Big Cats and the Media

Big cats are big news, but only when things go wrong.
If you dig around you'll find stories about a new cub, or how a facility has developed a new strategy for supporting wild populations.  You really won't see some of the really exciting things...  Did you know that a biologist, working with a zoo and a conservation based breeding program, managed to milk a tiger?  That means better milk replacer formulas can be developed to help in situations where hand raising is appropriate.  That's so exciting!  But not nearly as exciting as a keeper getting killed. Or an animal "escaping" into an adjacent exhibit. Which is why you probably had no idea.

You might wonder why zoos, keepers, biologists, directors, and others don't try harder to steer the media toward more positive, or at least less biased reporting.  I'm going to show you.


Last summer one of our keepers broke our safety protocol and learned a hard lesson.  I got a message from Shaun Hall of the Daily Courier out of Grants Pass asking about the incident.  He wanted to run a story.  I gladly spoke with Shaun and let him know that The keeper was going to be fine, the Park was reviewing and updating safety protocol, and that the tiger involved was completely unharmed.  He called my personal number several times, digging for more information.  I continued to answer his calls, and answer his questions, but eventually had to bluntly ask why he was after the gory details.  "Well, people like the critters."  Yes, but when we had new babies at the Park, we had to call them.  The Daily Courier did a very nice article, and never followed up.  Why now, when someone was injured, is the Park so interesting?  Why do you want to know which tiger was involved, or the name of the keeper?  The cat didn't do anything wrong, and the keeper has been punished enough without being held up for public humiliation.
Shaun agreed to my reasoning (supposedly), graciously accepted the information that I was willing to offer, and said he would love to come out to the park to celebrate those cubs' second birthday, and run a nice positive story.

I guess he thought I wouldn't see the local paper because I was on location elsewhere.

What follows is the story published in the Grants Pass Daily Courier.  I pasted it into a word document and inserted my responses and commentary throughout before sending it back to him complete with the personal note at the bottom.

I was hoping that he would respond.  Maybe he could justify what he did, or apologize, or include some of the clarifications I sent in a later article.  He never did.  I sent this over his head, to the owners and editors of the paper.  Nothing. Zero response.  I did hear from the Daily Courier later in the summer when they wanted me to purchase advertising with them.  I was nice, but they won't be doing that again.  Ever.

I have a very similar situation with Channel 9 news in Denver.  Heavily slanted, damning article, me following up with the other side of the story and various corrections, and then...  Nothing.  They don't care.  They don't want to give you the opportunity to care, either.

So it's not that nobody tries to get the other side of the story out there, it's that the bully has all the best toys, the loudest horns, and the most people willing to stand with them, because only a fool would stand with the loser, right?

Last note - I took Sara's last name out of the article, but otherwise it's a true copy.

By Shaun Hall of the Daily Courier

Posted Jul. 3, 2016 at 6:03 PM

CAVE JUNCTION — The bite that a tiger inflicted on an animal keeper at Great Cats World Park last month was serious enough that it actually broke the keeper's arm.

That detail about the June 16 incident was just one of several revelations contained in a newly released report filed by Josephine County Animal Protection Officer David Pitts, who visited the park the next day.

In a related development, officials confirmed that two U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors visited the park Thursday.

Pitts reported that the Great Cats general manager told him keeper Sara R__ hadn't noticed that the tiger's "den" was unlocked when she pulled a cable opening a "guillotine" door, which in turn allowed the cat, a rare white Bengal tiger named Scooby, to enter the den.

When the tiger then rubbed his face against the gate, it opened, prompting R__ to push her body against it an effort to close the gate, the manager told Pitts.

When the keeper then put her arm across the slightly open gate, to gain leverage, the tiger struck.

**Struck?  She stuck her arm in his face and he bit her.  Then he let go, because he is not a vicious beast.  He is a tiger.

The manager, identified in the report only as "Sarah," blamed another employee for leaving the tiger's den unlocked, and blamed R__ for not noticing it was unlocked.

R__ suffered fractures and extensive soft-tissue damage.

**You forgot to mention that once the bone knits, she will fully recover the use of that arm.  The doctors expect there will be no permanent damage beyond a scar.

Pitts reported that the tiger, if it escaped the den, could have hopped a 6-foot wooden fence.

**He could swim a moat, too.  Those are 8” security fences. He STILL never had access to any public area of the park, and he never made any attempt to leave his den area.

Messages left Friday for Great Cats management to comment for this report were not returned.

**Because, as I told you before, we are on location and difficult to reach on the weekends.  That’s why I gave you my personal cell number, which you failed to use in this instance, though you have called me before.

In a related development, two U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors visited the park Thursday.

Department spokeswoman Tanya Espinosa said the agency was looking into the incident to determine if there were any Animal Welfare Act violations.

**This is standard protocol in case of an animal related injury.

The biting incident is not the first for the park and its president, Craig Wagner, according to the USDA.

Five years ago, during a "photo shoot," a teenager allowed to handle a tiger and leopard was bitten by the leopard, according to a USDA complaint filed in 2013.

**As of this time, the USDA has failed to show any proof in regard to this ALLEGED violation.  No medical records, no reports, not even a name.  We are at a loss as to where this complaint originated from or why an unsubstantiated rumor is allowed on a public record.

After that incident, a leopard was left loose and unattended inside an admission/gift shop building, whereupon an adult and toddler entered and were injured, according to a complaint filed by the agency's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The complaint didn't specify how they were injured.

