LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Karl Mitchell, the owner of seven tigers seized in Pahrump, spoke with FOX5 as he was released from jail late Wednesday.
FOX5 was inside the Nye County Detention Center where Mitchell’s first embrace with his fiancé Catherine Griffiths was captured.
Wednesday morning, deputies in Nye County seized seven tigers from their home in Pahrump.
The Nye County Sheriff’s Office said code enforcement and animal service crews responded to the private property.
Mitchell was arrested for resisting an officer.
Deputies say the tigers will be taken to an animal sanctuary. FOX5 learned the sanctuary is located in Arkansas. Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill said the cats had to be sedated so they could be loaded into crates.
FIRST ON FOX5: Nye County deputies seize 7 tigers from home in Pahrump
FOX5’S Victoria Saha spoke exclusively with Mithell as he was released:
Victoria Saha: Why do you think it got to this point?
Karl Mitchell: It got this way because it’s real simple. The animal rights people in this country, Carole Baskin, and all those people have made it so that people like me who have animals have a hard way to go.
Victoria Saha: We were told that you did not have the proper permits. What’s your reaction to that?
Karl Mitchell: My reaction to that is I do have the proper permits. You read the letter from the VA. That letter says that I have the authority to have the animals.
Mitchell says this fight is not over. The couple expressed they are not ready to be home without their babies.
Mitchell’s fiancé Catherine Grifiths recounted the moments the tigers were taken, “I was bent down, petting Abraham because they’re going to give them the ketamine and the ketamine is really dangerous… it’s how a lot of tigers die.” Grifiths revealed to FOX5 Mitchell has PTSD and the tigers are his emotional support animals.
“He was a Vietnam vet. He has a Purple Heart. He took a bullet in a helicopter delivering medical… when you have emotional support, dog or something, you don’t have to have the dog licensing. It’s the same with the Tigers,” Grifiths contended. Grifiths added Mitchell is well-known in the tiger world and has been for decade.
“Back from, like, the Michael Jackson video of Billie Jean, where there’s a little cub that was Carl’s… He lived with Mike Tyson… remember Mike had a tiger, that was all through Carl,” Grifiths recounted.
“There has been reports of him out walking the cats loose in the desert around his property, so that was part of the reason why the decision was made to take the cats,” Sheriff McGill told FOX5.
The following is Nye County’s regulations on owning exotic animals:
6.30.030: OWNERSHIP AND POSSESSION OF SPECIAL CONDITIONS ANIMALS:
A. It is unlawful for any person, corporation, partnership, or other legal entity to import, transfer, sell, purchase, or possess an animal classified as special conditions within Nye County unless that person, corporation, partnership, or other legal entity holds a permit or is exempt from holding a permit under this chapter and under the provisions of Nevada Revised Statutes 571 and 503 and Nevada administrative code 441A, 503, and 504.
MORE: Pahrump man claimed tigers were service animals, court documents reveal
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