Driving through Oklahoma recently and watching Tiger
King of late, Ernest "Big Daddy" Bux was intrigued
that they are apparently 5,000 to 15,000 tigers in the United
States and only 3,500 in the "wild." Hearing that an 8-12
week old cub offered for "cub petting" in a roadside
petting "zoo" could pay back over $1 million, Big Daddy
decided that his Big Bux Ranch was big enough to add a roadside
business and raise pet tigers. Does the State of Texas permit Big
Daddy to keep pet tigers? Does Big Daddy have any liability for
keeping them?
Legally
Yes, as my co-Tilting the Scales author Drew York pointed out in
2015, Texas prohibits private individuals from owning or
having custody of a nondomestic animal – a "dangerous wild animal" – such as a lion,
tiger or bear – unless the person has a certificate of
registration from either the city or county animal control
department, or from the county sheriff if the county does not have
an animal control department as directed
