Last month, Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said he has a tiger in Arizona, and that he wanted to bring the 60-pound (at the time) pet to practice.
According to Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic, Dockett was speaking with fork tongue about an animal that uses its tongue to clean itself.
Per Somers, the owner of Predators Unlimited Wildlife Preserve in Florida says he didn’t sell a tiger cub to Dockett. And the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida agrees.
”Although we do not know the origin of the tiger cub in the photo that Dockett posted on social media, it appears that his story about the cub’s parentage is false,” ARFF communications director Don Anthony said in a press release issued to Somers.
The development comes after PETA recently asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department to investigate the situation, alleging that Dockett may have transported the tiger cub from Florida to Arizona, which according to PETA is prohibited by the federal Endangered Species Act, the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, and Arizona wildlife laws that prohibit the possession of tigers and other wildlife without a permit.
So regardless of whether Dockett actually owns a pet tiger, it may be in his best interests to convince everyone involved that he doesn’t.
Even if he does.