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[Sound of a truck running,
then a turn signal clicking.] Phoebe Judge: Oh, here he is right here.
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Do you see him?
Lauren Spohrer: I don't see him.
Phoebe Judge: Maybe he's in his pool. It looks like a hot tub.
[Keys jingle, and the truck is turned off.]
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[Upbeat, curious violin music.]
Phoebe Judge: Driving through a certain part of Louisiana, away from Baton Rouge on I-10,
you start to see signs advertising a live tiger,
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tiger exhibit. And if you pull off, you find
yourself at what's called the Tiger Truck Stop.
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In some ways, it's exactly what you'd
expect: semi-trucks idling in rows, gas pumps, and a convenience store. But
set off to the side of the parking lot,
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there's a large cage. And inside, a 550 pound
Siberian Bengal tiger. He's lived at the gas
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station for 16 years, and his name is Tony.
[Footsteps.] Tony looks pretty hot.
The cage is actually more than 3,000
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square feet. It seemed big, but it's hard to know
how big is big enough for a tiger. There are two
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sets of iron bars, which separate Tony from the
parking lot. There's a grassy area, a small pool,
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and a covered part where he can get out of the
sun. The whole thing, while maybe a bit sparse,
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seemed clean and well maintained.
[Reading off of a sign.] Tony eats 20 pounds of feline diet daily. The combination
of horse meat, beef, and vitamins is shipped
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here 2,000 pounds at a time.
The man behind the Tiger Truck Stop is Michael Sandlin.
Michael Sandlin:
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My name is Michael Sandlin. I'm owner of the
Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana.
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Phoebe Judge: We sat down with him
in the Tiger Cafe, a 24-hour diner on the other side of the parking lot.
Michael Sandlin: Tony is 16 years old now,
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so he's an old man. They average about 20 years
lifespan in captivity. But he is getting old,
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he is a cat, so he sleeps a lot,
average 16, 18 hours a day sleeping, especially after he eats. He acts just like your
house cat at home, he's just a lot bigger.
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Phoebe Judge: Today, Michael Sandlin
only has Tony. But over the years, he's had more than a dozen tigers at the
truck stop. He got started in the '80s,
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but before him, his father and brother kept
live tigers at truck stops in Texas and Arizona.
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He thinks of the tiger as the mascot for the
business — and also, of course, a draw.
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I don't think I've ever been, I mean, I've been
to zoos before, but I don't think I've actually
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ever been as physically close to a tiger. I
mean, you really are rather close to Tony.
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Michael Sandlin: You're about 4 feet, if he's
right there. We've had several people actually
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sprayed a few times and soaked from head to
toe. I actually have a couple of signs hanging
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up that say, "Caution, tiger may spray."
Phoebe Judge: That seems like the worst thing on earth.
Michael Sandlin: I thought, well, if I ever
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had room, maybe I'd have some "I got
peed on at Tiger Truck Stop" T-shirts, or a Peed On Hall of Fame Wall, or something.
Phoebe Judge: There are more tigers in captivity
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in the United States than wild tigers in the
entire world. The wild tiger population is
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dwindling — most estimates put the number just
over 3,000 — while the number of captive tigers in
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this country alone is a lot higher. Some estimates
are 5,000 and others as high as 10,000. But we
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just don't know for sure, because they're living
in unaccredited roadside zoos, and in people's
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backyards, and in Tony's case, at a truck stop.
Here in Louisiana, no one can seem to make up
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their mind whether it's against the law to have
a tiger at a truck stop. So for the last decade,
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this 550 pound tiger has been in legal limbo, a
living billboard for personal property rights on
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one side and animal rights on the other.
I'm Phoebe Judge, this is Criminal. [Curious, driving music.]
What do you
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say to those that have said, wait a second,
this is an animal, this is an animal that's
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potentially endangered in the wild,
they're not meant to be near trucks, or near gas fumes, and things like that,
that's not the right environment for a tiger?
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Michael Sandlin: Well, I mean, is it a right
environment for people? It's really what they
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get used to. If you ever drive down the road
and you see deer on the side of the interstate,
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in the grass, or you look over in the trees and
you see an eagle's nest, and I'm like, "Oh my God,
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you better call PETA to come tell that eagle that
it shouldn't have built its nest there next to the
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interstate." So I don't buy the air quality, but
they have a point about the noise. But say you
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have a cuckoo clock in your home and it goes
off every hour, and at first it bothered you,
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but you don't even notice it anymore, but somebody
comes and visit, and it drives them up the wall.
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You know, it's what you get used to.
And Tony has one-on-one attention, he has the best food that money can buy,
that most zoos and sanctuaries can't afford.
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He's got excellent veterinary care, and
he's loved. And if he was being abused,
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he certainly still wouldn't be alive at 16
years of age. And of course, we're hoping to
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get several more years of enjoyment from him.
