Criminal - Tiger

Episode Date: July 1, 2016

There are more tigers in captivity in America than wild tigers in the entire world. The exact number of captive tigers in this country isn't known, because many of them live in people's backyards or unaccredited zoos, and the legality of their ownership varies widely by state and even by circumstance. We travelled to Louisiana to see a 550-pound Siberian-Bengal tiger who lives at a truck stop. The owner, Michael Sandlin, has fought very hard to persuade Louisiana lawmakers he's not a criminal. But animal rights activists and organizations, like the Human Society and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, disagree. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop.  Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Do you see him? I don't see him. Maybe he's in his pool. It looks like a hot tub. Driving through a certain part of Louisiana, away from Baton Rouge on I-10, you start to see signs advertising a live tiger, tiger exhibit. And if you pull off, you find yourself at what's called the tiger truck stop. In some ways, it's exactly what you'd expect. Semi-trucks idling in rows, gas pumps in a convenience store.

But set off to the side of the parking lot, there's a large cage. And inside, a 550-pound Siberian Bengal tiger. He's lived at the gas station for 16 years. And his name is Tony. Tony looks pretty hot. The cage is actually more than 3,000 square feet. It seemed big, but it's hard to know how big is big enough for a tiger. There are two sets of iron bars which separate Tony from the parking lot.

There's a grassy area, a small pool, and a covered part where he can get out of the sun. The whole thing, while maybe a bit sparse, seemed clean and well-maintained. Tony eats 20 pounds of feline diet daily. The combination of horse meat, beef, and vitamins is shipped here 2,000 pounds at a time. The man behind the Tiger truck stop is Michael Sandlin. My name is Michael Sandlin. I'm owner of the Tiger truck stop in Grove State, Louisiana. We sat down with him of the Tiger Truck Stop in Grove State, Louisiana. We sat down with him in the Tiger Cafe, a 24-hour diner on the other side of the parking lot.

Tony is 16 years old now, so he's an old man. They average about 20 years lifespan in captivity. But he is getting old. He is a cat, so he sleeps a lot. Average 16, 18 hours a day sleeping, especially after he eats. He acts just like your house cat at home. He's just a lot bigger, you know. Today, Michael Sandlin only has Tony. But over the years, he's had more than a dozen tigers at the truck stop. He got started in the 80s. But before him, his father and brother kept live tigers at truck stops in Texas and Arizona. He thinks of the tiger as the mascot for the business. And also, of course, a draw. I don't think I've ever been,

I mean, I've been to zoos before, but I don't think I've actually ever been as physically close to a tiger. I mean, you really are rather close to Tony. You're about four feet. If he's right there, we've had several people actually sprayed a few times and soaked from head to toe and actually have a couple of signs hanging up saying, caution, tiger may spray. That seems like the worst thing on earth. You know, I thought if I ever had room, maybe I'd have a, you know, some I Got Pete on it Tiger Trek Stop t-shirts or Pete on a Hall of Fame wall or something, you know. There are more tigers in captivity in the United States than wild tigers in the entire world. The wild tiger population is dwindling. Most estimates put the number just over 3,000,

while the number of captive tigers in this country alone is a lot higher. Some estimates are 5,000, and others as high as 10,000. But we just don't know for sure, because they're living in unaccredited roadside zoos and in people's backyards, and in Tony's case, at a truck stop. Here in Louisiana, no one can seem to make up their mind whether it's against the law to have a tiger at a truck stop.

So for the last decade, this 550-pound tiger has been in legal limbo. A living billboard for personal property rights on one side and animal rights on the other. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. What do you say to those that have said, wait a second, this is a animal, this is an animal that's potentially endangered in the wild. They're not meant to be near trucks or near gas fumes and things like that. That's not the right environment for a tiger. Well, I mean, you know, is it a right environment for people?

You know, it's really what they get used to. If you ever drive down the road and you see deer on the side of the interstate in the grass, or you look over in the trees and you see an eagle's nest, and I'm like, oh my God, you better call PETA to come tell that eagle that it shouldn't have built its nest there next to the interstate. So I don't buy the air quality, but they have a point about the noise. But say you're visiting, say you have a cuckoo clock in your home and it goes off every hour. And at first it bothered you, but you don't even notice it anymore. But somebody comes and visits and it drives them up the wall.

You know, it's what you get used to. And Tony has one-on-one attention. He has the best food that money can buy that most zoos and sanctuaries can't afford. You know, he's got excellent veterinarian care and he's loved. And if, you know, if he was being abused, he certainly still wouldn't be alive at 16 years of age. And of course, we're hoping to get several more years of enjoyment from him. Well, Tony's been around a long time in our consciousness and physically. A lot of us have known about Tony for 15-plus years.

