American man’s 7 ‘emotional support’ tigers seized in Nevada
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
According to Big Cat Rescue, the seven tigers had been transferred to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PEXELS
Livia Albeck-Ripka
A Nevada man was arrested last week after seven tigers that he claimed were his emotional support animals were seized from his property, local authorities said.
Karl Mitchell, 71, was arrested on April 2 at his property in Pahrump, an unincorporated town in Nye County about 80km west of Las Vegas, on charges of resisting arrest and possession of a gun by a prohibited person, according to records from the Nye County Sheriff’s Office.
A Swat team had entered the property to seize the tigers, which the Sheriff’s Office said the 71-year-old man had been keeping without the permit required by the county. He refused to provide keys to the tiger cages and was then arrested just before 8am, according to the documents. A handgun was also found in the bedroom of Mitchell, who is a felon, the Sheriff’s Office said.
He was released later that evening, according to the records.
Sheriff Joe McGill of Nye County told KSNV, the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas, that the investigation into Mitchell, who was also being evicted from his property, had begun several months ago.
In a phone interview on April 6, Mitchell, who described himself as a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, said that a doctor with the Department of Veterans Affairs had approved of his keeping the Bengal tigers as “emotional support” animals. He also provided what appeared to be a letter from the doctor. The doctor did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment on April 7.
Three or four of the seized tigers, Mitchell said in the interview, came from Joe Exotic, the former Oklahoma zoo owner featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary series “Tiger King” who is now in federal prison.
Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, denied any connection to the tigers in a statement posted to social media. “None of these tigers came from me,” he said.
Maldonado-Passage is serving a 21-year prison sentence for the failed murder-for-hire plot targeting Carole Baskin, an animal-rights activist who had criticised his zoo’s treatment of animals.
In a statement, Mr Baskin’s group, Big Cat Rescue, said there had been a lengthy battle to rescue Mitchell’s animals.
According to Big Cat Rescue, the seven tigers had been transferred to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas. NYTIMES
