Bhagavan Antle
AKA "Doc" Antle (but he's no intellectual)
Page 35 of Alan Green's book Animal Underworld: "An animal handler who has claimed to also own an Exxon tiger is Bhagavan Kevin Antle, who was an assistant to Jack Hanna during his appearances on Good Morning America and Late Night With David Letterman. Known alternatively as Kevin Bhagavan, Kevin Antle, Mahamayavi Bhagavan Antle, Ghagavan Antle, and Dr. Kevin Antle (he supposedly earned a doctor of natural sciences degree from the Chinese Science Foundation), Antle also claimed to own the MGM lion, even though Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. sent him a cease-and-desist letter, and he implied in his literature an affiliation with Greenpeace, until he was told to cease and desist. Antle is a self-described big-cat conservationist who presides over The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS), which operates a mobile petting zoo, leases tigers for TV commercials, and charges people at shopping malls and festivals to have their pictures taken with an animal. Antle hauls around a crossbred lion and tiger to such places as casinos in Biloxi, Mississippi. He is also known for owning a lion that, in 1991, had to be pulled off a terrified model during a photo shoot in Manchester, New Hampshire. That same year, the federal government charged Antle with repeated violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including substandard housing for big cats, and to settle the charges he agreed to pay a $3,5000 fine. He was also cited in Massachusetts that year for illegally displaying his cats, and he was threatened with arrest and confiscation of the animals if he didn't immediately leave the state. What's more, Antle was the target of an unsuccessful 1991 Tennessee lawsuit regarding his alleged beating of a Bengal tiger with a wooden shaft."
In an article he wrote for the Phoenix Exotic Wildlife Association in 2005 Antle claimed to be a medical doctor saying, "I still think this is your right to have your own tiger and to be killed by your own tiger. Just keep it in a cage forever and don't let anyone else near you or watch you have it happen. I know this rambled on a bit but I was trying to make several points that are hard to explain. I often say that as an MD., I can talk you trough [sic] taking out someone's kidney, but I can not talk you through tiger training. You have to live it to understand it. Dr. Bhagavan Antle"
Antle bragged that he had trained more than 400 big cats, so where are they now? If his sordid career began in the 1980's, and tigers live into their late teens and twenties, most of those cats should still be alive. No show-boating tiger trainer uses cats "trained" by someone else. Unfortunately there are no state or federally imposed census reports that are open to public inspection and not enough inspectors within those agencies to insure that cats are not being killed and entering the black market trade. It is known that the US is second only to China in its consumption of black market tiger parts but there is neither the funding, nor the will to prove where those cats originate.
Breaking All the Rules
This video of people swimming with tigers at T.I.G.E.R.S. aired November 12, 2008 on Inside Edition. Millions of people saw Kevin Antle flagrantly disregarding USDA's big cat policies and many of them complained, but USDA has done nothing about it. Quote: "The handling regulations prohibit the exhibition of such animals without sufficient distance and/or barriers between the animals and the viewing public to assure the safety of the public and the animals. Trained handlers, leashes, and stages, for example, are not substitutes for sufficient distance and/or barriers."
Complaints can be sent to:
USDA/APHIS/AC
920 Main Campus Drive Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27606-5210
E-mail: aceast@aphis.usda.gov
Phone: (919) 855-7100
Fax: (919) 855-7123
Regarding:
USDA Exhibitor's License 56-C-0116
Bhagavan Antle, T.I.G.E.R.S.
1818 Hwy 17 N #316
Surfside Beach, SC 29575
Criminal Record?
Kevin L. Antle, DOB 9/22/58 3304 Mohawk Lane, St. Joseph, MO 64506 plead guilty to trespassing in case number 06BU-CR01605-01 on 08/17/2006.
Kevin Ray Antle DOB 5/6/79 Drunk Driving in case number CR200-1389F(M) in Mo. and another infraction in CA on 5/22/2000 in case number BAM010138
Do you know Kevin Antle's date of birth and the name on his driver's license?
