In June 2000, the U.S. Department of Agriculture charged animal exhibitors Bobby and Kelly Hranicky, doing business as Tigers-R-Us in Yorktown, Texas, with violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
"In the Hranicky case, we believe that their willful failure to follow AWA regulations resulted in the tragic death of a child," said W. Ron DeHaven, deputy administrator for animal care with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a part of USDA's marketing and regulatory programs mission area.
APHIS investigators found that on June 6, 1999, the Hranickys allowed a child to enter a cage with two unrestrained and uncontrolled Siberian tigers. This action resulted in the death of the child.
For a period of about six months, the Hranickys allowed people to enter a cage with uncontrolled Siberian tigers. Investigators also found that on at least 20 occasions during the six-month period, the Hranickys displayed a Siberian tiger in a public park without barriers or adequate controls.
The Hranickys applied for a license in December 1998, under the name Tigers-R-Us, which was described as a corporation. After a license was issued, APHIS learned that Tigers-R-Us was not a corporation. The license is invalid, null, and void.
On March 14, 2003, Bobby and Kelly Hranicky of Tigers-R-Us in Yorktown, Texas settled their case with USDA by agreeing to a $5,000 fine, all of which is suspended. Also, the Hranicky�s USDA AWA license was revoked, and they are permanently disqualified from receiving another
Case UpdatesThose who have experienced an attack by a pet lion, tiger or gorilla and the like seem to agree the beasts make terrible and dangerous family pets. Bobby Hranicky, once an enthusiastic tiger owner, is among those who say they are not meant to be part of the family.
It was Hranicky's pet tiger that killed his stepdaughter, Villafana's daughter. Now he says he should never have been allowed to own tigers and few others should either. The only place anybody should see a big cat is from the safety of a well-run zoo, he says.
"We don't have them anymore, and we'll never own them again, and we'll never own another thing like that. It doesn't matter how good you are, how careful you are; the potential for accidents is just too great," he says. "Yeah, we need a lot more regulation...They need to have no contact with humans. They need to be in zoos. They need to be protected in wildlife refuges. I'm not saying they should be banned; I'm saying the regulation should be a lot tougher so private citizens can't have them."
Richard Villafana, a physician in San Antonio, recounts how his daughter was killed by a tiger. Villafana, had misgivings about two pet tigers raised from infancy by his ex-wife and her husband, Bobby Hranicky. Villafana could tell his 10-year-old daughter Lauren of the danger of tigers, but there was nothing he could do to stop her from visiting her mother's home, where the tigers were kept in a pen. Lauren was fascinated with the tigers and popular with her friends because of them. In June 1999, Lauren visited her mother and the tigers.
"The stepfather had gone out to groom one of the cats, the female. On this occasion he allowed Lauren into the cage with him," Villafana says. "The male was allowed to be loose in another part of the cage. Lauren was allowed in to help groom the cat, the female. "Lauren bent down to pet the female, and supposedly after she got back up to her feet, the male tiger attacked her, knocked her over. Broke her neck," he says. "The coroner told me he thought the death was instantaneous. In addition to that he also clamped his jaws around her head and neck. He also apparently lacerated major vessels in her neck, and she sustained a huge amount of blood loss. He dragged her to a water tank."
Villafana, one of those who lobbied for the legislation, gets choked up when he talks about the attack and his daughter. His life, he says, is destroyed. "The average U.S. citizen has absolutely no business owning one of these animals, absolutely none," Villafana says. "These people who buy up these animals, whatever their motive is, which is usually greed, they have no right to do so. They are putting the public safety in danger; they're putting themselves in danger, and they are confining these animals that are not meant to be confined...I think they are blinded by greed and power."
Villafana's 10-year-old daughter's death was one of those caused by an irresponsible exotic-animal owner, he claims, and nothing in the new law would prevent that because there is no distinction between competent professionals and amateur exotic-animal owners. "You cannot regulate stupidity. That tiger never escaped. No USDA laws were broken except for the fact that the parents let the child go in the cage. I've got all these locks now; I've got perimeter fences and everything. If I open the door and put my kid in there, no law changes the fact that I'm stupid." Villafana may agree it was stupidity that killed his daughter, but he does not agree that less government oversight is good. The owners of the tiger that killed Villafana's daughter were licensed by the USDA | Source: Ace Sanctuaries - 2003
Update posted on Dec 11, 2005 - 11:13PM |
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