“Live tiger exhibit.” How often do you see a sign like that enticing you on a U.S. highway? To the chagrin of my passenger friend, and to the imagined horror of the person I cut off (but why didn’t they follow??), I made a lane-changing last second exit.
The first things we saw of Grosse Tete, Louisiana were a Tiger Restaurant, Tiger Trux Stop, and a few dilapidated houses scattered along the I-10 highway. “But where’s the tiger?” my friend observed. We pulled into the trux stop, spotting three empty cages and two families complete with small children crowded around an enclosure.
“Do you see it?” A familiar question spoken near almost every space containing animals. Quickly followed by the common reply: “There it is!” In the midst of a trux stop’s attempt to stave off the bad effects of this economy, lied a full-fledged tiger, trying to stay out of the inhabitable heat of the deep American South.
Parked beside the cages was a trailer on cinder blocks. I poked my head in, looking for answers.
The tiger keeper told me that Tony was one of three tigers adopted by the town’s well-connected man twenty years ago. The other two had died, leaving Tony to live out his retirement by himself. The guy was trying to commission the town to let him buy a companion for Tony, as his last mate, a white Siberian, stood stuffed in the trux stop. Disturbed by an old memory, I opted not to go see.
Unfortunately, the town had passed an act several years back banning the ownership of tigers. Apparently, you can buy a cub for $5,000, but you forget to include the expense of food, shelter, and the search for an exotic veterinarian, and I guess the town had enough orphaned tigers on their hands. Fortunately, Tony could be kept under a grandfather clause. Getting him a friend of the same species, however, is a different matter.
Monday, August 3, 2009
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