Tonight On Animal Planet: THE TIGER NEXT DOOR
THE TIGER NEXT DOOR
World Premiere Thursday, March 25, at 9 PM (ET/PT)
Experts estimate that there are 7,000-10,000 captive bred tigers in the United States. This means that there are more tigers in this country than there are roaming the wilds of Asia and India combined. Twenty-four of them live in Dennis H’s backyard in Flat Rock, Indiana. He has been keeping, breeding, and selling Bengal tigers from his backyard for over fifteen years. Tigers are at once occupation and obsession for Dennis. He claims to know exactly what they’re thinking by the look in their eyes. But now, after a surprise government inspection, he’s lost the license that allowed him to keep exotic animals, and the state of Indiana is threatening to shut him down. He has just five days to find alternate homes for all but three of his brood and to bring his facilities up to code – or else lose what he considers to be his life’s work. As Dennis fights to hold on to his tigers over the days and months that follow, THE TIGER NEXT DOOR follows him – exploring his motives, his past, and the curious, ethically-murky world he’s created in his backyard. At the same time, the film ranges far beyond Flat Rock, Indiana illuminating the connection between breeders like Dennis, and the near-epidemic of private tiger keeping in the United States.
http://press.discovery.com/us/apl/programs/tiger-next-door/
