A 71-year-old man from Nevada was recently arrested for owning and sheltering seven fully grown tigers in his home. The Nevada man, however, insisted that the tigers were helping him cope with his emotional and psychological issues.
Karl Mitchell is the tiger owner in question, and the 71-year-old man has been charged with resisting arrest after authorities raided his house on April 2. Apparently, Mitchell did not have a special conditions animal permit from Nye County for his seven tigers. Additionally, Mitchell’s neighbors grew worried over the years about how the tigers were on a rather long leash around Mitchell’s property, so to speak.
“Mr. Mitchell was being evicted from the property, and the owner of the property was not being allowed onto the property to inspect. We have known for several years he has had big cats on his property, and for the last two years, this has been in violation because he had no permits for those cats.
We have received information over the years that he has been seen walking the tigers loose around the property, off the property, in the desert. There have been social media posts from him with people interacting with the cats, which is also in violation,” reports Sheriff Joe McGill, courtesy of KSNV.
While Mitchell was in jail, his tigers were relocated to a sanctuary outside of Nevada and authorities further investigated the matter. He has since been released on bond.
Mitchell defended his situation by stating that he didn’t need the special permits because he had PTSD, and the tigers were helping him cope with it. For the record, Mitchell is considered a disabled veteran due to his PTSD, and even Veterans Affairs and his doctors have supposedly approved of the tigers as his support animals.
As it is, Mitchell’s girlfriend even provided a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs labeling his tigers as emotional support animals. Mitchell further argued that his animals were also rescued from businessman and celebrity Joe Exotic, aka Tiger King, and that they didn’t deserve to be drugged. The disabled veteran claimed that the tigers were happy with him. Here’s the full interview with KSNV:
Tigers are All the Rage in the US
While Mitchell’s predicament with his seven tigers seems absurd, it turns out that tiger ownership in the US is more common than you think, especially in Las Vegas. In fact, estimates vary that anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 captive tigers are living in the US right now, leading to the US being crowned as having the world’s largest tiger population in 2021.
Even celebrities owned tigers as exotic pets, with Mike Tyson being one of them in the past. Mitchell’s situation, however, could be a little too extreme and has led many to question why the emotional support animals needed to be tigers– dogs or regular cats might have done the job, and they’re less likely to kill you by mistake.
Still, US laws state (or the lack thereof) that emotional support animals can be just about any domesticated animal as long as they provide emotional support and relief to anyone with a mental health disability. They do not need to be trained, hence, Mitchell’s setup with the seven tigers was somehow legitimate, which is why his charge was only resisting arrest.
