A former state lawmaker and a national animal rights group have filed a lawsuit challenging a newly-passed law that lets a Grosse Tete gas station owner keep a tiger onsite.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A former state lawmaker and a national animal rights group have filed a lawsuit challenging a newly-passed law that lets a Grosse Tete gas station owner keep a tiger onsite.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Baton Rouge. It claims lawmakers and the governor violated the state constitution's ban on special laws granting exclusive privileges to a single person.
The new law exempts Michael Sandlin - owner of Tiger Truck Stop and a 550-pound Bengal tiger named Tony - from state restrictions on owning exotic cats.
Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the bill into law last week.
Warren Triche, the former lawmaker who sponsored the 2006 law restricting ownership of exotic cats, is one of the plaintiffs on the lawsuit. He's getting legal support from the Animal Legal Defense Fund.