In the wild, tigers roam for hundreds of miles as apex predators.
At circuses and fairs, they spend much of their time in cramped cages and perform cruel and unnatural stunts at venues here and around the country, said Ana Hunter, founder of the Lake Ariel-based A.N.A. Critters.
Hunter amassed more than 2,100 signatures in the past month on a change.org petition calling for Gov. Tom Wolf to bring an end to what she calls the “stone-age entertainment” of tiger and elephant acts. Short for “Another Noah’s Ark,” Hunter’s nonprofit animal rescue has nearly 100 animals that were either donated, surrendered or victims of abuse and neglect.
Hunter’s petition names Florida-based Brunon Blaszak and his traveling “Bruno’s Tigers” act, which performed at the Wayne
County Fair in August and will appear at the Bloomsburg Fair later this month.
He called the movement to ban tiger acts ludicrous, saying he and his family have been preserving tigers for four generations.
“We’re not hurting the species,” he said.
‘Alpha predator’
Performing tigers are forced to walk on tightropes, jump through hoops — sometimes flaming ones — and spend much of their time in tiny transport cages as they perform for crowds across the country, said Susan Bass, director of public relations for Tampa-based Big Cat Rescue.
“They’re the top of the food chain, they’re the alpha predator,” Bass said. “For people to treat these majestic cats just like they’re a prop for photos or to entertain people, it’s cruel, it’s absolutely cruel.”
State legislators are considering a bill introduced in April to ban the transport of bears, elephants, giraffes, lions, tigers and other performance animals “in a mobile or traveling housing facility for the purpose of participation in a traveling animal act.” Lawmakers have yet to vote on the legislation.
Hunter hopes her petition will speed up the process.
“That has no place in Pennsylvania or anywhere in the United States,” she said. “This has to stop.”
During her 10 years as a zookeeper, Hunter worked with Siberian and Bengal tigers. Watching them perform at local fairs and seeing them spend their time in small cages is devastating, she said. Forcing tigers to perform day in and day out causes a variety of mental and physical ailments, she said.
“You have neurotic behavior, you have anxiety, you have depression,” Hunter said. “Constantly being on a steel floor like that, that causes arthritis. ... And why? For what reason? There’s nothing entertaining about it.”
Hunter protested at the Wayne County Fair, and she intends to protest in Bloomsburg.
When the Big Cat Rescue, which has about 50 big cats, rescues cats that were kept in small cages, they often have severe dental problems from trying to escape, Bass said.
“When they can’t, they break their teeth,” she said, explaining root canals are one of their most common medical procedures at the rescue.
Being stuck in a cage with no stimulation can cause tigers to develop psychosis, Bass said.
“Anytime you see an exotic cat or a big cat doing anything that it would not normally be doing in the wild, just stay away,” she said. “They’ve been forced and threatened and beaten and whipped into submission to perform those horrible, horrible stunts just for the public to ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh’ at.”
‘Positive reinforcement’
On Wednesday, Blaszak said his tiger training techniques and performances are no different than training horses or dogs for agility shows, he said.
“It’s all positive reinforcement,” Blaszak said.
Blaszak has 20 tigers on his 40-acre compound and spends between four and six months touring to pay for the animals, he said. He spends hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on his tigers, he said.
“Nobody takes better care of tigers than I do,” he said.
The tigers are transported in smaller cages, but they stay in a large pen at events where they are exercised, he said, adding that he also stays in a trailer during his travels.
“That petition, they’re losers,” Blaszak said. “I have more people watching my shows than protesting my shows. I get huge crowds.”
He estimated more than 200,000 people watch his shows every year. He also said he hasn’t done any tightrope acts in several years, and he only had tigers jump through burning hoops when he did circus shows — never fairs.
During his flaming hoop routine, he never had a tiger get burned or even singed, he said.
“If a tiger didn’t want to do it, you can’t force them,” Blaszak said.
Roger Dirlam, director and president of the Wayne County Fair, said he never saw tigers being abused at the fair.
“There’s nothing wrong with this act that we had there, and that’s just the way I feel about it,” he said.
Other than a small group of protestors, he didn’t have any negative feedback, he said.
“We’re not going to throw it out because some people don’t think it’s right for us if it’s an event that everybody likes,” Dirlam said.
Efforts to reach Bloomsburg Fair organizers were unsuccessful Wednesday.
To view Hunter’s petition, visit www.change.org/p/governor-wolf-end-tigers-and-elephants-acts-in-pennsylvania.
Contact the writer:
flesnefsky@timesshamrock.com;
570-348-9100 x5181;
@flesnefskyTT on Twitter