03-04-2025
Watch: Nevada man says seven seized tigers were emotional 'support animals'
April 3 (UPI) -- Authorities in Nevada seized seven tigers from a Pahrump property and the owner of the big cats claims they were his emotional support animals.
The Nye County Sheriff's Office worked together with Nye County Code Enforcement and Animal Services to execute a search warrant Wednesday morning at the Pahrump home of Karl Mitchell, owner of Big Cats Entertainment.
"Mr. Mitchell was being evicted from the property, and the owner of the property was not being allowed onto the property to inspect," Sheriff Joe McGill told KSNV-TV. "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 said Mitchell was initially cooperative but ended up being arrested for resisting after physically struggling with a deputy.
"Our intention was to seize the cats, number one for public safety, number two for the safety of the cats. And then he struggled with the deputy," McGill told KVVU-TV.
Mitchell, who was released on bond Wednesday evening, said the tigers are his emotional support animals.
"The animals did not deserve to be snatched up, knocked out with drugs shipped across the country when they were happy and content where they had lived for more than 10 years," he said. "I'm a 100% disabled veteran with PTSD. The VA and my doctors have approved the tigers to work as support animals."
Mitchell said six of his tigers were rescued from Joe Exotic, the jailed former big cat owner from Netflix's Tiger King documentary series.
