INDReporter

Animal group keeps pressure on Tiger Truck Stop

by Walter Pierce

An animal rights group is again in court pressing the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to remove a Siberian-Bengal tiger from an enclosure at a Grosse Tete truck stop where the animal serves as a roadside attraction.

An animal rights group is again in court pressing the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to remove a Siberian-Bengal tiger from an enclosure at a Grosse Tete truck stop where the animal serves as a roadside attraction. The Animal Legal Defense Fund is arguing in state district court in Baton Rouge today that the LDWF must compel Tiger Truck Stop owner Michael Sandlin to relocate the animal to an appropriate big-cat sanctuary. Sandlin lost a round of court battles last year that culminated in a judge ruling that LDWF had improperly grandfathered Sandlin when the state outlawed ownership of big cats and other large mammals. Consequently, Sandlin's permit to keep "Tony" in the enclosure expired at the end of last year. But Sandlin is suing the state on constitutional grounds and the LDWF has been awaiting the outcome of that suit.

The ALDF will also be in court on Monday petitioning to intervene in Sandlin's suit against the state.

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