August 3, 2002 - AAS receives three phone calls from very upset people who witnessed the exploitation of this tiger and and a lynx at Burnaby's Brentwood Mall. We grabbed our camera and went immediately to the mall to verify what we had been told: that a lynx and a tiger were in cages barely larger than themselves for commercial purposes: Kim Carlton, the owner, charges $30 to have pictures taken with the tiger (of children too).
Because one of our contacts had previously been threatened the day before with having her ***camera and ***face punched, and mall security guards had been screamed at by Carlton to do something about the ***animal activists as they had promised, we had to be very circumspect and we were unable to get photos of the lynx.
The lynx was sadder than the tiger, if possible - in a tiny cage, three paces, turn, three paces, turn, over and over and over. It's eyes were huge and it was frantic looking as though it was being driven mad by the crowds.
According to a story in the Vancouver Sun, August 7/02, Carlton keeps the tiger confined under a deck on a city lot in Abbotsford. Abbotsford has no bylaw to prevent this but is considering one.
Burnaby has an "exotics" bylaw, the same one that most lower mainland and a few other BC municipalities have, that is so flawed that it ludicrous. The bylaw adopted by the District of North Vancouver is much superior, simpler, yet more comprehensive.
(Thanks to Martine Ward for her photos and to Yves, Barb and Dodi for helping AAS to get its photos.)