Animal-rights groups, tiger handler at odds
A dispute between a Maitland-based exoticanimal handler and an animal-rights group over six endangered Bengal tigers has stretched from Mexico to Minnesota, and it’s not over yet.
Mitchel Kalmanson applied in February for a permit with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to import the endangered tigers from Mexico, most likely for supply to the DeLandbased Cole Bros. Circus or other entertainment companies.
The cats would be housed and trained at his vast Sorrento facility, where 12 to 13 big cats are housed, including lions that can be heard roaring every night at midnight.
But Kalmanson said the fish and wildlife service denied his permit because of pressure from the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, which has frequently criticized him in the past.
PETA said in its 57-page opposition to the application that “carting endangered tigers around the country as part of a circus menagerie and making them do ‘tricks’ such as jumping ring fire, hind walk, layover pyramid … will be detrimental to the propagation or survival of the species.”
PETA also had a number of other issues with the application, including alleged inhumane transport and housing conditions, and previous Department of Agriculture violations and fines against Kalmanson, including a $6,000 fine in 2008 over conditions for tigers performing with the UniverSoul Circus.
Bengal tigers are in “dire danger” in the wild, said Carole Baskin, founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue in Tampa. There are only about 3,200 Bengal tigers worldwide, with only1,200 to 1,300 in their native India.
The problem is that most — if not all — Bengal tigers in the United States are hybrids bred with other tigers, said Gail D’Abrunzo, wildlife-rescue manager at the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
“A lot of them are crossbred with other species, and there’s no real way to tell if it’s purebred or not without a DNA t e st ,” D’Abrunzo said.
Both Baskin and D’Abrunzo were critical of the importation, saying bringing tigers into the country for animal acts would not help conservation efforts.
The USFWS requires that any importation of an endangered species must help in the species’ conservation. It allows importers to meet this requirement by donating to zoos or conservation funds.
But Kalmanson’s initial $50 donation to the Minnesota Zoo Tiger Conservation Campaign was returned by the organization, which led to the USFWS denying his importation request June 24.
“PETA called them and protested them accepting my money,” Kalmanson said Thursday. “They didn’t want to get involved and get 10,000 emails.”
The Tiger Conservation Campaign did not return calls and an email asking for comment.
In his official request for reconsideration, Kalmanson said he had every step approved with the USFWS and that the $50 was the first of a minimum monthly donation.
In a letter to the USFWS, Kalmanson wrote, “I do not see how you can belittle any amount donated in support of tiger research or conservation.”
He called PETA’s involvement “terrorist activist intervention.”
“The U.S. is one of the very few countries in the world with federal regulations that require 30 days for the public to comment,” Kalmanson said. “For most countries, it’s two to three days. You walk in on Friday and walk out with a permit on Monday. [It] doesn’t allow animal activists to make all these stupid innuendoes.”
He also said Mexican states’ banning of tigers in circus acts means tigers could be killed if they aren’t exported.
The USFWS has 45 days to respond to Kalmanson’s request, with another period of appeal afterward before the matter would go to the courts.