Jeff Dorson: Well, Tony's been around a long time
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in our consciousness and physically. A lot of
us have known about Tony for 15-plus years. I
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visited Tony many times. I actually delivered him
toys and treats and bones from time to time.
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Phoebe Judge: This is Jeff Dorson, executive
director of the Humane Society of Louisiana.
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Do you have favorite animals?
Jeff Dorson: [Laughing.] No, I like them all. Give me a penguin or a baby elephant
or an ostrich, and it's like I'm in heaven.
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Phoebe Judge: We met with him at his house on the
outskirts of New Orleans. We knew it was his house
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because of the gigantic bags of dog food piled out
front. And once we got inside, he tried to put the
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dogs away, but they kept escaping.
[Sound of dogs barking.] Jeff Dorson: I have three of them. They're
all rescues. They're all kind of left behind.
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Nobody wanted them, but I did. And I have a
cat. There's Willie, and he's coming up to
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say hi. I have a cat named Julia. I have a
pit bull that's just a bowl of butter. And
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I have another little dog whose name is Monkey.
Phoebe Judge: Jeff Dorson, along with many animal
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rights activists all over the country,
want to get Tony out of that truck stop and sent to an animal sanctuary where
he can live out the rest of his days.
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Jeff Dorson: I've met with Mr. Sandlin, I've
tried to see if there's any common ground, if
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there's any way to negotiate, and there wasn't.
Phoebe Judge: He said to me that it would be cruel
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to take Tony away from him to bring him to one of
the refuges because Tony has been with him since
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he was a cub, and that Tony would be sad, and it
would be upsetting for Tony to be removed from
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what he knows. What do you think about that?
Jeff Dorson: I have a whole different perspective.
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Here's mine: species love to be with
their own species. Who does Tony have? Michael Sandlin isn't a Bengal
tiger, so who's he kidding?
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[Bass music.]
Phoebe Judge: In 2006, Jeff Dorson and his fellow animal rights activists got a
break. All of a sudden, the state of Louisiana
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made it a crime to possess, buy, or sell a
tiger. Not only tigers, but also polar bears
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and any "wild quadrupeds, big exotic cats, or
non-human primates." The state said no random
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person can have a pet tiger. Colleges, zoos,
research centers are okay, but no one else.
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Part of their argument was public safety.
Michael Sandlin: You're more likely to be
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attacked by a shopping cart or a vending
machine in the Walmart parking lot than you
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are of ever being attacked by a tiger or a monkey
walking down the road in Louisiana. I'm sorry,
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I don't see this as a public safety issue.
Phoebe Judge: The law also states that possession
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of exotic animals is detrimental to their welfare
and may have negative impacts on the recovery of
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some threatened and endangered species.
Michael Sandlin: Exotic animal owners were
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made criminals overnight and were treated
like criminals. It's just actually tyranny
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by our own government.
Phoebe Judge: Michael Sandlin was furious, which is kind of
odd because he actually got off better than a
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lot of other exotic pet owners in the state. He
was grandfathered in and issued a permit. Tony
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could stay, at least for a little while.
When animal rights activists got word that
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Louisiana's new law somehow wouldn't apply to
Sandlin, and that Tony the tiger would continue
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living in a cage at a gas station off of
I-10, an organization called the Animal
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Legal Defense Fund sued the state of Louisiana.
Carney Anne Nasser: So under the law, animals are
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not considered anything more than property. And as
such, there are very few laws that provide animals
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with any sort of meaningful legal protection.
Phoebe Judge: This is Carney Anne Nasser,
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senior council for wildlife and
regulatory affairs for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
Carney Anne Nasser: And
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we have to get creative to try to ensure
that they're not treated like a chair,
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or a table, or a car, because we know that it's
ridiculous to suggest that complex animals are
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no more than just a piece of inanimate property.
I think any of us who have a dog or a cat can tell
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these animals have feelings, they have their
own personalities, and certainly they should
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be entitled to life free from harm, free from
neglect, and provided with the ability to engage
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in the full range of their natural behavior.
Phoebe Judge: They did get creative. The Animal
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Legal Defense Fund argued that Michael Sandlin
could not legally keep Tony for three reasons.
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First, because there's a local parish ordinance
prohibiting it. Second, because Sandlin,
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the individual man, doesn't own Tony, his
corporation does. And finally, because no
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one lived on the premises where Tony was kept.
Michael Sandlin: And they actually won that case,
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and the judge revoked our permit. Basically
that was over. And at that point, I said, "Well,
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we'll never get a state permit to keep Tony."
Phoebe Judge: Here's where the story becomes
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like one of those choose-your-own-adventure
books. Instead of complying with the law,
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Michael Sandlin said, "No thanks, I'll
just figure out how to rewrite it." Michael Sandlin: I did hire some lobbyist. I
had a documentary made that we titled How Not
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to Kill a Tiger. And we made sure that every
legislator got a copy of that documentary.
