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| Pet tiger cub taken from
Albert Lea home
The fifth-grade boy had scratches and bite marks and was falling asleep in class. School officials couldn't believe the reason he gave: the baby tiger that slept in his bedroom was keeping him up at night. Sure enough, officers found a malnourished 35-pound tiger cub, whom the boy called Anna, chewing on a piece of chicken in his family's home in Albert Lea. The boy's father, who bought the tiger legally for $2,500 from a breeder in Red Wing, Minn., lost custody of it Tuesday. It will be moved to Colorado.
Minnesota has no laws regulating the sale and care of exotic animals such as Anna. But a group of animal welfare organizations hopes that a bill to set standards will be introduced at the Legislature this year. "This tiger may not be terribly dangerous right now, but it still
could give a hellacious bite," said Keith Streff, director of investigations
for the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley, where the cub is being
held. Although the number of exotic animals owned in the state isn't known, Streff said he believes that there are hundreds. The bill wouldn't ban ownership of exotic animals. It would create a list of animals that are considered exotic and establish registration requirements, Streff said. Standards would be set for living conditions and enforcement. Elk could fall into this category, and being able to track them might
help prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease, Streff said.
Many cities in the seven-county Twin Cities area have some kind of ordinance regarding exotic animals, but regulation dwindles in rural areas, Streff said. Albert Lea requires a permit to keep or maintain a wild animal. Permit violations are a misdemeanor. Last month, William Diaz Sr., 37, was charged with breaking the permit
law and with misdemeanor cruelty to animals and lack of care of an animal.
The criminal complaint said he bought the tiger from Tiger-Zone.com.
On Tuesday, a message at the Web site said the site had been removed
from the Internet "due to circumstances beyond our control."
Diaz declined to comment Tuesday evening, but Streff said that he talked to Diaz several days ago by telephone and that Diaz expected to get the cub back. "He was very polite and stated his family was very attached to it," Streff said. "He didn't feel the cat was a danger to him or anybody else." The case started when police received reports of a tiger at Diaz's
house, but they found nothing. Authorities were notified again Jan.
6, after officials from Lakeview Elementary School said the fifth-grader
told a teacher that he lived with a tiger and that it smelled bad, said
Steve Schwab, the Albert Lea city attorney.
A little more than a week later, police searched the house and found the 3-or 4-month-old tiger. Tiger feces and urine also were found in the house, Schwab said. Authorities did not indicate that there was any reason to remove the child from the home. A veterinarian found sores and scars on the tiger's neck because her collar was too tight, according the criminal complaint. She had a dull and dry coat, a sign of poor or inadequate diet, and borderline anemia, it said. The family forfeited its rights to the animal after authorities didn't hear from them for 20 days, double the time a person is required to receive under the law, Schwab said. "If the Diaz family would have applied for a permit, we would have required a fair amount of insurance be purchased in case the tiger got loose," he said. "You can't keep an animal like this in the house." Technicians at the Humane Society played with the tiger Tuesday. She now weighs 46 pounds. The sign on her cage called her Hannah, but the criminal complaint said the family had named her Anna. The cub was held on a short leash, but would roll onto her back and let the technicians rub her tummy. When full grown, she could weigh 450 pounds, Streff said. Providing sanctuary Tammy Quist works with exotic animals, and she says most people don't have the expertise to care for them. She runs the Wildcat Sanctuary in Cedar, a nonprofit organization that takes permanent care of 20 animals and has found homes for 60 other exotic cats. It's the only sanctuary accredited by the American Sanctuary Association in the Upper Midwest, she said. The sanctuary isn't open to the public. It operates on donations. It receives from 30 to 40 calls a month from people who no longer want the big cats, she said. "They are cute and cuddly when cubs, but they start getting older, and we get calls about why the tiger is biting me, eating the furniture and not going to the bathroom in a litter box," she said. "This animal will live 20 years. Are you going to tell me it isn't going to start acting like a tiger?" Anna will be moved to the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Center in Keenesburg, Colo. Streff said groups including the Minnesota Board of Animal Health and Minnesota Animal Control Association have several legislators who are willing to sponsor the exotic-animal bill. If it becomes law, "10 years from now I will be able to look back and realize we fixed this problem," Quist said. "My goal is that my group will no longer exist." -- David Chanen is at dchanen@startribune.com. © Copyright 2003 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. |
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