**A very small leopard cub was in a crate in the gift shop, and managed to wiggle her way out.  The toddler ran at her, and got nipped.  Afterwards, the family went on our 1.5 hour walking tour and enjoyed petting the baby servals before following one of our employees to the clinic. (The Park insisted and paid for the visit.) The child was treated with a bit of tape. 

The complaint alleges several other safety and animal care violations between 2008 and 2011, including lack of adequate barriers between the public and cats on stage. The complaint against the facility is still awaiting hearing, Espinosa said.

**During this time, the statutes that the park is to follow in regard to the distance and barriers guidelines did not change, but the opinions of the inspectors whose job it is to assure compliance did.  The statutes are vague and left to the interpretation of the individual inspector, and since we have come to an understanding by working with those inspectors, we have had no more citations.  With just a bit more research you can find the more recent inspection reports, clearly showing us in compliance.

According to the Associated Press, at least 22 people have been killed and 246 injured by exotic cats in the United States since 1990. In 2013, the head keeper at WildCat Haven Sanctuary in Sherwood, near Portland, was attacked and killed by a cougar when she was cleaning an enclosure alone.

*22 people killed in 26 years, the vast majority of whom put themselves in harm’s way with complete understanding that they were doing dangerous work. 

Last year 34 Americans were killed by pet dogs.  

Great Cats World Park is unaffiliated Wildcat Haven, and should not be vilified due to someone else’s tragedy, especially when protocol varies so widely between the two facilities. 

Since 2004, Wagner has been associated with the Great Cats World Park, a popular tourist attraction located at 27919 Redwood Highway.

The park is home to more than 40 cats, including lions, leopards and tigers.

**Craig Wagner began construction of Great Cats World Park in 2003, and opened to the public in 2005.  At this time, he has well over 30 years of experience working with and caring for big cats.  The Park also houses 13 species of cat not mentioned above.

The agency said Wagner was convicted in 1993 in Wisconsin of animal neglect

**In the 90's, Wagner was arrested and jailed for growing pot.  His cats were confiscated and he successfully sued to get them back.  So that the county didn’t get stuck with the bill for feeding these animals while they were in custody, Wagner was charged with a misdemeanor. The court was able to show no evidence of food in the enclosures.  Today you will still find no leftover food, because it gets removed once the cats are finished eating.  Failure to do so is a USDA violation for unsanitary conditions.

It should be noted that the USDA was called in to lend their weight to this incident, but they found no violation.  

 and was warned in 2004 about failing to provide care for three leopards and other animals.

**This warning came from a facility in Sandstone, MN.  At the time, Wagner was working at Wildlife Safari in Winston, OR, and building the Park in Cave Junction.  He had left the cats under the care of an experienced keeper, and the facility owner, which was the CEC, not Wagner.

In 2004, the park was found guilty in U.S. District Court of conspiring to violate the Endangered Species Act by agreeing to sell endangered ocelots.

**This is false.  In 1999, the Center for Endangered Cats purchased an Ocelot from a breeder.  The transaction included a lot of documents, but not the right ones.  The lack of proper documentation is what violated the Endangered Species Act.  Wagner admitted his mistake and paid a fine.  The courts recommended that Wagner keep the cat, in the best interest of the animal.

Shaun,

We have now spoken several times, and you have insisted that you are running these stories because people “Care about the critters”. People care, but you are telling a one-sided and heavily skewed version of what life is at Great Cats World Park.  Nowhere do you mention Craig’s 35+ years of experience, the Park’s successful breeding of endangered cats, the educational value of the tours, the tens of thousands of happy visitors, the college credits earned by internships at the Park, the vibrantly healthy cats, or the Park’s efforts toward global conservation and local public outreach. 

Whatever your intentions or goals for posting such an article, please understand that you have hurt us.  

I asked you specifically not to identify Scooby.  I asked this because I did not want this magnificent animal’s engaging personality to be tainted in the public eye simply for following his instinct.  I asked you specifically not to identify Sara.  I asked this because nobody is perfect, and though she made a mistake, her injury is both lesson and punishment enough without you opening her up to public ridicule.  

You stating that the manager “blamed” others in the incident report is also deliberately misleading.  When being interviewed by the authorities, we are taught to give straight forward answers.  There is no room for and individual to state, “but I should have checked”.  Nobody is blaming anybody for anything. Instead we have implemented new and better safety protocol while we count our blessings that the cat and keeper are doing just fine.

I am disappointed in you.

Personally I have dedicated four years to Great Cats, and let it encompass my entire life.  I have gone weeks without a break, engaging in backbreaking labor, developing programs to help the cats and our community, and answering emails and phone calls late into the day.  Countless times I have given up the chance of having a day to myself because a vendor was coming to visit, or the weather took a sudden turn, or because a false report placed our geriatric lioness wandering somewhere in the woods.  I have spent hours in the office, wet, freezing, and covered in mud and cat poo, because the animals come before my administrative duties.  Nearly four years in the beautiful Illinois River Valley, and I have only visited the Caves on business, been to the Redwoods twice, and have had no opportunity to create any kind of social life outside of my coworkers.  And then, after another weekend of putting on my best smiling face and striving to teach the public about the natural world and the importance of our wild cats, I see this…  You, standing up in both print and digital media, showing off only the worst that you could find to say about us and our home.  All that, and I don’t even get to be considered as a thinking, feeling person.  

I am exhausted, and too heartsick to truly be angry anymore. 

I can’t even imagine how Craig is feeling right now.  This Park, these cats, are representative of his entire life’s work.

We, the staff and management of Great Cats World Park ask that a retraction be made.  Barring that, please do not mention us, or contact us again. 

Traveler W. Hawk

General Manager

Great Cats World Park

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