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A 71-year-old Nevada man has been arrested after officials found seven Bengal tigers illegally kept on his desert land in Nye County. The man, Karl Mitchell, told authorities the animals were “emotional support animals” that aided him in dealing with PTSD, but officials stated he did not have the requisite legal permits and broke several public safety and animal welfare laws.
The arrest was made last Wednesday during a raid when Nye County law enforcement, accompanied by a veterinarian and wildlife experts, raided Mitchell’s property and took away the big cats. The tigers were moved to a safe, undisclosed sanctuary, where they will be kept under observation until further action is taken.
Mitchell, who has lived in Pahrump, roughly 100 kilometers west of Las Vegas, for a long time, was charged with resisting arrest and possession of a firearm by an prohibited person. He cooperated at first but would not relinquish the keys to the tiger enclosures, prompting the response of a SWAT team.
Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill told NBC News that Mitchell had a history of keeping large exotic animals on his property. “We have known for several years he has had big cats on his property, and for the last two years, this has been in violation because he had no permits for those cats,” McGill stated.
Pictures and footage uploaded on social media depicted the tigers being led around open spaces and interacting with the public, which was cited as flagrant violations of animal safety and public welfare regulations.
Mitchell did, though, justify what he had done in an interview with The New York Times when he said, “They give me calmness, peace. They’re our whole life, and they’re our children.” He asserted that a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs doctor had certified that he needed the animals as PTSD therapy.
He also added that he had taken the tigers away from Joe Exotic, the now-jailed former zoo operator and star of Tiger King series, who was behind bars on charges of orchestrating a murder-for-hire.
Nevertheless, Nevada legislation is stringent regarding the keeping of exotic animals. An individual must have a “Special Conditions Animal Permit” to keep or care for animals such as tigers, and officials verified that Mitchell did not possess any. The state has been trying to stop unlicensed people from keeping big cats in private homes, as they can pose a threat to the community and to the animals themselves.
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