In The News

Activists protest truck stop tiger

At exit 139 on I-10 sits the Tiger Truck Stop of Gross Tete, La., home for many years to a tiger exhibit that is a prime selling point for the truck stop’s owners. But animal rights activists say Michael Sandlin, Tiger Truck Stop president, has been exhibiting the tiger and predecessors at least since 1993 in violation of an unenforced Iberville Parish ordinance prohibiting the practice.


Last year, the activists, led in part by representatives of the Big Cat Rescue “educational sanctuary” for large cats in Tampa, Fla., began a campaign to get the parish to enforce the law. At a December public hearing before the Iberville Parish Council, truck stop employees and activists clashed over the emotionally charged issue.

The truck stop employees and Sandlin claim the tiger – known as Tony the Truckstop Tiger – as a part of "the family,” while activists say the small size of the animal’s cage, the proximity to idling diesel engines in the truck stop parking lot and other factors amount to inhumane treatment.


The Iberville Parish Council meets again Jan. 20 and will discuss whether to allow the tiger to remain. Visit freetony.com, a site administered by Big Cat Rescue, and tigertruckstop.com to voice your thoughts or for more information.