Tony the Tiger, a 10 year old Siberian Bengal tiger who has been living in a truck stop in Gross Tete, Louisiana for all of his life. His owner Michael Sandlin uses him as a mere attraction.
Sadly, Tony has not ever lived like a real tiger. He has always lived in a concrete cage where he is surrounded by visitors. He can smell fuel and diesel engines all day long. There is no escape for him and he has no partner since 2003. It is sad and unfair.
Although, activists have been fighting for year to free Tony but they have been unsuccessful so far. The LDWF recently renewed Sandlin's permit to keep Tony even so much of pressure from animal activists and groups.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) has filed a lawsuit against LDWF and its secretary Robert Barham arguing that granting Sandlin a permit violated the state law in the first place. According to the state law, there is a ban on the private ownership of tigers in Louisiana. Interesting thing is that Sandlin does not even legally possess Tony and nor does he live on the premises where Tony is kept so he is not eligible for what is known as the grandfather permit. But, LDWF issued him one even then.
While Sandlin has 20 years worth of USDA violations under his name as he kept and displayed an exotic animal for the longest time now. Tony was stuck with the caged life because Iberville Parish Council decided to amend the ordinance making it legal to keep a tiger.
Anyhow, ALDF is taking LDWF to court to invalidate this illegally issued permit and free Tony from this troubled life at the truck stop. I have seen small cats who love their freedom. They go crazy to go out in the grass because freedom is what they desire the most and here we see a big tiger who is caged like a bird. No matter how old he is now and perhaps he would not even be comfortable with his freedom first but I think it is crazy to keep in a truck stop shop like that.
