{"id":754068,"date":"2018-07-29T09:34:24","date_gmt":"2018-07-29T13:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arkcenter.us\/?p=754068"},"modified":"2018-07-29T09:35:47","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T13:35:47","slug":"are-big-cats-individuals-animal-rights-group-fighting-for-records-in-truck-stop-tiger-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=754068","title":{"rendered":"Are big cats &#8216;individuals&#8217;? Animal rights group fighting for records in truck stop tiger case"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<blockquote  class=\"bs-quote bs-quote-1 bsq-t1 bsq-s1 bsq-left\">\n\t\t<div class=\"quote-content\">\n\t\t\t<p>The ALDF was denied an expedited processing request on the grounds that Tony the Tiger is not considered an \u2018individual\u2019 under the FOIA because the term \u2018individual\u2019 in this matter only encompasses human beings.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>ALEX WOODWARD:<\/strong> <em>&#8216;Tony the tiger \u2014 a truck stop attraction off Interstate 10 in Grosse Tete [Louisiana] \u2014 was euthanized in October 2017&#8230; Tony\u2019s death followed years-long litigation and court battles among the ALDF [Animal League Defense Fund], Tony\u2019s owners and state and federal government agencies in the ALDF\u2019s attempts to move the Siberian-Bengal tiger, who was six months old when he moved to an enclosure at the truck stop in 2001, into a big cat sanctuary&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>In April 2017, the ALDF requested the USDA\u2019s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service determine whether Tony\u2019s owners and enclosure were in violation of the Animal Welfare Act. The ALDF later requested an expedited Freedom of Information Act request for records related to Tony\u2019s medical inspection&#8230; But those results returned Oct. 20, three days after Tony\u2019s death and six months after ALDF requested for an expedited return&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>The ALDF was denied an expedited processing request on the USDA\u2019s grounds that \u201cTony the Tiger is not considered an \u2018individual\u2019\u201d under the FOIA because \u201cthe term \u2018individual\u2019 in this matter only encompasses human beings.\u201d \u201cThat doesn\u2019t make any sense,\u201d says ALDF senior staff attorney Tony Eliseuson, arguing that even a cursory definition of \u201cindividual\u201d in a dictionary would encompass animals, among other things&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>The court disagreed, arguing that it\u2019s \u201cordinary meaning\u201d in the context of a FOIA request is to mean \u201chuman,\u201d and it would be up to Congress, not the courts, to redefine whether it can encompass nonhuman animals&#8230; Now the ALDF is fighting to ensure that those kinds of records requests are processed much faster, which the ALDF says could have a significant impact on the jurisdiction over the health and well-being of big cats and other animals around the U.S.&#8217;<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theadvocate.com\/gambit\/new_orleans\/news\/article_444e7956-8ac4-11e8-9a11-579e7058200f.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>SOURCE&#8230;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED VIDEO:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yGbIUEVE_E0?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ALEX WOODWARD: &#8216;Tony the tiger \u2014 a truck stop attraction off Interstate 10 in Grosse Tete [Louisiana] \u2014 was euthanized in October 2017&#8230; Tony\u2019s death followed years-long litigation and court battles among the ALDF [Animal League Defense Fund], Tony\u2019s owners and state and federal government agencies in the ALDF\u2019s attempts to move the Siberian-Bengal tiger, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":754069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20,23,25],"tags":[34,35,37],"class_list":["post-754068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-justice","category-rights","category-welfare","tag-personhood","tag-protection","tag-speciesism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=754068"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":754070,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754068\/revisions\/754070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/754069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=754068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=754068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=754068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}