A tiger kept at a Louisiana truck stop that had been the center of a controversial legal battle has died at the age of 17.
Tiger Truck Stop owner Michael Sandlin says Tony the Bengal-Siberian mix was euthanized Monday because he was old, ill, and medicine hadn’t helped.
The Indian Tiger Welfare Society says tigers in zoos generally live 16 to 20 years.
A Bengal-Siberian tiger that lived at a truck stop in Louisiana has died at the age of 17
Sandlin says the decision was hard. He says that after undergoing a necropsy to benefit tiger care, Tony will be taxidermied and displayed along with a predecessor named Sabrina, which died of cancer.
A statement regarding Tony’s passing says that he ‘began to exhibit typical signs that death was imminent’ and was euthanized to prevent suffering.
The tiger had lived at the truck stop since January 2001, when he was six months old.
A statement regarding Tony’s passing says that he ‘began to exhibit typical signs that death was imminent’ and was euthanized to prevent suffering
The Animal Legal Defense Fund fought to move Tony from the Baton Rouge-area truck stop to a tiger sanctuary
‘Tony knew many of the regular visitors to his Grosse Tete home and was known for rubbing against the bars of his enclosure and “chuffing” to those he liked,’ the statement said.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund fought to move Tony from the Baton Rouge-area truck stop to a tiger sanctuary. It says it will keep fighting to uphold Louisiana’s ban on private ownership of big cats.
‘For more than seven years, we litigated on many fronts to free Tony, and we are devastated that despite our best efforts, he lived and died caged at a truck stop that could never provide the life he deserved,’ The ALDF said in a statement.
The tiger had lived at the truck stop since January 2001, when he was six months old
Tony lived in a 3,200 square-foot enclosure and was the subject of a documentary called How To Not Kill A Tiger
In 2014, the governor of Louisiana passed a law exempting the truck stop from the state’s ban on big cats, angering animal rights activists.
Tony lived in a 3,200 square-foot enclosure and was the subject of an award-winning feature documentary called How To Not Kill A Tiger.
Sandlin says he plans to continue his challenge.
‘We will continue to fight with vigor to uphold the constitutionality of Louisiana’s Big Cat Ban against the challenges to that law from the Tiger Truck Stop’s owner, Michael Sandlin,’ the ALDF statement reads.
‘A victory in this litigation will ensure that Tony will be the last tiger to suffer at the Truck Stop and there will never be a Tony II or Tony III who will have to suffer the same fate.’