Bashing People Who Want More Protective Rules
When Carole Baskin and Big Cat Rescue became known for trying to stop the trade in exotic cats as pets, Bhagavan Antle, who is often called Doc Antle a breeder of ligers, lions and tigers, began bashing her and Big Cat Rescue. There is no justification for inbreeding tigers to create the white coats and no excuse for cross breeding lions and tigers just because ignorant people will be to see a freak. Ligers and white tigers suffer painful birth defects that often kill them as youngsters, but for those in the business of having plenty of babies on hand, that is better for the exploiters.
See an interactive online map of exotic cat owners. See people being stupid with big cats, endangering themselves and others HERE. See the awful conditions that many captive cats endure HERE.
Breeding Freaks for Profit
He claims his are all accidents and yet calls himself a professional. Does he not know what causes a cub to be born?
A liger is the result of breeding a male lion to a tigress. A tigon is the result of breeding a male tiger to a lioness. Since lions and tigers do not exist in the same areas, this is not something that happens in the wild. It is done in captivity by disreputable carnies to produce a freak that ignorant people will pay to see. These cats suffer from many birth defects and usually die young. Because ligers are usually larger than either parent, it also puts the tigress at great risk in carrying the young and may require C-section deliveries or kill her in the process. When the public quits paying to see these unfortunate creatures, the evil people responsible for breeding them will stop this inhumane practice.
Watch a video below that was created by a teenage supporter of Big Cat Rescue who already understands, better than most adults, what the truth is behind the breeding and showcasing of ligers.
You can stop the abuse. Don't support places, like T.I.G.E.R.S. and Jungle Island, that breed ligers. Bhagavan Antle who calls himself Doc Antle, the person you will most often see promoting this shameful practice, has gone to great lengths to stop us and the brave young girl who created the video above, from letting you know the truth. Visit her YouTube site HERE and let her know you appreciate what she is doing to prevent the future breeding of ligers and tigons.
When you see ligers in the news or on TV, write the station and let the reporters know the truth about hybrids. You can send 5 letters at once to the media of your choice through an online email system at CatLaws.com
The following story attempts to make it sound like there could be some reason to breed lions and tigers for public amusement, but anyone who cares about animals knows that this is a despicable thing to do because the cats have to spend their lives in deprivation and confinement and are genetically so unhealthy that they usually die young. The ONLY reason anyone breeds ligers is to create a freak that simple minded people will pay to see.
Ligers Make a "Dynamite" Leap Into the Limelight
by: Maryann Mott August 5, 2005
It's half lion, half tiger, and completely real. Now thanks to a cameo in the 2004 cult movie Napoleon Dynamite, the liger has leaped into the limelight, prompting fans to ask, What are they really like?
The faintly striped, shaggy-maned creatures are the offspring of male lions and female tigers, which gives them the ability to both roar like lions and chuff like tigers-a supposedly affectionate sound that falls somewhere between a purr and a raspberry.
Weighing in at about a thousand pounds (450 kilograms) each, they typically devour 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of raw meat in a meal.
"For the most part they're really laid back," said Jason Hutcherson, vice president of Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain , Georgia . "They like to swim and play in the water."
The drive-through wildlife park is believed to have the country's largest concentration of ligers, housing ten of the massive cats.
Since 1999 the park has bred its male lion and female tiger many times, producing about 24 cubs.
Not all of them have been healthy, though.
"We've had 3 out of 24 that, for all practical purposes, were normal but developed as they grew older some kind of neurological disorder," Hutcherson said.
Autopsies didn't reveal what caused the cubs to develop "head shakes," so park staff "chalked it up to a genetic defect," Hutcherson said.
Accredited zoos frown on the practice of mixing two different species and have never bred ligers, says Jane Ballentine, a spokesperson for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, based in Silver Spring , Maryland.
