Ontario man killed by tiger he kept on his property

That's.... wow.

Maybe it's time people stopped treating these animals as pets. Zoos and Game farms/Wild Life preserves are the only places they should be kept, outside of their natural habitats.

A regular cat can do a fair amount of damage when PO'd. This thing could have been only slightly annoyed and what would be nothing to another tiger is significant enough to kill a human. This goes for wolves and bears as well. We think we're on the top rung, but we're pretty delicate and easily killed, even when predators do it unintentionally.

Agreed.

I can't believe the laws that actually allowed him to have these creatures on his property. Completely inappropriate "pets".

Vancouver Island man fights to keep pet tiger

A Victoria-area resident says he'll fight in court to keep his new pet tiger after the local municipal council passed a law banning exotic animals.

David Bennett, a resident of Highlands, announced in August that he intended to bring a two-year-old tiger to live in a special enclosure on his southern Vancouver Island property.

The local council responded by scrambling to pass a bylaw that bans exotic animals.

Bennett ignored the ban and brought the 150 kilogram tiger to the Highlands early in September.

The municipal council responded by holding a special in-camera meeting late Monday afternoon.

Highland Mayor Mark Cardinal said the council has decided to seek an injunction to move Suzy out of the Highlands.

Now Bennett plans to fight the injunction application in court.

Bennett said he adopted Suzy in August when her future was looking grim. For personal reasons her previous owner was no longer able to keep her.

The tiger was bred in captivity by people in the Vancouver film industry, but because she's a Siberian-Bengal cross, she doesn't qualify for most zoo programs.

With limited options, it came down to selling her for her coat and meat, or bringing her to the $15,000 pen Bennett built for her on his Millstream Road property, he said.

"Nobody seemed to want her unless they could take her apart and sell pieces of her," said Bennett on Monday.

Now, he says, Suzy is just another member of the family. "When she sees my light go on at 6:30 in the morning to make coffee, she comes straight to the fence and starts calling for me," said Bennett.

While Suzy's fate will likely be decided by the courts, in the meantime Bennett said he is getting advice on caring for his young pet from experts at a Colorado sanctuary, who have inspected the enclosure and found it secure and large enough for the animal.

In May 2007 a pet Siberian tiger kept on a property near 100 Mile House killed a woman who was outside its enclosure petting it.

It seems like people just refuse to learn..

Isn' there a game farm out by Aldergrove?

It's now called the Greater Vancouver Zoo.

I've found a REAL good rule of thumb is, don't have pets that weigh MORE than you do, especially if it's several times more.
And the big cats can never be domesticated, even if you get them as a new born kitten, or cub, or whatever you wanna call 'em.
The one exception is a cheetah. They can be domesticated. They act just like house cats 'cept they're bigger 'n' faster. You know how funny it is to here a big ol' cheetah meow like a house cat?
I'm not sure why the guy in Ontario had his but I can understand the reasoning behind the dude on the Island doing what he did. Just not sure where on the Island he is and how close other people live. I always said if I got the opportunity to adopt an orphaned cheetah kitten( cub, w/e ) I'd do it. I have a place plenty large for one, just don't know how well it would fare in northern Ontario. There's a cheetah preserve in Ireland of all places but I also know their winters are more temperate than up north.
Never gonna happen though

Just to update you on that story Hyack:

SUZY THE TIGER QUIETLY MOVED OUT OF HIGHLANDS

Jul 30, 2009

AFTER SPENDING 11-MONTHS LIVING IN THE HIGHLANDS -- SUZY THE TIGER IS GONE.

‘A’ NEWS REPORTS SUZY'S OWNER DAVE BENNETT SAYS SUZIE WAS MOVED TO AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION MONDAY NIGHT.

BENNETT WOULD NOT ELABORATE ON THE SPECIFIC LOCATION OF SUZY'S NEW HOME BUT SAYS HER NEW PEN IS ON 160 ACRES OF PRIVATE PROPERTY SOMEWHERE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.

“I CAN’T SAY AT ALL WHERE SHE IS. I DON’T WANT GUESSES. I DON’T WANT SPECULATION. SHE’S IN A GOOD PLACE, THAT’S ALL I CAN SAY. AND HE (THE NEW OWNER) ASKED ME NOT TO [TELL WHERE SHE WENT] AND I GOT TO RESPECT THAT.”

SUZY WON'T BE ALONE IN HER NEW HOME -- HER NEW OWNER REPORTEDLY HAS 2 OTHER PET TIGERS.

BENNETT IS STILL FACING A TWENTY FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR FINE FOR FAILING TO REMOVE SUZIE FROM HIS PROPERTY BY THE JUNE 15TH DEADLINE SET BY HIGHLAND'S CITY COUNCIL.

However I continue to bow in reverence to your moderatorness.

Note to self: never own a 650-pound Siberian tiger.

I'd like to nominate this dumbass for a Darwin award.

My parents used to raise elk. None of us were stupid enough to walk into the elk pen. You drive in or you don't go.

That's elk, this is something that could kill and eat an elk.

The guy was an idiot and the gene pool is better off without him.

Second.