New Kind of ‘Tiger Mom’ Arrested for Raising Children in House Full of Tigers

(Via Mehendra/iStockPhoto)

Growing up in a house full of tigers sounds pretty wonderful on the surface, but a woman from Texas is facing charges of child endangerment after police came to her home and discovered that she was living with a bunch of tigers, a cougar, violent monkeys, and other wild and exotic animals.

According to KHOU, back in September police in Houston, Texas, visited the home of Trisha Meyer because a man had accused her of taking $3,000 from him for an exotic kitten, but then never delivering the kitten. When police arrived at her house, they found a whole lot more than they bargained for. In addition to kittens, Meyer also had three tigers, eight monkeys, a fox, a skunk, and a cougar. Her 14-year-old daughter was playing with them when police arrived.

Police say that Meyer admitted to the deputy that her tigers were big enough to be dangerous, and also that her monkeys could be aggressive and hostile and had attacked people before. If that’s what she admitted to police, one worries about what she was keeping secret.

Meyer had a license for the tigers, but was not keeping them according to regulations. Tigers are supposed to be kept in enclosures far from other homes and schools, but Meyer’s tigers were just roaming the house and yard, which only had a four-foot fence. She lived near an elementary school, and according to Fox News, she told police she only put the tigers into enclosures when she wasn’t home. She also did not have licenses to have the eight monkeys, the cougar, the fox, or the skunk.

Meyer was charged with child endangerment, but she allegedly skipped town right after police arrived and never showed up to court.

Turns out it’s hard to stay under the radar when you’re traveling with a whole bunch of tigers, though.

This week police in Nevada from a got a call from some people complaining that their neighbor was keeping a “three-ring circus” in her house. The neighbors told police that there were literally tigers just roaming freely in the backyard of the house next door.

Police must have been surprised to get the “the backyard is full of tigers” call. I wonder what the deputy thought he’d find? A toy tiger? A dog groomed to look like a tiger? Nope! There was Meyer, with tigers roaming her backyard and eating raw chicken.

Meyer was arrested and will probably be sent back to Texas to stand trial. The animals have been confiscated.