"Keeping the two species separate has always been standard procedure," she said.
Wild Ligers?
Long before fans heard Napoleon claim that the liger is "pretty much my favorite animal," there have been rumors of the hybrid's existence in the wild.
Lion-tiger mating occurs in captivity. But it does not happen in the wild, probably for the same reason humans do not breed with gorillas or chimps.
"Crossing the species line" does not generally occur in the wild, because "it would result in diminished fitness of the offspring," said Ronald Tilson, director of conservation at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley.
Geography is another obstacle to natural lion-tiger mating. Wild tigers mainly inhabit Asia, whereas the lion's current natural habitat is almost entirely in Africa .
The Gir National Forest in India is the only place in the world where tiger and lion ranges overlap, fueling speculation that wild ligers roamed the area hundreds of years ago.
Tilson doesn't believe it.
"This would be highly improbable, because the Gir forest is really very dry and not optimal tiger habitat," he said.
A Liger Named Patrick
Perched on the edge of the Mojave Desert near Los Angeles , California , a lone liger, named Patrick, lives at Shambala Preserve, which bills itself as "a haven for endangered exotic big cats."
"The interesting thing about these animals is that they have the best qualities of the tiger and the best of the lion," said movie actress and conservationist Tippi Hedren, who has run Shambala since 1972. "Those qualities manifest themselves in the fact that they like to be in the water [a tiger trait] and are very social [a lion trait]."
Many of the cats at the 80-acre (32-hectare) sanctuary are orphans or castoffs from circuses, zoos, and private owners who could no longer care for the animals.
Patrick arrived at the sanctuary seven years ago after federal authorities shutdown the roadside zoo in Illinois where he lived.
The 800-pound (360-kilogram) liger was kept in such a small cage that his hind-leg muscles had started to atrophy, said Hedren, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.
Patrick's compound at Shambala allows him plenty of room for exercise. A stream runs through his compound, so his tiger half can play in the water or his lion half can stay out of it, whichever he chooses.
Liger in the Hills
Spirit of the Hills Wildlife Sanctuary in Spearfish, South Dakota , recently acquired a liger named Samson and 48 other big cats after federal authorities closed a Minnesota wildlife facility.
"Everyone who comes wants to see Samson," said Trevor Smith, an environmental biologist and sanctuary board member.
The four-and-a-half-year-old hybrid tips the scales at over a thousand pounds (over 450 kilograms), and eats 30 to 50 pounds (14 to 23 kilograms) of raw meat every other day.
"Samson is really picky. He'll only eat beef, elk, and venison," Smith said. "We try and feed him chicken, like the other animals, but he won't touch it. He'll let it rot in the sun."
The sanctuary-whose mission is to educate people about wild animals and emphasize that they don't make good pets-has seen a surge in visitors since Samson's arrival in June.
Much of the public's curiosity about the liger stems from Napoleon Dynamite, Smith said.
Smith worries that Samson is "becoming too much of a freak show."
If Samson had his way, Smith said, he'd sleep away the day inside, away from public view.
"We've had a huge ethical debate at the sanctuary on whether or not we should lock him out of his shed," Smith said. "But at the same time, he's why the visitors are coming."
Tigons and Ti-tigons
A tigon is the product of a male tiger and female lion. They receive growth inhibitor genes from both parents and so are smaller than either of them. They show much the same coloration of ligers except they sometimes have more distinct stripes. As with ligers the females are fertile whereas the males are sterile. They have the same vocalizations as liger, a sort of cross between lion and tiger. Ti-tigons speak tiger. Tigons are now rarer than ligers, but in the late 1800's/early 1900's tigons were more common.
As long as stupid people will pay to see these unfortunate animals, there will be people like Antle who will breed and use these cats for their own gain.
