What will it take to bring the curtain down finally on big cat exhibitions?
The fatal attack of Ryan Easley, a tiger handler with ties to “Tiger King” stars Joe Exotic and Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, has ignited fiery debate over the use of wild animals for entertainment purposes. Easley was killed by a tiger with whom he was performing at Growler Pines Tiger Preserve in Hugo, Oklahoma. He “lost his life in an accident involving a tiger under his care,” which they described as not from carelessness, but from his excessive love for the animals.
Easley’s professional life had been inextricably connected with the suspect world exposed by Netflix’s “Tiger King.” His tigers were sourced from Joe Exotic’s zoo and Doc Antle’s sanctuary, both of which were notorious for having engaged in the cub-petting and the roadside zoo trade. During his off-tour periods, his animals stayed at Joe Exotic’s compound. Easley’s own ShowMe Tigers bill had evolved into a stationary sanctuary for conservation education, but the accident serves as a reminder of the risks that come with working with top predators in captivity.
Animal welfare organizations were quick to react. Humane World for Animals described the death as “a sad and preventable tragedy,” drawing on an undercover report at ShowMe Tigers where animals were found to be forced into performing tricks. PETA again took its longtime stance that wild animals shouldn’t be used in performances, highlighting Easley’s connection to the same pattern of breeding, trading, and exploitation that the Big Cat Public Safety Act now seeks to break.
That bipartisan-supported law, signed into effect late in 2022, prohibits private ownership of exotic big cats and prohibits public contact, such as cub petting. Humane Society’s Kitty Block called it “the beginning of the end of the big cat crisis in the U.S.,” pointing out that in 46 states since 1990, over 400 attacks by captive big cats have taken place, killing five children and 19 adults. The new legislation aims to bring an end to the revolving door where cubs are bred for photo ops and discarded once they become too large to handle.
The dangers are real. Between 1990 and 2011, there were over 300 serious large feline carnivore incidents in the U.S. that resulted in dozens of fatalities and permanently life-altering injuries. Experts note that even if a handler has been working with a big cat for decades, these animals never lose their wild spirit. As wildlife photojournalist Steve Winter has described it, in captivity the tigers pace back and forth constantly… many of them are just broken, but their predatory prowess is not lost.
Aside from the human toll, investigative reporters Sharon Guynup and Winter have documented how America’s tiger captivity industry fuels global problems. In 5,000 to 10,000 cages in America more tigers than are found free in the wild anywhere in the world most are inbred, abandoned, and susceptible to the illicit trade in wildlife. This undermines worldwide conservation efforts and de facto condones tiger farming in countries like China and Thailand.
Public opinion is shifting. Over 40 countries have banned the use of wild animals in circuses, and in the United States, additional states and cities are imposing restrictions. Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington recently joined the ranks to ban big cats from touring shows. These changes are reflective of an awareness that lions, tigers, and other large carnivores cannot have their sophisticated demands met in performance settings, and that subjecting them to compulsion to perform unnatural actions is not only unsafe but unethical.
For employees directly engaged with animals, such tragedies as Easley’s also have a steep emotional price. According to psychologists, animal care workers are susceptible to compassion fatigue, burnout, and trauma from exposure to pain or death. As Dr. Angela K. Fournier explains, “It may be necessary to help someone focus on the big picture… rather than ruminating on individual stories of crisis and loss.”
Easley’s death is the latest on a long roster of accidents that attest to the fact that even experienced trainers are at risk when dealing with mighty predators. It has served as a call to action for advocates who insist that the most humane and safest way forward for big cats is one in which they no longer play the role of props for human entertainment, but rather are honored as the wild, unbridled animals they are.
