After Tiger Kills Oklahoma Roadside Zoo Owner, PETA Calls on Feds to Yank Facility’s License
For Immediate Release:
September 25, 2025
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
After Ryan Easley—the owner-operator of Oklahoma-based roadside zoo Growler Pines Tiger Preserve —was killed by a tiger he owned, PETA today sent an urgent letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) calling on it to cancel the operation’s license to exhibit animals and not issue a new license to any of Easley’s associates, noting their insistence on having direct contact with deadly apex predators has endangered both the animals and the public.
Easley was attacked and killed by the tiger reportedly in full view of a group of visitors, including children, on Saturday. Under its current license, the roadside zoo cannot legally exhibit animals since the facility is apparently registered with the USDA under Easley’s name.
“Ryan Easley had a long history of caging, whipping, and abusing tigers, and no one associated with him has any business working around animals,” says PETA Foundation Senior Director of Captive Wildlife Debbie Metzler. “PETA urges the USDA to refuse to issue Growler Pines a new license, since this reckless operation has proven it can’t keep humans or animals safe.”
Easley had acquired tigers from Joseph Maldonado (“Joe Exotic”) and fellow Tiger King villain Bhagavan “Doc” Antle for his business, ShowMe Tigers, and for years had hauled them around the country, forced them to perform in cruel circuses—including Shrine and Carden Circuses—and kept them trapped in cages for hours when they weren’t performing. In 2017, Easley was caught violently whipping tigers during a training session, one of whom was reportedly struck 31 times. When Joe Exotic was operating his Oklahoma roadside zoo, G.W. Exotic Animal Park, Easley boarded his tigers in cramped cages at the roadside zoo during the winter.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
