Dade City's Wild Things Reportedly Closes Following PETA Lawsuit

DADE CITY, FL — A longtime Dade City animal attraction has reportedly shut its gates after losing a lawsuit filed by the national animal rights advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

On March 23, the United States District Court in Tampa sided with PETA, banning Dade City's Wild Things from ever owning or possessing tigers.

On Tuesday, PETA announced that the animal attraction had shut down. Patch was unable to contact owners Kathy, Kenneth and Randall Stearns by phone or email to confirm. Dade City's Wild Things deleted its Facebook account. A message on the zoo's website read: "Due to the president's request, Dade City's Wild Things will be closed til further notice."

PETA spokesman David Perle said he doesn't expect the zoo to reopen and said the zoo's closure is a victory for PETA.

"Dade City's Wild Things is reported to have closed for good now that the last six tigers held there were sent to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado just days after PETA was awarded a default judgment and permanent injunction in its Endangered Species Act lawsuit..." said PETA in a news release.

PETA's lawsuit contended that Dade City's Wild Things—which acquired tiger cubs from Joseph Maldonado-Passage (aka Joe Exotic), the big-cat exhibitor profiled in the newly released 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 like "swim with the tigers."

"One of the cubs acquired from Maldonado-Passage, 2-month-old Nikita, was used as a breeding machine," said PETA Foundation director of captive animal law enforcement Brittany Peet.

A PETA investigation documented another cub, week-old Luna, howling and crying during a public encounter. Video footage obtained by PETA also showed a Dade City's Wild Things trainer repeatedly hitting Luna and pushing her into a swiming pool.

"The days of exploiting vulnerable tiger cubs and making a sleazy business out of fueling the captive-tiger overpopulation crisis are about over," said Peet, who appears in the Netflix docuseries condemning the purchasing, trading and breeding of tigers. "PETA is celebrating the new life that awaits these six survivors who at last will be able to roam vast habitats, choose to swim if and when they want, and be free of abuse for the first time in their lives."

PETA rescued a total of 27 tigers from Dade City's Wild Things over the years, including 19 who were sent on a grueling 18-hour 1,200-mile trip to Maldonado's roadside zoo in Oklahoma in violation of two court orders prohibiting Wild Things from moving any of the tigers. During the trip, a mother tiger gave birth to three cubs who died.

Ironically, Maldonado testified in the lawsuit against Dade City's Wild Things that the tigers arrived at his zoo in poor condition with open sores, severe hide fungus and infected toe nails. Maldonado denied knowing that there was an injunction against Dade City's Wild Things, forbidding the removal of any tigers from the zoo until officials from PETA could conduct an inspection.

On Jan. 22, Maldonado was sentenced to 22 years in prison for attempting to hire a hit man in 2017 to kill Carole Baskin, the founder of the Big Cat Sanctuary in Citrus Park and a nationally known animal rights activist.

PETA is currently suing two other players in the tiger cub–petting industry who were documented in the Netflix series -- Jeff Lowe and Tim Stark of Wildlife in Need. PETA also has an injunction banning Stark from declawing big cats, separating cubs from their mothers and exhibiting them to the public.

Perle said PETA is now working to ensure that the other wild animals at Dade City's Wild Things find permanent homes in sanctuaries accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.

"Once PETA starts trying to end someone's abuse of animals, we don't stop—so we'll keep trying to help all the animals still held captive at Dade City's Wild Things, just as we have for many, many years," he said.

Other animals at Dade City's Wild Things include lions and other wild cats, otters, sloths, monkeys, zebras, anteaters and tortoises.

The Florida Department of Agriculture has filed a lawsuit against the Stearnes as well, accusing them of siphoning tens of thousands of dollars from their nonprofit to cover their personal expenses. And Kathy Stearns is facing three felony charges in this scheme.

Dade City's Wild Things is also facing a ruling from the United States Department of Agriculture, which sued the facility for federal animal welfare violations.

Meanwhile, PETA said the rescued tigers are living the way they were intended at The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado, and the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, including Luna and Remington, two of the tiger cubs separated from their mothers and used in Dade City's Wild Thing's "swim with the tigers" encounter.

Two other tigers, Rory and Rajah, weren't so fortunate. Along with Luna and Remington, Rory and Raja were illegally transferred to another facility to reduce Dade City's Wild Things' tiger population before the PETA inspection. They were shot and killed after escaping from their enclosure last year.

See related story: Court Sides With PETA; Dade City Zoo Banned From Owning Tigers