Never Trust A Tiger

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It is also ridiculously easy to get your hands on one. The Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species make it illegal to import a wild tiger. But there is no need to import one, says Nicole Paquette, legal-affairs director for the Animal Protection Institute in Sacramento, Calif.: "Tigers reproduce easily, and there are plenty of backyard breeders producing cubs. They're like puppy mills." Anyone who wants a tiger can go to an alternative-livestock auction. Or if that is too much trouble, they can just surf the Web, where large-scale breeding operations and mom-and-pop outfits advertise cubs for as little as $300. "A tiger," says Paquette, "can be significantly cheaper than a purebred dog."

And in lots of places, it is perfectly legal to own a tiger as a pet. If you put it on display, you would need a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture plus any that are required in that state. But no federal law prevents you from having a pet tiger, and only 20 states forbid big-cat ownership entirely (though many cities, including New York, do have local bans). A bill before the U.S. Senate would ban interstate and foreign commerce in big cats, except for circuses, zoos and other facilities like wildlife sanctuaries. But even that would not prohibit private ownership.

The danger to owners and their neighbors is one obvious drawback to keeping a tiger at home. "No matter how tame a tiger might seem, it isn't tame," says Richard Lattis, director of New York City's Bronx Zoo. "Dogs and cats have been bred for thousands of years to live with humans. Tigers haven't. They're wild animals."

People who perform with tigers constantly assert dominance over the animals, and that can create a backlash. For that reason, says Paquette, it is surprising that Roy Horn and his partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, have not been attacked before. "A tiger, especially one under stress, is a time bomb waiting to go off."

Odds are that a captive tiger is under stress much of the time. Even top-notch zoos and shelters cannot give big cats the huge range they have evolved, over millions of years, to need. Under such artificial conditions, one false move can provoke an attack. Sarah Roy, for example, tried to pet Tigger, the Arizona tiger, when it approached her during a foray into the animal's cage. She is now recovering from leg wounds but plans to return to work.

Private owners often put big cats in even more stressful environments. Backyards--let alone cages or apartments--are terribly claustrophobic for tigers. "What do you do if it's sick?" asks Lattis. "What if you get tired of it? It's a selfish, self-centered way of treating animals." Along with other conservationists, he dismisses the notion that tiger owners are somehow saving an endangered species. "These animals are never going to be returned to the wild, and they couldn't survive there anyway. Conservation isn't simply about having more tigers. It's about having more tigers in their natural environment."