Veteran with prescription for 'emotional support tigers' fuming as cops take action

A war veteran claiming to have a prescription for "emotional support " has complained that "stole" the exotic cats from his property.

Karl Mitchell said he and his fiancée Catherine Griffiths were awoken by police from the Nye County Sheriff's office on Wednesday morning, who had arrived to seize their seven Bengal tigers, finding he did not have the correct permits to keep the . Mr Mitchell, 71, who suffers from PTSD, was taken into custody for resisting a police officer and allegedly threatening to release the tigers on deputies when they came to his home in Pahrump, Nevada.

He has been left enraged by the incident, claiming he had tried to protect the animals as they were and herded into a police trailer, and that he was permitted to keep them.

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Mr Mitchell, a Vietnam war veteran, told he has a legitimate prescription from his VA doctor that states the six big cats were designated "emotional support animals". The note written by his psychologist says the loss of the tigers "would severely undermine his mental health and emotional well-being".

The letter could allow him to keep the animals - which were once owned by "Tiger King" Joe Exotic - without obtaining a permit from the state of Nevada, although he and his partner have a US Fish and Wildlife registration for the big cats.

Nye County commissioners granted Mr Mitchell a Special Conditions Animal Permit in 2019, but he was restricted from exhibiting or transporting them for any reason other than medical care. In 2023, a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the county after he was found not to have the proper permits for keeping exotic animals.

The judge stated he was not in compliance with local county codes regarding the keeping of exotic pets, and found no evidence of discrimination Mr Mitchell had alleged.

The veteran argued representatives of the county who obtained the cats in a chaotic 7am visit to his property on Wednesday were not "in compliance with the federal government". He said: "We’re the most qualified. We’re in compliance with the federal government and the county is not."

Mr Mitchell said police had "no regard for the welfare of the tigers" when they came to seize them, claiming they gave them drugs that "could cause them to regurgitate and die". He added that, after drugging them, the animals were put in a truck for transport, with Ms Griffiths saying she was also scared by the cops' presence, adding: "You don’t transfer animals in a cargo trailer."

While he was held in custody following his brush with police this week, local cops said the tigers were taken to an "undisclosed sanctuary where they will be held until ordered to be released". Mr Mitchell and Ms Griffiths said they have since learned they were transported to Arkansas, and are worried for their former pets' wellbeing.

But representatives of the Nye County Sheriff's Office previously said that, while the tiger's conditions "seemed good", there were "some concerns" about their living conditions when they were seized from Mr Mitchell's property. Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill said following the initial seizure that they had done so for public safety and "the safety of the cats".

Sheriff McGill added that Mr Mitchell had made threatening remarks as deputies arrived, and they were forced to work quickly to complete the operation as he told police he would release the animals if they came after him.