Fund won a lawsuit against the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its policy of “rubberstamping”
exhibitor license renewals of roadside zoos, even when they violated the
Animal Welfare Act. In 2020, the USDA released new rules stating that
facilities would need to prove they are in compliance with federal, state,
and local laws for renewal — another tool that will help prevent similar
situations in the future and part of the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s
continuing strategy to shut down roadside zoos.
A federal bill, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, has been introduced with wide
support in the U.S. House of Representatives, and would eliminate private
big cat ownership nationwide. The Animal Legal Defense Fund, along with a
coalition of animal protection groups, supports the bill’s passage.
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