Truck stop ordered to move tiger

• By GREG GARLAND
• Advocate Westside bureau
• Published: Nov 21, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.
• Correction: In an article Friday on Page 1B about a state order to remove a tiger from a Grosse Tete truck stop, the last name of Beth Preiss was misspelled. The Advocate regrets the error.

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GROSSE TETE — State wildlife officials have given the owner of Tiger Truck Stop 30 days to remove a live tiger from the premises, cheering animal welfare activists who have fought for years to close the exhibit.

But the truck stop’s owner, Michael Sandlin, said Thursday he is considering filing suit to block the state from forcing him to get rid of the 8 1/2-year-old Bengal tiger named Tony.

“We’re going to fight for our right to have a tiger here,” he  said.

The order to remove the tiger came in a letter to Sandlin, dated Monday, from Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert J. Barham.

The letter says a 1993 Iberville Parish rule prohibits private ownership of “wild, exotic, vicious” animals for exhibition.

The ordinance means Sandlin does not qualify for a required state permit that would allow him to keep the tiger.

“The tiger presently located on the premises of Tiger Truck Stop must be legally removed from the premises to a Department-approved facility or out-of-state within 30 days from the date of this notification,” Barham wrote.

Sandlin has been cited frequently over the years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for failing to meet the minimal standards of care for animals used in exhibition. The most recent citation was issued in July 2007 for failing to clean cages to maintain adequate sanitation.

Sandlin denies he has failed to properly care for Tony and other tigers he has kept on the site.

Holly Reynolds with the Coalition of Louisiana Animal Advocates, expressed delight when told of the state’s order.

“That’s wonderful news,” said Reynolds, whose group has battled the truck stop for several years.

She credited a Melbourne, Fla., woman, Sky Williamson, with waging an aggressive behind-the-scenes campaign in recent months to get the 550-pound tiger removed and placed in a healthier and more suitable environment.

Williamson, who has been working as a cable company contractor in Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, said she began working the phones and sending out e-mails ever since seeing the tiger for the first time in January.