Naturally, being local to Toronto, there has been more indepth discussion of this in the local papers.TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian man who kept exotic cats behind his farmhouse was mauled to death by his 650-pound pet tiger, police said on Monday.
Norman Buwalda, a 66-year-old collector of wild animals, was found dead in the tiger's pen on Sunday afternoon at the property in western Ontario,
"The owner of some exotic animals went out to feed the tiger which was in a cage or large pen and the animal attacked him and killed him," said Troy Carlson, a constable for the Ontario Provincial Police who attended to the incident.
He said Buwalda's family and officials of nearby Southwold township would decide what to do with the tiger. The cat was found pacing inside the compound in which it was kept when police arrived on the scene.
The tiger was described as a large, fully grown male, although Carlson could not identify the subspecies.
"There were no witnesses so we don't know what prompted the attack, but a short time later a family member found (Buwalda) and contacted police," he said.
Carlson said that six years ago a Siberian tiger attacked a 10-year-old boy on the Buwalda property.
The focus on the discussion as been the fact that there is no central set of laws in Ontario concerning the ownership (etc) of exotic pets. This has alot of animal rights groups concerned, as well as people that own exotic animals for a living (i.e several small local 'zoos').
Fatal Attacks by Exotic Pets will continue until action is taken...
First, about the victim:TORONTO - Fatal maulings like the one an Ontario man suffered when his 300-kilogram pet tiger attacked will happen "again and again" if the province fails to bring in a licensing system for exotic animals, activist groups said Monday.
Norman Buwalda was killed Sunday when he entered a cage to feed his Siberian tiger. The 66-year-old kept the big cat on his property in Southwold, Ont., some 30 kilometres southwest of London.
The tragedy could have been prevented had the province brought in a ban on keeping of dangerous exotic pets when it revised the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act last year, said Melissa Matlow, programs officer for the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
While some municipalities have introduced bylaws prohibiting keeping exotic animals as pets that patchwork is inadequate and the province needs to step in and implement licensing, said Matlow.
"It should be restricted to only people who are keeping professional facilities and can ensure the animal's welfare and the public safety," she said, adding animals such as tigers are dangerous and do not make suitable pets.
"You need a licence to keep a gun - you don't need a licence to keep a tiger in your backyard and that's just inadequate for public safety."
Ontario is the only province that doesn't require a licence to keep dangerous exotic animals, the society added.
A tiger cub can be bought for a few hundred dollars from a roadside zoo, said Julie Woodyer of Zoocheck Canada.
"I'm not surprised at all by this tiger mauling, and it's going to keep happening again and again in Ontario until we put in some kind of licensing system to deal with these situations," she said.
"It's like a vanity pet. People like the way people perceive them when they own large and dangerous animals."
The Ministry of Community Safety, which spearheaded the amendments to the act, did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Last year, British Columbia implemented new rules to ban dangerous pets that could harm the public after Tania Dumstrey-Soos, 32, was clawed by a Siberian tiger owned by her boyfriend and bled to death. The attack occurred in front of one of her children.
Perhaps the most famous case of a big cat attacking its owner involved Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy. Horn was brutally mauled and severely injured on staged by Montecore, a massive white tiger, during a 2003 performance at The Mirage casino in Las Vegas.
In Ontario, there have been about 50 incidents reported since 1985 of exotic animals - including tigers, lions, jaguars, bobcats, bears and wolves - either escaping from zoos, sanctuaries, exhibits or private properties or attacking people, according to the society.
Buwalda's property had been the scene of tiger attacks before.
In June 2004, a 10-year-old boy suffered critical head and neck wounds after being attacked by a Siberian tiger after it was led out of its cage on a leash so the child could take its picture. Police said Monday they don't know if it was the same tiger that killed Buwalda, who has legally owned several tigers, a lion and cougar over the years.
The tiger that killed him is still in the cage on the property and is in the hands of the family, said provincial police Const. Troy Carlson, who added he didn't see any other animals on the property on Sunday.
Ed Das, who sold his business, Precision Tool and Machine Co., to Buwalda in 2002 said Buwalda had told him he had been attacked by his tigers several times in the past.
Das said he met with Buwalda in 2002 to discuss the business sale at a diner and Buwalda showed up an hour late with blood stains on his shirt. He said Buwalda had come directly from hospital.
"He was quite exhausted after being attacked by a tiger. Cuts and scratches all over and his shirt was still torn... There was of course blood on his shirt from this tiger attacking him," said Das.
"He had no fear of the animals and insisted they were perfectly comfortable with him - was just very cavalier in his manner around these tigers almost as somebody would be that was trying to show off."
Buwalda would also walk the tigers around on a chain on the edge of his property to deter thieves, said Das, who added the animals had facilities."
Das sold his business to Buwalda but said he took him to small claims court in 2003 or 2004 over a dispute about what assets were included in the sale.
Southwold Township, where Buwalda lived, brought in a bylaw after the 10-year-old boy was attacked banning a person from owning exotic animals.
Buwalda fought the bylaw in court and won.
The society says about 60 per cent of all Canadian zoos are in Ontario. Most of the 45 zoos in the province are roadside zoos, Matlow said. The society alleges that many are substandard facilities that keep animals in small, barren and unsafe enclosures.
Because the big cats aren't licensed there's no way to say for certain how many are being kept in Ontario but the society estimates about 500 exotic cats are kept as pets in the province.
Clearly, Buwalda was an idiot. You don't walk a 650 lb Tiger around on a chain, unless you're a trained animal handler with several guys covering you with powerful tranquilizer guns (i.e Circus and Zoo scenarios).
He sounds like one of those 'I own a big dog, look at me I'm tough' idiots, but with much, much more dangerous predators.
And walking the Tiger around would not deter somet thieves. Hell, they might be after the Tiger!
Now, onto the more important issue.
Quite frankly, I had no idea that exotic animals were not regulated by the provincal government.
I think they should be. I don't think an outright ban should be put into effect, but a liscensing system would be a good idea. Perhaps one with a limited number avialable province wide.
I mean, let's face it, what does a private individual need with own a 'exotic' cat? Does your average citizen really need the option of own a 600 pound+ Tiger? I know people that have trouble with 60 pound dogs, let alone a 600+ pound predator that hasn't been bred to be obedient for the last 10,000+ years.
What does everyone else think?
