Striped Reckoning charts the shocking history of exotic big cats in the U.S., and how the struggle to drive a trio of “Tiger Kings” out of business led to a momentous new law protecting these majestic animals.
Striped Reckoning
Tiger Kings and the Battle to Rescue America's Captive Big Captive Cats
Publisher: Bison Books
381 words/paperback
Big cats have been used in circuses and movies and paraded onto television talk shows, encouraging ordinary Americans to think of these apex predators as docile and adorable. Breeders made small fortunes selling cubs and charging customers to pose for photos with them, only to neglect and abuse them behind the scenes.
Striped Reckoning explores how animal advocates worked to drive modern-day Tiger Kings Joe Exotic, Tim Stark, and Jeff Lowe out of business. After Exotic was convicted of trying to arrange the murder of a sanctuary owner, his story exploded on Netflix, and the federal government moved in on Stark and Lowe. Sanctuaries and animal welfare groups stepped in to rescue and rehabilitate the big cats that were left behind. Their advocacy led to a momentous new law protecting these majestic animals.
“This heartrending book belongs on the shelves of animal lovers everywhere.”
Author and animal advocate Marc Bekoff
Excerpt from Striped Reckoning
Turpentine Creek’s Tanya and Emily saved a thirteen-year-old lion named Chief for last.
Chief was striking: he boasted a magnificent mane, a thick blond fringe around his face that deepened into a chocolate brown color and ran most of the way down his sides and all the way along his belly. But his luxurious coat couldn’t hide his emaciated body. He suffered from worms and sores throughout. Seven days earlier he’d stopped eating or drinking, walking or even standing and he was severely dehydrated. He hadn’t walked or even stood in two days. Saddest of all, he seemed visibly depressed. He looked as though he might be dying right in front of them.
Sedating Chief for the journey would have been too risky. He was so weak the drugs could have killed him. Tanya and Emily decided to try to give him a liter of IV fluids and hope that made a difference. As Tanya held the IV bag, Emily knelt Chief’s fenced enclosure and spoke gently to the ailing lion. He was so lethargic that she was able to reach through and attach the IV without any trouble.
The fluids took effect immediately. Before he had fully absorbed them the fragile lion rose onto his badly atrophied hind legs, stretched out his muscles, and began nibbling on a chunk of raw chicken that had been placed before him. Moments later he moved closer to the fence and began rubbing his face against it, chuffing at the caregivers as if he understood they were there to help him.
Within minutes he staggered to the transport cage and stepped inside.
Praise for Striped Reckoning
“Striped Reckoning chronicles the astonishing brutal mistreatment and rescue of lions, tigers, and other big cats in America and tells how the downfall of ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic helped give them some hope and new lives. This heartrending book belongs on the shelves of animal lovers everywhere and surely will capture the hearts of anyone who has ever loved an animal. It’ll make you think twice about seeing any lion or tiger in captivity again.”
―Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy―and Why They Matter
“An engrossing and dismaying account of the business of big cats in America. Sadly, more tigers are now in captivity in the U.S. than in their native habitats. Carol Bradley takes us on a wild tour through the backyard and roadside zoos and faux sanctuaries where people besotted with big cats store, breed, and destroy lions, tigers, cheetahs, and others. Recent federal laws give her hope, but the underlying problem remains: people’s lust to own wild creatures.”
―Virginia Morell, author of the New York Times bestseller Animal Wise: How We Know Animals Think and Feel
“In her not-to-be-missed Striped Reckoning, Carol Bradley has once and for all put to rest the notion of a ‘humane’ treatment of the magnificent big cats caught and forced to perform or to serve as pets. The book provides an unflinching, sometimes disturbing, yet ultimately hopeful account of the efforts of big cat activists to discredit the activities of a seemingly endless array of unscrupulous showmen, misguided collectors, and ill-intentioned zookeepers oblivious to the welfare of an amazing set of creatures never meant to live in captivity. It is a fascinating and touching work.”
―Les Standiford, author of the New York Times best-selling Last Train to Paradise
“Carol Bradley has kidnapped me. I am locked inside her new book. What a gripping, confounding revelation full of twists as good as your favorite detective novel. Except, of course, this time it’s true. Brilliant!”
―Luis Alberto Urrea, author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Devil’s Highway: A True Story
