Tigers in Austin, anybody remember these? (Dallas, Wylie: move, yard, money)

[DashRiprock]

I watched that crazy Tiger King show over the weekend and it got me thinking about a couple of incidents that happened locally back in (I believe) the 80's.

There was a guy in south Austin who kept a pet tiger in his backyard. The city came out to remove it one day, presumably after neighbor complaints, and I believe over-tranquilized it and it ended up dying. The owner was a muscled up body builder type guy and as I recall he was screaming and throwing a fit the whole time. I think he sued the city but I don't recall much else.

There used to be one of those tiger zoo places on 71 between Austin and Bastrop. It was called Wildwood and I believe the area around it is still called Wildwood (maybe Wyldwood). I don't recall when it closed but I have a vague recollection that it was shut down due to some sketchy thing the owner was involved in, like money laundering or something. I wonder if he had anything to do with these crazies in the show. I never went so I have no idea what it was like. The entrance building is still there but it's now a BBQ stand. I can't say that I've ever actually seen the BBQ stand open and I drive through there faily often.

Anybody else remember any of this?

[escanlan]

Not familiar with it but here in the Dallas area we have an organization called In-Sync Exotics which is an exotic animal rescue operation in Wylie, TX. This is their WEB site https://www.insyncexotics.org/ . It shows pictures of their current residents. This operation was a result of rescuing exotic animals from owners with no business or ability to have them. They're a good bunch of people who really love what they are doing!

[centralaustinite]

All of the big cats at the Austin Zoo are rescues and each one has a crazy back story!