$5,000 Reward!
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$5,000 Reward: Big Cat Rescue is offering a $5,000 reward for information resulting in the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for shooting a young, female tiger to death. Her body was found next to I-35E in Dallas, TX on Christmas Day. If you care about protecting tigers from being used this way and then killed, please send a quick and easy letter to your official by typing in your zip code HERE
Fast Facts for the Press and Tip Line HERE
The same day the tragic tiger event happened at the San Francisco Zoo, a horrific story seemed to fall through the cracks. Please read below and pass this on. All credible information will be passed onto the authorities.
By DAVID SCHECHTER / WFAA-TV
DALLAS - Sanitation crews in Dallas made a shocking discovery after they received a call about a dead animal on Christmas Day.
A female Bengal tiger was found dead when the crews searched a wooded area near Interstate 35E and Overton Road. A city spokesperson said the tiger was shot several times. The animal, which was declawed and wearing a make-shift leash, was taken to the Dallas Zoo. A necropsy, the animal version of an autopsy, was completed at the zoo early Thursday evening. The tiger was estimated to be around one-years-old and weighed about 180 pounds. Shell casing were found in the tiger's chest and face. In all, there were five bullet entries. Chuck Siegel, deputy director of the Dallas Zoo, said he believes the tiger may have become more than the owner could handle.
"I find it very, very disturbing to see the nature of the collar-leash, which looks more like a bicycle cable than anything else," he said. "And this rusted wire, which is tangled around the leash, is obviously very hazardous." The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the United States Department of Agriculture are investigating the incident and searching for the owner of the tiger.
***BIG CAT RESCUE IS OFFERING A $5,000.00 REWARD FOR INFORMATION RESULTING IN THE ARREST AND CONVICTION OF THE PERSON OR PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING THE FEMALE TIGER WHO WAS FOUND SHOT TO DEATH IN DALLAS, TEXAS ON CHRISTMAS DAY.
EMAIL INFO AT: INFO@BIGCATRESCUE.ORG
Fast Facts
No one knows for sure how many tigers are in private hands in the US because no agency tracks that information other than Big Cat Rescue and we can only do so by gathering information from public reports. Experts agree that the number could be as few as 5,000 up to as many as 15,000, but what we all agree on is that there should be mandatory reporting to protect the public and the animals.
At the time of this incident there are only 1,200 to 1,500 tigers left in the wild and they are being poached at a rate of one per day. None of the tigers bred in captivity are candidates for repopulating the wild however because there is no habitat for them. Until the human population explosion in their native range is brought under control there is no reason to be breeding tigers in captivity.
The following is a partial listing (530) of incidents in the U.S. involving captive exotic cats since 1990. The U.S. incidents have resulted in the deaths of 20 humans, 15 adults and 4 children, the additional mauling of 174 more adults and children, 141 escapes, the killing of 82 big cats, and 113 confiscations. There have also been 150 big cat incidents outside the U.S. that have resulted in the deaths of 57 humans and the mauling of 85 humans by captive big cats. These figures only represent the headlines that Big Cat Rescue has been able to track. Because there is no reporting agency that keeps such records the actual numbers are certainly much higher. http://www.bigcatrescue.org/big_cat_news.htm
The following charts are just the calls that we get personally. This is only a small percentage of the overwhelming problem. The saddest news is that, as one of the world's largest exotic cat sanctuaries, if we cannot take them, there is virtually no where else for them to go.
| Unwanted | We Took | Found | |
| Big Cats | These | Homes | |
| For These | |||
| 1999 | 55 | 13 | 0 |
| 2000 | 56 | 11 | 0 |
| 2001 | 78 | 10 | 6 |
| 2002 | 74 | 4 | 0 |
| 2003 | 312 | 8 | 4 |
| 2004 | 110 | 6 | 3 |
| 2005 | 94 | 9 | 2 |
| 2006 | 81 | 0 | 3 |
| 2007 | 72 | 14 | 1 |
| 932 | 75 | 19 |
The reason the number of cats dropped in 2003 was because a federal law, called the Captive Wild Animal Safety Act passed Congress unanimously making it illegal to sell a big cat across state lines as a pet, but the US Fish & Wildlife Service did not draft the rule to enforce the law until Sept. 2007. More HERE
The only pending federal bill that can help stop the over breeding and abandonment of tigers is Haley's Act, HR 1947 which has never made its way out of committee due to a lack of interest by some key lawmakers. It is the kind of bill that would certainly pass unanimously if it ever made its way to the House and Senate floor for a vote.
To see existing state and federal laws see: Big Cat Laws
To see recent legislation see: Big Cat Bans
Need to talk to a Big Cat Expert? Contact Big Cat Rescue's Sanctuary Operations Gale Ingham 813 850-7052 Gale.Ingham@BigCatRescue.org or Sanctuary Operations and Education Dr. Beth Kamhi 813 323-3265 Beth.Kamhi@BigCatRescue.org
Most of our tips so far have come from people who all say they know the owner and the breeder of the tiger but are too afraid to come forward because they fear retribution. You can't get the reward unless you assist in convicting these people, but you can help solve the case anonymously here:
http://catchtigerkiller.blogspot.com/
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