I've visited Tony many times. I actually delivered him toys and treats and bones from time to time. This is Jeff Dorsen, Executive director of the Humane Society of Louisiana. Do you have favorite animals? No, I like them all. Give me a penguin or a baby elephant or an ostrich and it's like I'm in heaven. We met with him at his house on the outskirts of New Orleans. We knew it was his house because of the gigantic bags of dog food

piled out front. And once we got inside, he tried to put the dogs away, but they kept escaping. I have three of them. They're all rescues. They're all kind of left behind. Nobody wanted them, but I did, and I have a cat. There's Willie, and he's coming up to say hi. I have a cat named Julia. I have a pit bull that's just a bowl of butter. And I have another little dog whose name is Monkey. Jeff Dorsen, along with many animal rights activists all over the country, want to get Tony out of that truck stop and sent to an animal sanctuary where he can live out the rest of his days. I've met with Mr. Sandlin. I've tried to see if there's any common ground, if there's any way to negotiate, and there wasn't. He said to me that it would be cruel to take Tony

away from him, to bring him to one of the refuges, because Tony has been with him since he was a cub and that Tony would be sad and it would be upsetting for Tony to be removed from what he knows. What do you think about that? I have a whole different perspective. Here's mine. Species love to be with their own species. Who does Tony have? Michael Sandlin isn't a Bengal tiger, so who's he kidding?

Support for Criminal comes from Apple Podcasts. Each month, Apple Podcasts highlights one series worth your attention, and they call these series essentials. This month, they recommend Wondery's Ghost Story, a seven-part series that follows journalist Tristan Redman as he tries to get to the bottom of a ghostly presence in his childhood home. His investigation takes him on a journey involving homicide detectives, ghost hunters, and even psychic mediums,

and leads him to a dark secret about his own family. Check out Ghost Story, a series essential pick, completely ad-free on Apple Podcasts. Hey, it's Scott Galloway, and on our podcast, Pivot, we are bringing you a special series about the basics of artificial intelligence. Hey, it's Scott Galloway. Verge to give you a primer on how to integrate AI into your life. So, tune into AI Basics, How and When to Use AI, a special series from Pivot sponsored by AWS, wherever you get your podcasts. In 2006, Jeff Dorsen and his fellow animal rights activists got a break. All of a sudden, the state of Louisiana made it a crime to possess, buy, or sell a tiger.

Not only tigers, but also polar bears and any, quote, wild quadrupeds, big exotic cats, or non-human primates. The state said no random person can have a pet tiger. Colleges, zoos, research centers are okay, but no one else. Part of their argument was public safety. You're more likely to be attacked by a shopping cart or a vending machine in the Walmart parking lot than you are of ever being attacked by a tiger or a monkey walking down the road in Louisiana. You know, I'm sorry. I don't see this as a public safety issue. The law also states that possession of exotic animals is detrimental to their welfare

and may have negative impacts on the recovery of some threatened and endangered species. Michael Sandlin, Animal Rights Lawyer, San Diego, Exotic animal owners were made criminals overnight and were treated like criminals. It's just actually tyranny by our own government. Michael Sandlin was furious, which is kind of odd, because he actually got off better than a lot of other exotic pet owners in the state. He was grandfathered in and issued a permit.

Tony could stay, at least for a little while. When animal rights activists got word that Louisiana's new law somehow wouldn't apply to Sandlin, and that Tony the Tiger would continue living in a cage at a gas station off of I-10. An organization called the Animal Legal Defense Fund sued the state of Louisiana. So under the law, animals are very few laws that provide animals with any sort of meaningful legal protection. This is Carnianne Nasser, Senior Counsel for Wildlife and Regulatory Affairs for the Animal Legal Defense Fund. And we have to get creative to try to ensure that they're not treated like a chair or a table or a car. Because we know that it's ridiculous to suggest that complex animals are no more than just a piece of inanimate property.

You know, I think any of us who have a dog or a cat can tell these animals have feelings, they have their own personalities, and certainly they should be entitled to lives free from harm, free from neglect, and provided with the ability to engage in the full range of their natural behavior. They did get creative. The Animal Legal Defense Fund argued that Michael Sandlin could not legally keep Tony for three reasons. First, because there's a local parish ordinance prohibiting it. Second, because Sandlin, the individual man, doesn't own Tony. His corporation does. And finally, because no one lived on the premises where Tony was kept. And they actually won that case, and the judge revoked our permit.

