KAUFMAN, Texas — A Kaufman woman has been cited by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and ordered to ceased and desist the exhibition of two white tigers after a tip from People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the organization announced yesterday.
KAUFMAN, Texas — A Kaufman woman has been cited by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and ordered to ceased and desist the exhibition of two white tigers after a tip from People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the organization announced yesterday.
According to a USDA inspection report, Lisa Lopez of Kaufman, Texas, was exhibiting two white tigers for viewing and photo opportunities under the name "All Things Wild" and "The Royal White Tiger Discovery" at a flea market, "Faux Real Trade Days," at the Trinity Valley Exposition Fairgrounds in Liberty, Texas, in March 2021.
Lopez, according to the report, does not have an active and valid USDA license to exhibit.
"During the event in March, Lopez offered photo opportunities with the tigers, who are confined to small travel trailers and hauled all over the country," stated PETA. "According to Liberty city officials, Lopez tried passing off another exhibitor’s license as her own to the event organizer."
"PETA notes that Lopez’s current business partner, Marcus Cook—who confines the exhibit’s tigers on his property in Kaufman—had his own license to exhibit tigers permanently revoked in 2012 after he was charged with nearly 100 federal Animal Welfare Act violations for actions that include using an electric prod on a tiger and handling methods that resulted in a tiger cub biting a member of the public," stated PETA.
Lopez's own application for an exhibitor's license was denied in 2017. Despite this, PETA says Lopez and Cook continued to exhibit tigers under the license of Michael Todd until his license was terminated in 2020 for partnering with Cook.
In their statement yesterday, PETA urged the USDA to pursue criminal charges related to the unlawful exhibitions "in light of Cook’s and Lopez’s open disregard for the law and multiple civil orders not to violate it."
“No stranger to skirting law enforcement, this menacing menagerie drags along an extensive rap sheet wherever it travels,” says PETA Foundation Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Debbie Metzler. “PETA urges kind people to avoid the tawdry tiger shows at flea markets—and everywhere else.”