Overdrive

August 2014

Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info

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100 | Overdrive | August 2014 Logbook TrailerTransit_OVD0413_PG076.indd 1 5/30/14 12:36 PM Text INFO to 205-289-3555 or visit www.ovdinfo.com The author of Louisiana's 2006 law pro- hibiting private ownership of big cats is suing the state over a new law that allows Tony the Tiger to remain at the tiger's truck stop home. Former Democrat Rep. Warren Triche Jr. and the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed suit in East Baton Rouge District Court after Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the bill into law June 18. Animal rights organizations had asked the Re- publican governor to veto the leg- islation that exempts individuals who owned big cats at the time Triche's law became effective. In May, the Senate had voted 20-18 and the House 68-27 in favor of Republican Sen. Rick Ward's bill, which effectively grants sole exemption to Tiger Truck Stop owner Michael Sandlin. Tony, a 14-year-old Siberian-Bengal tiger, has been displayed at Sandlin's Grosse Tete truck stop home since he was a few months old. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Sandlin's bid for the high court to hear his appeal to a lower court's ruling that he could not keep the tiger. Louisiana's new law allows him to do so, as the court rulings saying he couldn't were based on the previous law. Triche and the nonprofit ALDF say the exemption violates Louisiana's constitutional prohibition against laws granting exclusive benefits to a private individual or interest. "Tony's situation played a principal role in passing the 2006 bill, as he was a perfect exam- ple of why such legislation was needed," Triche stated in a June 25 ALDF media release. The new case was filed in the same court where the ALDF and Triche successfully argued that the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries unlawfully issued Sandlin a permit. Last year, the state appeals court upheld that decision, which the Louisiana Supreme Court let stand. The suit names LDWF, the State of Louisiana, the Lou- isiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, Tiger Truck Stop and Sandlin. – Jill Dunn Legal wrangling continues over tiger

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