Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Boxing champ faces criminal charges over cougar escape
State prosecutors have filed 23 criminal charges against heavyweight boxing champion Tyrone Spong over the escape of an “extremely dangerous” cougar into a suburban South Florida neighborhood.
The 60-pound cat showed up in Parkland in northwest Broward County last January, making residents nervous as it sunbathed on a driveway and hopped a fence into a backyard. Wildlife officers subdued it with a tranquilizer and took it to a licensed wildlife facility. Although initially underweight, it made a full recovery.
Investigators traced the cougar to the Parkland home of Spong, 34, of Northwest 80th Terrace, who holds a series of world boxing and kickboxing titles. He had been scheduled to fight Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk this week in Chicago but was disqualified after failing a drug test. He denied using any drugs.
In the cougar incident, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission charged Spong in August. This week, the Broward State Attorney’s Office filed formal charges in Broward County Court.
Among the charges against Spong are allowing the cougar to escape, keeping it without a permit, keeping it in too small a cage, not providing it with shelter, failing to
provide it with toys or things to do, and failing to provide clean water for exotic birds.
Reached by phone, Spong said he had nothing to say about the charges.
“I don’t know nothing
about it,” he said and hung up.
Each of the charges carries a maximum penalty of a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail.
The cougar was initially thought to be an endangered Florida panther. Both are subspecies of puma, the wild cat that lives in the United
States, Canada and Central and South America. But an analysis found the animal to be a captive-bred cougar. Although attacks on people are rare, there have been fatal attacks by cougars in the western United States.