Subject: YouTube DMCA Counter-Notification
Counter Notification of claim filed by Kevin Antle, alias Dr. Bhagavan Antle, of a tiger breeding facility called T.I.G.E.R.S., the acronym for The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species
YouTube, LLC
Attn: YouTube DMCA Counter-Notification
901 Cherry Ave.
Second Floor
San Bruno, CA 94066
Fax: 650.872.8513
Email: copyright@youtube.com
Attn: YouTube DMCA Counter-Notification
The following counter claim includes your instructions to ensure that we have met with every requirement.
1. Identify the specific URLs of material that YouTube has removed or to which YouTube has disabled access.
Since you rejected the videos I do not have the URL that you had assigned to them, but the Raw Files were: CWAPCHB.mov added Feb. 14, 2009 and USDA Fails Animals and Public.mov added Jan. 9, 2009 and I have not deleted them so that you can see them as they originally appeared on my site before you disabled them as Rejected. This counter notice has been revised to include this URL that appears to be the one for the longer version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlPqXvfb-E&feature=player_embedded The shorter version did not have any material that was not part of the longer one.
2. Provide your full name, address, telephone number, and email address, and the username of your YouTube account.
I am Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue and the YouTube account is BigCatRescue. My email address is MakeADifference@BigCatRescue.org and our site administrator's email that is used on the YouTube account is FilmCrew@BigCatRescue.org Our business address is 12802 Easy Street Tampa, FL 33625 813.920.4130 and our home website is http://www.BigCatRescue.org
3. Provide a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or San Francisco County, California if your address is outside of the United States), and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
I consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district of Florida where our business is located and will receive service of process from the Complaining Party or an agent of such party at 12802 Easy Street Tampa, FL 33625 813.920.4130.
4. Include the following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled."
I swear, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled because the complainant knows he is not the copy right holder of any of these images. The complaint you received from the person who calls himself, Dr. Bhagavan Antle, is the alias of Kevin Antle who is neither a doctor, Ph.D., nor some exotic sounding Bhagavan. He files such false claims of copy right so that the public is not alerted to his true name, nature and activities regarding the use of tigers. He has never filed a lawsuit, because he has no grounds to do so. All he can do is hope to get help from businesses like YouTube, in causing us harm by deleting content and accounts, by filing these false statements.
Being in the photos, or images that are filmed of his activities at T.I.G.E.R.S. and in the malls and parking lots he provides tigers to across the country does not make him the copy right holder of any of the images. He is not in any of the photos in these two videos that discuss how USDA does so little to regulate his industry. I have asked him to provide such proof of copy right, and he cannot do so. He did not provide it to you either. That is because he is not the copy right holder.
Kevin Antle has filed similar false claims with GoDaddy.com, google.com and others and in every case has not responded to the counter claims that we have filed because there is no merit in his claims. We have prevailed in every case and are preparing a lawsuit against him as a result of this last attack on us via YouTube. There are better ways to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars when so many big cats are being used, abused and discarded by an industry that uses them as photo props while they are cubs and then has no legitimate use for them. For that reason we have tried to ignore him, but find we now may have no other choice.
If I were to learn that I was posting, or allowing the posting of copy right protected material, it would be removed immediately. I would rely upon the notification of the true copy right holder, however, and not upon that of someone that I believe to be abusing animals who has been known to use any means possible to keep us from exposing him.
I ask that you remove the two flags from my BigCatRescue account, reinstate the videos, and note on our account that we are subject to such false claims based entirely on our efforts to end the abuse of big cats and not because of any impropriety on our account. Please contact us before taking action on false claims filed by Kevin Antle and his kind and you will see that there is no merit to their claims of copyright infringement. Thank you for your time in the matter.
5. Sign the notice. If you are providing notice by e-mail, a scanned physical signature or a valid electronic signature will be accepted.
For the cats,
Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue
an Educational Sanctuary home
to more than 100 big cats
12802 Easy Street Tampa, FL 33625
813.493.4564 fax 885.4457
http://www.BigCatRescue.org