Shakopee corn maze's tiger display criticized

The owners of a corn maze in Shakopee were fielding complaints from unhappy animal lovers on Tuesday after the Wildcat Sanctuary in northern Minnesota issued what it called a "special alert" warning that a tiger cub is being "exploited" there.

Nicola Peterson, who manages Sever's Corn Maze, said that none of the accusations in the alert are valid and that she is ignoring most of the complaints. "I don't think there's anything I could say that would appease this group," she said.

The corn maze has an "exotic petting zoo" that features the tiger as well as a camel, a lemur and other creatures, according to the Sever's website.

The complaints seem based mostly upon objections to the practice of transporting and displaying exotic animals.

"The animals that you have the opportunity to see spend thousands of hours and miles on the road being transported from venue to venue all year long," wrote Tammy Quist, who runs the Sandstone, Minn., refuge for big cats. "You are not their first stop and you certainly won't be their last. That little pen you see them lying in at the fair might be the largest habitat they'll ever see."

Quist said she has received complaints from visitors to the attraction, including a wildlife educator who copied her on an e-mail to the owners in which he said, among other things:

"I also hope that you would consider the long-term effect of creating desires in children to own something that they nor their parents may have any idea of what they might be getting into and from my years of observation it does happen."

"This is the first event the tiger's ever been to," he said. "We only travel in Minnesota, from June to August [to county fairs] and then do the corn maze on weekends in the fall," which means 120-mile journeys twice a week.

"People haul thousands of animals a day all over the road," he said. "If this is stressful, they wouldn't be healthy, they would be lethargic, but this tiger has a great appetite."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts random inspections at his facility, which has about 100 exotic animals, as many as four times a year and he has the glowing inspection reports to prove it, he said.

Peterson estimated that she got 20 e-mail messages Tuesday morning after the alert went out.

She and Vogel denied that such an exhibit encourages people to obtain wild cats as pets.

Organizations concerned with animal welfare have long criticized what they consider lax regulation of wild animal ownership. In 2004, Lee Ehmke, executive director of the Minnesota Zoo, testified before a legislative committee that private ownership of exotic animals gives rise to a number of problems, including the possibility of the species becoming severely inbred. By contrast, Ehmke said this year, the zoo is cross-breeding American and European leopards to help improve the species' long-term prospects.

For Quist, of the Wildcat Sanctuary, it's a matter of education. "I believe the Severs provide good fun family fun with the exception of the exotic animal display and just need to be educated about the issues around such exhibits."

Peterson said the complaints are all based on groundless suspicions. "If we thought these animals were exploited or mistreated, we never would work with anyone like that."