Tiger captured in New York apartment; owner to face fines

Jet, Oct 27, 2003

And you thought your neighbors were wild.

A 31-year-old New York man was recently charged with possession of a wild animal and reckless endangerment after authorities bagged a 400-pound tiger in his Manhattan apartment after it attacked and injured its owner, police said.

Authorities discovered Ming, the 20-month-old Siberian-Bengal mix, after it bit Antoine Yates who got between him and a small kitten. Yates, a part-time cabdriver, first went to Harlem Hospital for treatment, but when medical personnel became suspicious he fled to a Philadelphia hospital were he tried to convince medical staff the had been bitten by a pit bull. Meanwhile, an anonymous caller-who feared for his own safety after he was left to care for Ming-contacted the Center for Animal Care and Control about the tiger.

A team of animal control officers, police and Bronx Zoo workers were dispatched to track Ming in Yates' fifth-floor apartment in a Harlem housing project before the feline was tranquilized and removed. A 5 1/2 foot-long crocodile named A1 was also removed from the apartment. Wes Artope, director of the city's animal shelters, said the tiger had been kept in the apartment since he was a 6-week-old cub.

The animal shelter later transferred Ming to an animal sanctuary in Ohio, while A1 went to an animal preserve in Indiana.

Yates said he was "heartbroken" by the loss of his beloved tiger.

New York City law bans the owning of wild animals, said a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which charged Yates with possession of a wild animal and reckless endangerment.

Yates, who now walks with a pronounced limp and has his arm in a sling while he recovers from his injuries, stated that he misses his friend. "My leg is not the problem," he said. "It's the pain in my heart that's really bothering me.

"If giving love is a crime, I guess I committed the greatest crime in the world."