Jungle Exotics
3 in, 2 out
Hollywood Animals
Tiger
Preservation
Center
Barry R. Kirshner
Wildlife Sanctuary
Big Cat Encounters Ranch
Forever Wild Exotic
Animal Sanctuary
Dirk Arthur Wild Magic
West Coast
Game Park
Wild Things Inc.
6 out, 1 in
12 in, 3 out
4
3
3
22
15
5
2
7
6
HAWAII
UTAH
OREGON
ARIZONA
WASHINGTON
CALIF.
ALASKA
HAWAIIHAWAIIHAWAII
UTAHUTAHUTAH
OREGONOREGONOREGON
ARIZONAARIZONAARIZONA
WASHINGTONWASHINGTONWASHINGTON
CALIF.CALIF.CALIF.
ALASKAALASKAALASKA
IDAHO
NEVADANEVADA
No law (4 states)
Permit required (10 states)
Ban (36 states and D.C.)
1
2β7
8 or more
Transferred into location
Transferred out from location
Both in and out
Number shows total tigers transferred
Trade networks Tiger transfers
Number of transactions
State laws on keeping big cats as pets
Greater Wynnewood
ASIA
1
1
1
Range of Range of Panthera tigris Panthera tigris
Serenity Springs
ALASKA AND HAWNOT TO SCALE AII
A peek into the
U.S. tiger trade
Tracking two networks
Tourism drives tiger breeding in the U.S., where
many roadside zoos and other businesses charge
guests to pet and pose with cubs. Some exhibitors
and breeders make thousands of dollars a day from
cubs that are sometimes as young as four weeks.
This map illustrates transfer records obtained from
state wildlife agencies and watchdog organizations
monitoring two of the largest facilities in the industry
and their transactions with 48 other businesses.
Records of all tiger trades are not available.
The Big Cat Public Safety Act, currently before Congress,
would ban commercial breeding, public handling, and
ownership of big cats as pets across the U.S.
Tigers, native to Asia, were first brought to the U.S.
in the early 1800s. Today the Endangered Species
Act outlaws imports of tigers or tiger parts for com-
mercial use. In China and Southeast Asia, tigers are
farmed for meat, skin, and bones used in expensive
tiger-bone wine and in traditional medicines.
RILEY D. CHAMPINE, TAYLOR MAGGIACOMO, NGM STAFF; SCOTT ELDER
ANIMBEFORE 2016, GREATER WAL PARK OR GAROLD WYNNEWAYNE EXOTIC ANIMOOD WAS CALLED EITHER G.WAL MEMORIAL PARK.. EXOTIC
Records from 2010 to
2018 show this business
shipped out 168 tigers
and received 28.
Despite state bans, itβs still possible for
breeders and exhibitors to obtain a license
from the USDA to transfer and keep big cats.
Records from 1996 to 2016
show this business (now
closed) received 147 tigers
and shipped out seven.
Proposed law for big cats
Illegal to import
6 ft