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June 30, 2005
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| Cute, cuddly cubs can quickly overwhelm owners as they grow. An adult tiger eats anywhere from 15 to 20 pounds of meat a day. (Photo courtesy of BEARCAT Hollow) |
Minneapolis, Minn. — (AP) -- "They're awesome," Hirsch said. "It's not every day you get to go touch a lion or a tiger."
But when two of the animals attacked a 10-year-old boy last week, the latest in a string of attacks by exotic animals kept as pets by Minnesotans, it raised new questions about the danger they pose. The boy, 10-year-old Russell Lala of Royalton, suffered a severed spinal cord and will be a quadriplegic the rest of his life, his parents announced Tuesday.
A new state law this year banned certain exotic pets in the state, but allowed current owners to keep their pets as long as they register them with local animal-control authorities.
Determining exactly how many big cats are in Minnesota is difficult, however, with data dispersed among lots of different agencies. And experts say they believe many people have not registered their animals.
Tammy Quist, who runs a sanctuary for big cats in Cedar and is often summoned by authorities to find homes for exotic cats, estimates the state has hundreds of tigers and lions. She says she gets 30 calls per month from private pet owners looking for help after they find the animals are more than they bargained for.
National numbers are similarly difficult to track, but Quist estimates there are some 10,000 pet tigers in the U.S., far morethan the number left in the wild.
With plenty of cats available, they don't cost much. Crawford Allan, deputy director of TRAFFIC, a World Wildlife Fund program that specializes in wildlife trade issues, says tigers can easily be found on the Internet.
On one site, GotPetsOnline.com, a breeder in Faribault recently was offering black-maned African lion cubs for $1,500 each. Quist said both tiger and lion cubs can be found for as little as $500.
"Breeders up the price for pet owners because those people haven't done the research, they don't know the industry," Quist said.
Quist said many owners buy exotic cats and expect them to act domesticated.
"People are looking for a little bit of novelty and they think if you love something enough it will love you back," Quist said.
But cute, cuddly cubs can quickly overwhelm owners as they grow. An adult tiger eats anywhere from 15 to 20 pounds of meat a day, she said.
"I don't consider (the attacks) lashing out," Quist said. "A tiger lives to be 20 years old and you're going to expect a tiger never to act like a tiger? It's not aggressive behavior, it's tiger behavior."
The difficulty of caring for exotic animals in captivity worries animal activists. The Minnesota registration law is an essential step in tracking the animals, Allan said. Making sure they are properly maintained is another step to take.
Some of the animals taken in by Quist's sanctuary were neglected. One 25-year-old tiger named Meme was brought to the sanctuary after being kept in a 10-foot by 10-foot cage filled with her own feces and the remains of her food, roadkill.
Mock, who had 12 exotic animals at the time of the attack, didn't respond to phone calls to his home or office for this story. Hirsch's mother, Michelle Lickteig, said his animals were treated well and kept in good cages. He was devastated when the two animals in last week's attack were euthanized, she said.
Rachael Ratzlaff of Grand Rapids has owned a lynx for more than a year.
She and her husband became interested in the animal after seeing someone in Montana with one and being attracted to its uniqueness.
"They're just beautiful animals," she said.
Before buying the cat, Ratzlaff and her husband did a lot of research on how to feed the animal and keep it tame. Safety was a big concern for them, and they realized it could be dangerous if they decide to have children.
The Ratzlaffs declawed the animal and built him a 12-foot by 12-foot kennel.
Ratzlaff loves her pet, despite the work.
"But it's not a pet for everybody," she said.
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