Notorious Tiger Exhibitor Under Fire for Trying to Ship Tigers to Mexican Movie Set

PETA Asks Authorities to Deny Application on Grounds That Film Fails to Qualify for Exemption From Endangered Species Act

For Immediate Release:
November 2, 2015

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

After learning that The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.)—a notoriously cruel animal exhibitor—submitted an application to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for a permit that would allow it to export endangered tigers to Cancún for use in a movie, PETA submitted official comments in opposition to the move. The proposal is nearly identical to one submitted by T.I.G.E.R.S. in 2014, which the FWS denied on the grounds that it failed to provide a script or any information indicating the film’s value to the survival of the species, which is a requirement under law.

“This outfit has no legal leg to stand on in its second bid to haul endangered tigers over the border for a movie stunt,” says PETA Foundation Deputy Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “PETA is calling on authorities to bar this attempt to exploit big cats for the sake of human entertainment.”

As noted by PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—Bhagavan Antle, owner and founder of T.I.G.E.R.S., has had brushes with the law for decades. He was cited in 2010 for confining dozens of adult tigers to unsecure enclosures—one 700-pound tiger escaped into a group of visitors that included young children—and in 2012 for displaying big cats, restrained only with a short leash held by an exhibitor, with nothing but a 3- to 4-foot wooden fence between them and the audience.

PETA’s comments to the FWS are available here. For more information, please visit PETA.org.