When the Iberville Parish Council voted last month to exempt Tiger Truck Stop owner Michael Sandlin from a parish ordinance prohibiting individual ownership of exotic animals, Sandlin appeared to be in the clear to keep his 8 year-old, 550 pound Bengal-Siberian tiger on display as a roadside attraction. Get ready for round 2. Iberville Parish President J. Mitchel Ourso has vetoed the ordinance exempting Sandlin and is now encouraging the council to require Sandlin to improve Tony’s living conditions in order to keep him. In this TV2 report, Sandlin says he’s open to upgrading Tony’s facility and even throws out the idea of putting a heating and air conditioning unit in Tony’s cage.
Meanwhile, animal rights activists, led by Lafayette resident Sky Williamson, are gearing up for another council showdown. Blogging on the Web site freetony.com, Williamson calls on fellow supporters to step up their lobbying efforts, before the council revisits the issue.
“We are happy that J. Mitchell Ourso vetoed the Council’s ruling, but the council can still over rule his veto with a 2/3’s vote. Ourso is asking the council to change the amendment to include measures that would make the Tiger Truck Stop more safe and more humane. There is no way to do either, but I am sure that if they do it at all, it will be some lip service language that does not really address either issue.”
If you have ever been bitten or scratched by the tigers at the Tiger Truck Stop, now might be the best time to file a complaint, naming the Iberville Parish as co-defendant. Thanks to the council amending their ordinance they may have opened themselves up to any tiger related liability that occurred in the last 13 years. If you file now, the council may see that it is not wise for them to over rule the Parish President's veto of their amendment.
... written by New Rubber Mat Requirement Will Kill Tiger , March 21, 2009 - 03:05 pm
Rubber Mats Will Kill Tony One of the new requirements that the council approved shows their complete ignorance of tigers. They have required rubber mats to be installed in Tony's den, and that will kill him. Tigers can eat tires and many have died from doing so as their owners think it is a cheap toy for them. The rubber cannot be digested and will often become stuck in the stomach or intestines until it ruptures through the sidewall and causes massive internal hemorrhaging.
Ask those who imposed such a rule to change the requirement from rubber mats to earthen floors. There is no way to make a concrete or wooden floor comfortable for a tiger. The answer is to provide natural flooring that would emulate how a tiger would live in the wild. He needs all of his flooring to be grass covered earth.
There is also no comparison to standing under a tin roof and standing under a huge tree for shade and cooling. Ask that trees be planted in and around the enclosure to give him some natural relief.
Tigers pee in their pools, so be sure to ask that his new pool be attached to a septic system so that it can be properly cleaned every day. Any pool big enough to hold a tiger in a decent depth of water will be too heavy for a person to tip over and clean each day. They hardly clean his cage now, so adding a cesspool that cannot be cleaned properly only adds to the noxious waste this tiger has to endure.
Send your letters to:
Iberville Parish Courthouse 2ND Floor,58050 Meriam Street Plaquemine, LA 70764 225-687-3257
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
and J.Mitchell Ourso (Parish President) at
email:
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Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Inspector Maria Davidson at 2000 Quail Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70808 (225) 765-2800
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