Documenting the Tigers Held Captive in a Truck in France
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Over the winter and spring of 2020, our team of Tracks investigators documented the lives of nine tigers kept in winter quarters, which consisted of flatbed lorries on the edge of a rundown industrial estate in France.
Circuses often operate only in the summer, and so in winter, circus animals are kept in so-called “winter quarters”. The conditions for these wild tigers were pitiful, with the tigers repeatedly pacing around locked in a lorry cage. Our investigation also revealed that the tigers were occasionally kept locked up on the trucks for six-day periods. Very rarely are they allowed outside of their cages and when they are it’s to obey and undergo a life of stress under the threat of the whip. Female or male, in the wild each would reign over a territory of several thousand hectares of the tropical jungle.
Following the year-long investigation, Our partner One Voice managed to secure the tigers’ release by taking court action against the owners using our investigative footage as vital evidence proving their suffering. The tigers were freed to spend the rest of their lives in sanctuaries.
Abused from Birth
At the Saint Paul amusement park, the owner Mario Masson shows off his trained tigers, then offers spectators to hold a baby tiger in their arms while being photographed, all with cash subsidies. The show is accompanied by a speech that is only propaganda against those who defend wild animals that are exploited by circuses.
All these tigers were born in captivity and were then torn from their mother at an early age. They are the subject of wild genetic experiments to obtain inbred individuals with coats of white or orange with ochre stripes, deformations, and with notorious genetic diseases. In addition to this the potential underlying traffic of lion cubs and tigers allows the working season to gain access to young cubs, available at any time. Their manipulation by humans is nothing more than mistreatment. Do not support animals exploited for entertainment.
Learn more about the investigation here.
Tracks Investigations has undertaken over 295 investigative film projects supporting over 40 conservation, environmental and animal protection NGOs since its inception in 2006. Learn more about how you can work with us here. To support our investigative work for animals, click here.