Ohio officials seize 5 tigers from sanctuary
WALDO, Ohio — Ohio wildlife officials took possession of five tigers Monday from a home near this community about 35 miles north of Columbus.
Mike Stapleton, owner of Paws & Claws Animal Sanctuary, has been battling state officials over his Siberian tigers, which he has said he agreed to take from private owners who could no longer care for them, since legislators enacted an exotic animal law that went into effect Jan. 1, 2014. He has owned some of the large carnivores for a decade.
The man who vowed to never give up his big cats surrendered them without incident after a SWAT team from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office knocked his door at about 7:30 Monday morning.
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About 30 agents from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the Ohio Division of Wildlife and the Ohio State Highway Patrol arrived with a search warrant, prepared to seize the animals. Stapleton agreed to surrender his cats, hopeful that they would be placed in a good environment.
Five Siberian tigers were tranquilized using dart guns and lifted into transport boxes as Stapleton looked on.
The tigers were transported to a temporary holding facility in Reynoldsburg, according to Department of Agriculture spokesperson Erica Hawkins. The cats will likely be placed in approved sanctuaries out of state, she said. Ninety-six exotics, mostly alligators, have been placed in permanent facilities since the temporary facility was completed in March 2013.
“I’m still in shock, but I knew it was going to happen,” Stapleton said.
“I did everything I could to keep them. I think I told you all that when Senate Bill 310 passed, it was going to make a criminal of me and a lot of other animal owners. Well, it did. But no one can ever say Mike Stapleton mistreated his animals.”
Stapleton purchased his first wild animal, a bear cub, for his then-14-year-old daughter, Tabitha, from an animal auction years ago. In 2005, Stapleton accepted his first tiger, Shurkaha, from a desperate owner who purchased the cat as a cub, and found it had outgrown the family’s ability to care for it. He has accepted five other tigers to his 10-acre compound from other owners in similar situations over the years, a legacy of Ohio’s lax laws on breeding and selling wild animals. Stapleton believes his sanctuary was a last resort for animal owners who became frightened of their pets; an adult tiger can reach over 600 pounds and live over 25 years in captivity.
“Shurkaha and the rest of them were the best behaved animals you’ll ever see. They didn’t really have to tranquilize them. They would have walked into those cages willingly. I know they did it for the safety of the agents here, but the cats are no more dangerous than they were before the law was passed,” said Stapleton.
Ohio's law bans private owners from acquiring, selling and breeding restricted species in the state.
It was enacted in 2012 after Terry Thompson of Zanesville on Oct. 18, 2011, released dozens of lions, tigers and bears that he and his wife kept on their property and then committed suicide. Sheriff's deputies shot more than 50 animals that day so the predators would not escape his 73-acre property about 55 miles east of Columbus.
The law required Ohioans who own what the state calls dangerous wild animals — including lions, tigers, and some reptiles and snakes — to apply for a wildlife shelter permit by Jan. 1, 2014. The permit stipulates animal care and feeding; it also sets minimum cage sizes and containment fencing designs. Permit holders must develop escape response plans with area law enforcement and carry liability insurance. Wildlife shelter operators are forbidden from breeding or selling animals and agree not to allow members of the public have contact with the animals.
Stapleton, along with a number of other exotic animal owners, applied to become accredited wildlife sanctuaries under the new law, but Ohio Department of Agriculture officials notified Stapleton and six other animal owners in April of this year that their applications were incomplete, and had not demonstrated enough progress towards accreditation. The state placed the animals under quarantine and demanded owners prove they have accreditation through the state or other national sanctuary agencies, or were prepared to surrender their animals.
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During a state hearing in May, Stapleton vowed to never give up his tigers. He said he had made progress in upgrading his facility to state standards and placed a 15-foot fence around his property. But Stapleton gave up on winning accreditation from Ohio.
“I missed my deadlines for state certification long ago,” said Stapleton, who said he had hoped to gain an alternative accreditation from the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries based in Washington, D.C.
The organization is one of 11 exemptions listed as alternative accreditation for sanctuaries under Ohio's Dangerous Wild Animal Act. The group, founded in 2007, has certified more than 130 facilities as legitimate wildlife sanctuaries in the USA since 2009 plus additional sites in Africa, Asia, Canada, Central America and Europe.
But Stapleton was told he had to re-establish his non-profit status, which lapsed in Ohio, before GFAS would consider his operation.
In the end, the state ran out of patience and moved on Monday.
The SWAT team provide by the sheriff’s department was provided to protect the public and the agricultural staff in the event that the animals got loose, said Marion County Sheriff Tim Bailey.
“We sent the team, and set up a perimeter. Mr. Stapleton was upset, as anyone would be, but cooperative,” said Bailey, who said he could not recall any complaints from Stapleton’s neighbors about his sanctuary operations. A safety reaction plan had been worked out between the sheriff’s office and Stapleton in the past, with Stapleton’s agreement that in the event of an escape, the animal would be put down by responding deputies to protect the public.
“We are pleased Mr. Stapleton decided to surrender his animals voluntarily,” said Hawkins.
“It’s our preference to work with the owners to find appropriate facilities for these animals. We were hoping to reach this outcome earlier.”
Hawkins said that 55 permits have been issued to private owners or research facilities to keep what the state refers to as dangerous wild in 2015.
But Tabitha Sisson, Stapleton’s daughter who pleaded for the bear cub all those years ago, thinks the best outcome would have been to allow the animals to live out their lives at her father’s sanctuary.
“They’ve made it almost impossible for small places like us to make it. I know how much money my dad has spent trying to get into compliance,” Sisson said.
“I was the start of this all because I have a daddy that couldn’t say no."
Stapleton still hopes to win damages from the state for all he's been through, even if he never sees his cats again.
“I’ve never felt the state had the right to take my animals, which I’ve owned long before the new law went into effect,” Stapleton said.
“I’ve spent enough money on this,” said Stapleton, who admitted he’s still angry, but somewhat relieved that Monday brought some finality to his struggle. He now only hopes his tigers end up in a good home.
“They just kept coming after me until I’m exhausted. I’ve thrown my last punch. But no one can say that Mike Stapleton didn’t put up a fight."
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