Too Close for Comfort

We all have that dream, where we get to casually hang out with Tigers, treating them as though they large scale versions of their domestic feline cousins.

But as we dream, we are all quite aware of how different Tigers are from domestic cats in the real world, with one swipe from them resulting to more than just a skin-deep scratch.

An undercover Human Society employee was also quite aware of this fact, upon discovering that workers of an Oklahoma-based wild animal park allowed children to come in close contact with some of its tigers.

Based on reports from USA Today, the said undercover representative of the Human Society saw the unsafe handling of wild animals in the GW Exotic Animal Park, Wynnewood, Oklahoma.

The organization has filed a number of complaints against the wild animal park, citing instances of animal abuse, and the unsafe security/safety practices implemented by the park, defined by how children were allowed to come close to its tiger cubs. The organization has also noted the death of five tiger cubs in the past, which if proven to be true, will leave the park with a lot to answer for.

GW Exotic Animal Park owner Joe Schreibvogel is convinced that the Humane Society is intent in creating noise, in an effort to generate more donations. Given that the park stands to be one of the largest of its kind (exotic-animal parks) in the United States, Schreibvogel claims that the park’s status makes it a target for organizations like the Human Society.

As investigations and inquiries are still ongoing, it is too soon to note if the park or the Humane Society are exactly in the wrong, but we’ll be featuring pertinent updates over here, once they come out.