PETA Statement: State Seizes Big Cats From Law-Breaking Tiger Keeper

For Immediate Release:
October 5, 2015

Contact:
Lakisha Ridley 202-483-7382

PETA Foundation Counsel Rachel Mathews has released a statement in response to Ohio officials’ seizure of five tigers from the private property of Marion County resident Mike Stapleton:

More than a year after PETA tipped off authorities about the dilapidated cages that Mike Stapleton used to confine tigers illegally, the Ohio Department of Agriculture is doing the right thing by seizing the five tigers. PETA hopes to see the animals placed at a reputable sanctuary. This animal exploiter spent two years fighting Ohio’s exotic-animal laws instead of complying with them, and Marion County will be far safer without his ramshackle backyard menagerie.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—first alerted officials to Stapleton’s noncompliance with Ohio law in April 2014. For more information, please visit PETA.org.