"Citing rotten food, separating young cubs from their mothers, missing animals, and fraud, court cases aim to end the most exploitive practices."
"When Tim Stark fled Indiana in September, his life was crashing around him. The zoo owner, who appeared in the hit Netflix docuseries Tiger King, was losing his livelihood. His lions, tigers, bears, and dozens of other animals were being seized by authorities. He and his zoo owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for animal welfare violations. He faced an arrest warrant for allegedly concealing animals set to be confiscated. Stark’s zoo, Wildlife in Need, which raked in millions with its baby tiger “playtime” sessions, had collapsed.
On the run, Stark railed against judges, officials, and animal rights activists in an hour-long, profanity-laced Facebook Live rant. He claimed they’d conspired to deny him his right to own and breed exotic animals. Taunting law enforcement, he brandished what appeared to be a hand grenade. “I am willing to die for what I believe in,” he said.
Three weeks later, he was arrested at a bed-and-breakfast in upstate New York and extradited to Indiana, where he faced a contempt charge in one county and a felony charge of intimidating a law enforcement officer in another."
Sharon Guynup reports for National Geographic with photographs by Steve Winter April 15, 2021.
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