Dade City's Wild Things Owners Ordered To Pay PETA $400,000

DADE CITY, FL — The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida has ordered the now-shuttered Dade City's Wild Things and its owners, Kathy and Randy Stearns, to pay $399,118.10 to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for attorneys' fees and expenses related to the group's Endangered Species Act lawsuit against the zoo.

PETA was previously awarded a default judgment and permanent injunction in the lawsuit barring Dade City's Wild Things and the Stearnses from owning or possessing endangered tigers.

Following the judgment in March, Dade City's Wild Things shut down and the last six tigers held there were sent to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado.

PETA's lawsuit contended that Dade City's Wild Things —which acquired tiger cubs from Joseph Maldonado-Passage (aka Joe Exotic), the flamboyant big-cat exhibitor profiled in the Netflix docuseries, "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness," violated the Endangered Species Act by prematurely separating tiger cubs from their mothers and using them in public encounters in which visitors paid to swim with the tiger cubs.

"One of the cubs acquired from Maldonado-Passage, 2-month-old Nikita, was used as a breeding machine at DCWT," said Brittany Peet, PETA's deputy general counsel for captive animal law enforcement.

A PETA investigation documented on video another tiger cub, Luna—who was acquired when she was just a week old—howling and crying in fear during a public encounter. Footage showed a trainer at Dade City Wild Things repeatedly hitting her and pushing her into the pool.

"PETA and the courts have hammered the final nail into Dade City's Wild Things' coffin," Peet said. "The days of exploiting vulnerable tiger cubs and making a sleazy business out of fueling the captive-tiger overpopulation crisis are nearly over."

PETA rescued 27 tigers from Dade City's Wild Things over the years, including 19 who had been sent on a grueling 18-hour trip to Joe Exotic's roadside zoo in Oklahoma in violation of two court orders, a trip during which a pregnant tiger gave birth and all three of her cubs died.

PETA is now suing two other major players in the tiger cub–petting industry — Jeff Lowe and Tim Stark.

Lowe took over Joe Exotic's now-closed zoo in Oklahoma when Joe Exotic was sentenced to 22 years in prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill the founder of the nonprofit Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Tampa, Carole Baskin, and for fatally shooting a number of older tigers at his zoo to make room for the tigers that the Stearnses were transporting from Dade City so their zoo would pass a court-mandated inspection.

Stark was the owner of the now-closed Wildlife in Need in southern Indiana. He was arrested in September after being accused of intimidating state officials and refusing to disclose the location of animals who went missing from Wildlife in Need.

The Stearnses could not be reached for comment.

See related stories:

• Carole, Howard Baskin Tapped For TV Expose On Animal Exploitation
• Netflix's 'Tiger King' Prompts Sheriff To Seek Tips In Cold Case
• Dade City's Wild Things Reportedly Closes Following PETA Lawsuit
• Court Sides With PETA; Dade City Zoo Banned From Owning Tigers