The Tiger Next Door, a documentary film about white tigers in captivity in the US
Press Kit
The recent news story of a woman killed by her pet bear in Pennsylvania (Oct 2009) or the story from last winter (Feb 2009) of the Connecticut woman who was brutally mauled by her neighbor’s 200 pound “pet” chimpanzee are only the latest in a long list of problematic stories of captive bred wild animals gone “bad.” Which raises the question– what do we want our relationship with wild animals to be in the 21st century, as the wild disappears?
The independently produced and directed documentary film The Tiger Next Door deals head on with the issue of captive-bred wild animals kept by private individuals. This feature length, character driven documentary film tells the startling story of one man has been breeding and selling tigers from his backyard for over 15 years. His great dream is to breed a stripeless white tiger– but at what cost to the animals, and at what risk to the community?
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Dennis Hill and captive bred white tiger cub in Flat Rock, Indiana. Photo credit: Harold Lee Miller.
NYPD officer rappels down side of building to tranquilize tiger found living in apartment in Harlem, New York. Oct, 2003. Photo credit: John Roca, Daily News
Hundreds of private individuals across the US and in parts of Canada are keeping tigers as pets -- in backyards, barns and roadside zoos. It is legal to own a tiger, leopard, other big cat or large wild animal in 21 of the 50 United States and many parts of Canada.
Director Camilla Calamandrei in the evidence room at US Fish and Wildlife office--Springfield, Illinois. Pelts, hides, skulls, and other body parts were confiscated during an undercover operation that identified men who were buying unwanted tiger pets and selling their body parts and meat on the black market. Photo Credit: Diane Zander.
The US government has no complete record of exactly how many tigers are in the country, where they are, or who owns them. Tiger breeders are regulated by the US Dept of Agriculture but enforcement is weak.
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A documentary film about people who keep tigers as pets, backyard tiger breeders, white tigers, the exotic pet trade, a black market for tiger bone, pelts and meat, tiger conservation, tiger attacks, people mauled by tigers, bears, cougars and chimps, Siegfried and Roy. Also concerning, human-animal relationships, animal law, and animal hoarding in the United States. Filmed on location in Indiana, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, California, and Wisconsin. Director, Producer Camilla Calamandrei, Rolling River Films.
