Last week at the Clark County Fair I visited the exhibit “Walk on the Wild Side.” Among other exotic mammals, snakes, and reptiles, was a Bengal tiger. The person in charge of fair exhibitors told me that this tiger is a rescue animal.
What caused me concern was the deplorable way in which it was exhibited: inside a makeshift cage (20-25 feet by 10 feet, and no more than ceiling height) on a concrete floor with no drainage. There were three plastic “toys” and a metal horse trough with some water in it. Nothing more. I overheard other visitors commenting on how awful this cage was. If this is a rescue animal, its life does not appear to have been wholly improved.
My overriding question is who issued the permit to exhibit exotic animals and is this enclosure in compliance with regulations? The state of Washington officially defers exotic animal permits to the city. No help there, since the fair isn’t in city limits. Are there readers who know who issues permits for this? How can we find out if this tiger is officially a rescue animal? And are there any regulations on how an exotic animal is to be kept and/or exhibited?
For future fairs, I hope Clark County will exclude this exhibitor.
Linda Mather
VANCOUVER
