There are 5000 tigers kept as pets in the US but, many are mistreated

There are more than 5,000 tigers are kept as pets in the US, as against only 3,200 remaining free in the wild globally but, the animals kept as pets are mistreated. Hence, activists are calling for imposing restrictions on who can own these exotic animals and who cannot.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 26 December 2015.

It is simple to own a tiger as a pet in the US - Americans can get permission to keep them by giving a name, address and a $40 fee. This is usually the procedure and it allows the owners to legally keep a big cat in most US states.
However, when the animal becomes big enough, they become too difficult to handle and many of them fall victim to abuse. Some of them are bred for profit and starved while being kept in cages that are too small.
Other forms of exploitation are - to breed cute and profitable tiger cubs. In a petting zoo one can pay $200 to swim with a cub and ten people a day means a pretty decent income. The US Department of Agriculture has filed a complaint against the Dade City Wild Things petting zoo accusing it of mishandling the animals.
It may be recalled that in 2011, an animal owner in Ohio released his collection of over 50 exotic animals, including lions and tigers, before killing himself. In the ensuing chaos, the police had to shoot and kill most of the big cats . It prompted state legislation that put strict regulations on owners and banned future ownership of exotic animals.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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