Video: Tigers From Dade City’s Wild Things Now at Accredited Sanctuary

After PETA Push, Luna and Remington Will Live Out Their Lives at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

For Immediate Release:
January 27, 2020

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

More than two years after Dade City’s Wild Things (DCWT) hurriedly transferred all the tigers out of its facility in an illegal attempt to thwart PETA’s court-ordered site inspection, two tigers named Remington and Luna have arrived at the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge—and video footage released today shows them acclimating to their new sanctuary home.

Luna and Remington were both used in DCWT’s “swim with tigers” and tiger cub encounter programs, which are at the center of a PETA lawsuit alleging that prematurely separating tiger cubs from their mothers, forcing them into public encounters, and warehousing them in small cages violates the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). During the case, DCWT illegally transferred Luna, Remington, and two other tigers, Rory and Rajah, to another Florida facility. Rory and Rajah were shot and killed after escaping from their enclosure there last year.

“These tigers were taken from their mothers and used as photo props—but now, they’ll live out the rest of their days at a lush accredited sanctuary where they can run, climb, explore, and live as tigers should,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “PETA will keep working until all the animals at Dade City’s Wild Things have made it to safety.”

The move was made possible by support from PETA, which covered the costs of the cats’ transport and made a donation toward their lifetime care, and Forest Animal Rescue, whose staff and volunteers helped Turpentine Creek safely load the tigers into their transport cages.

Based on DCWT’s misconduct in the ESA case—which includes the illegal transfer of Remington and Luna—PETA has asked the court to enter a default judgment in the group’s favor.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.