Tiger fatally mauls handler during big cat show in Oklahoma, sheriff says

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A large tiger fatally attacked an animal handler as horrified onlookers watched during the end of a big cat show at a preserve in southeastern Oklahoma, officials said Monday.

Ryan Easley, 37, was dead when deputies arrived Saturday at the Growler Pines Tiger Preserve near Hugo, not far from the Texas border, just minutes after dispatchers received an emergency call, said Choctaw County Sheriff Terry Park.

Park said the tiger unexpectedly started to bite and then shake Easley while the two were inside of a large cage.

“It was a big tiger,” Park told The Associated Press. “This particular one, he'd had for quite some time.”

Park said Easley's wife and young daughter were present when the attack occurred.

Messages left Monday with Growler Pines Tiger Preserve were not immediately returned.

“This tragedy is a painful reminder of both the beauty and unpredictability of the natural world,” the preserve said in a statement on its Facebook page. “Ryan understood those risks — not out of recklessness but out of love. The animals under his care were not just animals to him, but beings he formed a connection with — one rooted in respect, daily care and love.”

All tours have been canceled until further notice, the statement said.

The preserve is a private facility where visitors can book tours to view tigers and see demonstrations on how the animals are trained and cared for, according to its website.

Because the facility did not house animals native to Oklahoma, it would have been issued permits by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — rather than the state. That is according to Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation spokesperson Kelly Adams. Messages left Monday with both of those federal agencies were not immediately returned.

Two different animal rights organizations, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, and Humane World for Animals, said Easley's death is a sad reminder of the dangers posed when wild animals like tigers are used in performances.

“It was really only a matter of time before these cats responded in way that is completely natural to them, which is to use aggression to respond to a stressor,” said Debbie Metzler, PETA Foundation's senior director of captive wildlife.

A certificate of veterinary inspection provided to the AP by Humane World shows two 11-month-old tigers obtained by Easley in 2012 came from the G.W. Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, which was owned and operated by “ Tiger King ” Joe Exotic. The document appears to be authentic, said Bryce Boyer, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, which received the certificate in 2012.

Joe Exotic, a mullet-wearing Oklahoma zookeeper whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was sentenced to federal prison in a case documented in the Netflix series "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.

In a statement posted to Maldonado-Passage's Instagram account, he says Easley once built a compound at his zoo in Wynnewood more than a decade ago to house Easley's tigers during the winter.

“So with all my respect as a human R.I.P. Ryan Easley,” the statement said. “You died doing what you loved.”

It's not the first time a tiger has attacked and killed its handler. In 1997, a 400-pound Bengal tiger killed its trainer in front of a crowd of about 200 people at a circus in Pennsylvania.

In Las Vegas in 2003, Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy was critically injured in an attack by one of the act's famed white tigers during a show at the Mirage hotel-casino. Roy suffered severe neck injuries and underwent lengthy rehabilitation, and the attack effectively ended the long-running Las Vegas Strip production.