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Phoebe Judge: This was in 2012. Sandlin sought
the help of Republican State Senator Rick Ward,
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and together they drafted a bill that
would make an exception just for Tony. Somehow, it worked. In 2014, SB250 was signed
into law by then-Governor Bobby Jindal.
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Michael Sandlin: We prevailed
because we told the truth. Carney Anne Nasser: I think that we can probably
all think of a law that we'd like to exempt
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ourselves from. And it's just not fair that he got
special treatment, and it's not constitutional,
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either. And that's separate and on top
of the fact that there's just simply no reason to keep a tiger — an endangered
species — in a gas station. I mean,
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it defies logic, and it's completely outrageous.
Phoebe Judge: The Animal Legal Defense Fund has
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filed another lawsuit, alleging that it was
a wild violation of the state's constitution
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to exempt Michael Sandlin from having to
follow the same rules as everyone else.
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Carney Anne Nasser: Animal Legal
Defense Fund's position is that it's an unconstitutional law, because our constitution in
the state of Louisiana provides that no law shall
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be made just for the benefit of one individual
or entity, which is clearly what that exemption
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for Mr. Sandlin is. Which is why we filed the
lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of
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that special law made just for Mr. Sandlin,
and the litigation is still pending.
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Michael Sandlin: I always felt like if they could
come in and take that tiger away from the truck
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stop, that they could come into anybody's home and
anybody's business and take whatever they want,
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and there's nothing we can do about it. I had the
ability to stand up and fight, the resources to
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stand up and fight, so I did.
Phoebe Judge: All over the truck stop, Michael Sandlin
has posted materials explaining that animal
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rights activists want to take Tony away.
And that next, they'll come for your pets,
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and after that, the hamburger on your
plate. He sells merchandise that says, "Animal rights activists taste like chicken."
Michael Sandlin: That's a little joke. It's a
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tiger licking his chops and says "animal rights
activists taste like chicken," and that's kind
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of our slogan. Those T-shirts sell like hotcakes,
and that helps us pay for the food to feed Tony.
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Yeah, it's been really tough. I mean, I've even
had the FBI contact me on several occasions and
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tell me to watch my back, that they've
intercepted phone calls, and text messages,
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and so forth, that they're going to
take me out and that sort of thing. So, there's some crazy people in this world.
Phoebe Judge: At first, we didn't understand why
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Michael Sandlin would still be fighting so hard.
It seems like he's gotten everything he wanted.
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But here's the thing. Apparently, this special law
allowing him to keep Tony applies only to Tony.
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So when he dies, that's the
end of the Tiger Truck Stop, or at least the tiger part of it.
Michael Sandlin: I would not be able to get
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another tiger. We would have to close the exhibit
down or maybe put in some other animals that are
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not banned here in the state of Louisiana. And
if you'd asked me 10, 20 years ago that this
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could ever happen in the state of Louisiana,
the Sportsman's Paradise, I'd have said you
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were crazy. But apparently the animal rights
activists have been busy lobbying and hard
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at work, and we were just blindsided.
Phoebe Judge: Do you think that business here — obviously you're well established.
But the Tiger Truck Stop, I mean, you drive
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up and down I-10, there's a tiger, and
it's called the Tiger Truck Stop. I mean,
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if there's no tiger, are you worried about
potential business, losing potential business?
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Michael Sandlin: I am. I mean,
the tigers are certainly a draw. And that was the purpose of the tiger exhibit
to begin with, and the animal rights activists
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like to accuse me of that. But I have no problem
admitting that, that the tigers were here as an
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attraction. But after 25 years, when all of this
started happening with the animal rights lawsuits
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and everything, after 25 years of taking
care of these animals and having 13 cubs
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born here at the truck stop, and wiping their
butts, and feeding them, and raising them,
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it means a lot more to me than that
now. It's really my life's work, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
Phoebe Judge: Sandlin estimates he spent half a
00:18:05
million dollars in legal fees to keep Tony at the
truck stop. And he's still going. He's filed a
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lawsuit of his own against the state of Louisiana,
alleging that it's discriminatory to prohibit him
00:18:16
or anyone from buying a tiger. And while lawyers
and lawmakers argue and write and rewrite laws,
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defining what is and is not okay to do with
animals, Tony is just there in his cage,
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gigantic and sleeping, occasionally opening his
eyes to look at whoever's come over to see him
00:18:35
after they finish getting gas.
[Jaunty string music.]
Criminal is produced by Lauren
00:18:48
Spohrer and me. Audio mix by Rob Byers.
Special thanks to Alice Wilder. Julienne
00:18:56
Alexander makes original illustrations
for each episode of Criminal. You can see them at thisiscriminal.com.
Criminal is recorded in the studios of
00:19:05
North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. We're
a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX,
00:19:12
a collective of the best podcasts around.
Thanks to Adzerk for providing their ad-serving
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supported by the Knight Foundation and Mailchimp,
00:19:24
celebrating creativity, chaos, and teamwork.
I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal
00:19:31
Jingle: Radiotopia. From PRX.