--- title: Why Tigers Make Lousy Pets | TIME description: The National Tiger Sanctuary houses exotic animals that have retired from showbiz or been abandoned as pets canonical: https://time.com/video/ifOfd8pO/ og:title: Why Tigers Make Lousy Pets og:description: The National Tiger Sanctuary houses exotic animals that have retired from showbiz or been abandoned as pets og:url: https://time.com/video/ifOfd8pO/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ifOfd8pO/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Tigers Make Lousy Pets twitter:description: The National Tiger Sanctuary houses exotic animals that have retired from showbiz or been abandoned as pets twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ifOfd8pO/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Why Tigers Make Lousy Pets > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Why Tigers Make Lousy Pets [Watch (HLS stream): Why Tigers Make Lousy Pets](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ifOfd8pO.m3u8) (4:27)  _Published 2011-12-01. The National Tiger Sanctuary houses exotic animals that have retired from showbiz or been abandoned as pets_ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:20 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [China’s Booming Pet Acupuncture Trend Spotlights Its Burgeoning Love for Animals](/video/4BqMGPS3/) ### China’s Booming Pet Acupuncture Trend Spotlights Its Burgeoning Love for Animals [The Tiger Effect](/video/nmlkPM4Q/) ### The Tiger Effect [A Multistate Salmonella Outbreak Has Been Linked to Pet Turtles](/video/3XGkkNnp/) ### A Multistate Salmonella Outbreak Has Been Linked to Pet Turtles --- ## Transcript [ SOUND ] They look very cute when they're a four pound cub and you get the mistaken idea that they're like a kitty cat. A lot of people don't look at the long term of when that cat goes from four pounds, to let's say even three hundred pounds maybe five hundred, maybe eight hundred. What's a tiger say Paul? Here at the National Tiger Sanctuary in Southern Missouri, Judy McKey and Keith Kenkaid have established a private, not for profit conservation facility, [ NOISE ] for rescued and homeless large carnivores. [ NOISE ] Thee eyes of the nation turned to the plight of exotic animals last month, when a tragedy in Ohio caused the release and subsequent death of dozens of animals. [ NOISE ] On October 18th, 2011 Terry Thompson released fifty- six exotic animals from his farm before fatally turning a gun on himself. Law enforcement personnel acted swiftly and decisively to end the resulting calamity. At the end of the day, forty- six lions, tigers, bears, wolves, and monkeys were either killed on site or euthanized. The tragedy brought attention to the fact that many states have no laws or regulations governing the breeding or owning of large exotic animals. This man had no license. He had no USDA license. He had no Department of Conservation license. He wasn't licensed at all. When these animals grow from cute cubs to huge cats, they can become too difficult to handle. The lucky ones end up at zoos and animal sanctuaries. We have a lion that came from a magic show that retired. A leopard and a cougar that where both pets. The leopard, they adopted a three years old and decided that a leopard didn't make a good pet. [ NOISE ] Like Ohio, Missouri has had no laws in place for exotic animals. [ NOISE ] We had two tigers from the place where their conditions where pretty, pretty bad. They didn't get enough food. There where kept in a small area. They were teased quite a bit. And the problem is, when we get them, they're like getting an orphan child that has been abused except they can't tell you what's happened. So you run into a lot of baggage that they have that you're not sure what's going on. So we try to establish a relationship with them where they feel comfortable. But yet still feel their freedom. They also make it their mission to show visitors just exactly how powerful these animals are. That's one of the reasons that we have feeding tours here. So you can hear, you can see Vince stand ten feet tall. You can see an eight hundred pound cat from three feet away. You can hear him crunch chicken bones like they are popcorn. We wanted people to see a grown animal and say can you handle this? And if you buy a cub as a pet then you are encouraging someone out there to continue to breed tigers and thats not a good thing, at all. [ NOISE ] Judy and Keith help push forward a new law. The first of its kind in Missouri. The Large Carnivore Act, which goes into effect January first, will prohibit unlicensed possession, transport, and breeding of large carnivores. [ NOISE ] People really could keep a tiger in their backyard even though they couldn't keep a squirrel because squirrels and native animals are controlled by the Department Of Conservation but there is no laws for for the big carnivores. Vince what's a cow say? Why are all the Tigers disappearing? Why are they going to be gone? Why are they endangered? Because humans could not leave them alone to be what they were created to be. That doesn't bode well for even humans. These cats wouldn't destroy their own habitats. They'd be surviving but we couldn't leave them alone. So we hope that, you know every little bit of awareness and education you can do, you have to try. 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