Basically, that was over. And at that point, I said, well, we'll never get a state permit to keep Tony. Here's where the story becomes like one of those choose-your-own-adventure books. Instead of complying with the law, Michael Sandlin said, no thanks, I'll just figure out how to rewrite it. You know, I did hire some lobbyists. I had a documentary made that we titled How Not to Kill a Tiger, and we made sure that every legislator got a copy of that documentary. This was in 2012. Sandlin sought the help of Republican

state Senator Rick Ward, and together they drafted a bill that would make an exception just for Tony. Somehow it worked. In 2014, SB 250 was signed into law by then-Governor Bobby Jindal. We prevailed because we told the truth. I think that we could probably all think of a law that we'd like to exempt ourselves from. And it's just not fair that he got special treatment and it's not constitutional either. And that's separate and on top of the fact that there's just simply no reason to keep a tiger, an endangered species, in a gas station. I mean, it defies logic and it's completely outrageous.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund has filed another lawsuit, alleging that it was a wild violation of the state's constitution to exempt Michael Sandlin from having to follow the same rules as everyone else. Animal Legal Defense Fund's position is that it's an unconstitutional law because our constitution in the state of Louisiana provides that no law shall be made just for the benefit of one individual or entity, which is clearly what that exemption from Mr. Sandlin is, which is why we filed a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of that special law

made just for Mr. Sandlin, and the litigation is still pending. I always felt like if they could come in and take that tiger away from the truck stop, that they could come into anybody's home and anybody's business and take whatever they want, and there's nothing we can do about it. So, you know, I had the ability to stand up and fight, the resources to stand up and fight, so I did. All over the truck stop, Michael Sandlin has posted materials explaining that animal rights activists want to take Tony away. And that next, they'll come for your pets, and after that, the hamburger on your plate. He sells merchandise that says,

animal rights activists taste like chicken. That's a little joke. It's a tiger, you know, licking his chops and says animal rights activists taste like chicken. And that's kind of our slogan. So those t-shirts sell like hotcakes. And that helps us pay for the food to feed Tony. So yeah, it's been really tough. I mean, I've even had the FBI contact me on several occasions and, you know, tell me to watch my back that they've intercepted phone calls and text messages and so forth that they're going to take me out and that sort of thing. And, you know, so there's some crazy people in this world. At first, we didn't understand why Michael Sandlin would still be fighting so hard.

It seems like he's gotten everything he wanted. But here's the thing. Apparently, this special law allowing him to keep Tony applies only to Tony. So when he dies, that's the end of the tiger truck stop, or at least the tiger part of it. I would not be able to get another tiger. We would have to close the exhibit down or maybe put in some other animals

that are not banned here in the state of Louisiana. And if you'd asked me, you know, 10, 20 years ago that this could ever happen in the state of Louisiana, the sportsman's paradise, I'd have said you were crazy. But apparently the animal rights activists have been, you know, busy lobbying and hard at work. And we were just blindsided, you know. Do you think that business here, obviously you're well-established, but the Tiger Truck stuff, you drive up and down Tennant, there's a Tiger and it's called the Tiger Truck stuff. I mean, if there's no Tiger, are you worried about potential business, losing potential business?

I am. I mean, you know, the Tigers are certainly a draw, you know, and that was the purpose of the tiger exhibit to begin with, you know, and the animal rights activists like to accuse me of that. But I have no problem admitting that, that, you know, the tigers were here as an attraction. But after, you know, 25 years, when all of this started happening with the animal rights lawsuits and everything, after 25 years of taking care of these animals and having 13 cubs born here at the truck stop and, you know, wiping their butts and feeding them and raising them, it means a lot more to me than that now. It's really my life's work and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Sandlin estimates he spent half a million dollars in legal fees to keep Tony at the truck stop, and he's still going. He's filed a lawsuit of his own against the state of Louisiana, alleging that it's discriminatory to prohibit him or anyone from buying a tiger. And while lawyers and lawmakers argue and write and rewrite laws defining what is and is not okay to do with animals. Tony is just there in his cage, gigantic and sleeping, occasionally opening his eyes to look at whoever's come over to see him after they've finished getting gas.

Criminal is produced by Lauren Spohr and me. Audio mix by Rob Byers. Thank you. Criminal is recorded in the studios of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. We're a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of the best podcasts around. Thanks to AdCirc for providing their ad-serving platform to Radiotopia. Radiotopia from PRX is supported by the Knight Foundation and MailChimp, celebrating creativity, chaos, and teamwork. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. Radiotopia. From PRX. The number one selling product of its kind with over 20 years of research and innovation.

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