Truck Stop fights to keep Tony the Tiger

Truck Stop fights to keep Tony the Tiger

Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 8:47 pm  





PHOTO BY : PATRICK DENNIS of THE ADVOCATE

Those who have been in OTR trucking for awhile, certainly know about the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana.  I always made it a point to stop there when passing through, due to three reasons:  (1) Cheap Food – (2) Good Food – and (3) To check out the Bengal tigers.  For years, animal right activists have been fighting to have the tigers removed and placed in a better, more natural environment.  Prevailing with some success, three of the tigers were sent elsewhere, leaving Tony the Tiger the lone exhibition.

Now, last November, 2008, State Wildlife Officials had given the owner of the truck stop, 30 days to remove Tony.  On December 16th, a judge blocked the order until a hearing could be held, scheduled for December 29, 2008.   Before that date rolled around, the owner, filed a lawsuit to keep Tony the Tiger.  As of this date, the saga continues.

I, personally, never enjoyed watching the Tiger(s) locked up in their cages.  Such majestic animals, pacing back and forth, or simply hiding in the background away from the peering eyes of humans, always struck me as kind of sad.  So for now, we’ll just watch and listen to see how the lawsuit turns out.

The owner, Michael Sandlin, has supervised these wild animals for over 20 years.  I was just wondering…how do other drivers feel about this?

Should the operation continue, or should Tony the Tiger be set “free?”    Read our updated post on the fight to free Tony the Tiger from the Tiger Truck Stop.

© 2009 – 2010, AskTheTrucker. All rights reserved.