Tony the Tiger – Free At Last

This time last year an urgent plea to help Tony the tiger was heard all over the world. We blogged about Tony here and again here, asking for your help.  Tony, a tiger held at the Tiger Truck Stop in Gross Tete, Louisiana, lives in a chain link and concrete cell surrounded by idling truck engines and diesel fumes — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Tony could never escape the noise, the flood lights and the boredom as he paces back and forth. Due to the harassment he receives, a sign asks people not to throw rocks at him. Does that stop children and people that thrive on seeing animals cower? I doubt it.

Carole Baskin, Founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue of Tampa FL , had offered Tony sanctuary but Tony’s owner, Michael Sandlin, refused.

A petition at Change.org received 15,501 signatures but Tony remained caged.

On April 11, 2011, ALDF (The Animal Legal Defense Fund) filed a lawsuit against the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and its secretary Robert Barham, arguing that he violated state law in granting a permit allowing Sandlin to exhibit Tony at the Tiger Truck Stop. On May 6th, ALDF won its lawsuit, preventing the Department from renewing the annual permit that allows Sandlin to display Tony. When the current permit expires in December 2011, Sandlin will no longer be able to keep Tony confined as a roadside exhibit at the truck stop where he has languished for over a decade. However, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries had the power to revoke this permit early—meaning that Tony need not suffer until Sandlin’s current permit expires in December. Sadly, Tony remained caged.

Today a new trial in Baton Rouge for Tony’s freedom ended in victory!

From The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s website:

Great news from Baton Rouge, where Judge Michael Caldwell has ruled in favor of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and Louisiana taxpayers in our lawsuit to free Tony the Tiger from the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana.

Judge Caldwell agreed with ALDF’s argument that the permit that allows Sandlin to keep Tony was unlawfully issued by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. The judge ordered the Department to revoke the current permit and prohibited it from issuing any new permits to the Truck Stop. “We are thrilled that the court made the right decision,” says ALDF Executive Director Stephen Wells. “We will continue to do everything we can to make sure Tony’s next home is a reputable, accredited sanctuary that can give Tony the life he deserves.”

We look forward to seeing Tony in his new home.  We will continue to follow this story.