Lockport Tiger Man Faces New Charges

The Lockport Tiger Man was slapped with new charges for allegedly making another visit to a tavern with his jungle cat in tow.

John Basile, 57, had faced a single count each of reckless conduct and possession of a dangerous animal for allegedly stopping by Uncle Richie’s bar on Ninth Street with his Siberian tiger, Shere Khan, in February 2014. But prosecutors doubled down, hitting Basile again with charges of both reckless conduct and possession of a dangerous animal for allegedly doing the same thing in December 2013.

After Patch reported on the case against Basile, a Lockport woman contacted Patch and said Basil’s tiger bit her arm during a Dec. 14, 2013 Christmas party at Uncle Richie’s. The woman said she alerted police after reading the Patch story and gave officers a written statement. It took nearly a year for the new charges to be brought in connection with the woman’s claims.

Basile is due in court Friday morning for a pretrial hearing.

Basile owns Big Run Wolf Ranch on Farrell Road, a “non-profit, federally licensed,

educational facility which specializes in the education and conservation of North American wildlife,” according to the Ranch’s website.

The site had said that in addition to Shere Khan, a black bear, a cougar, a skunk, a woodchuck, three coyotes, two porcupines and a horse lived at the ranch.

The leader of a group dedicated to animal welfare and wildlife conservation last year criticized Basile for allegedly taking his tiger to a bar.

“Being someone’s pet is immeasurably cruel to wild animals,” Adam Roberts, the chief executive officer for the group Born Free USA, said in a statement that cited the criminal charges filed against Basile.

“These so-called ‘pets’ endure miserable conditions in captivity—they are usually locked up in cages in a home or backyard, isolated, and deprived of the ability to express their natural behaviors,” the statement said. “Some private owners often extract their teeth and fingernails, among other barbaric practices, in an attempt to ‘tame’ them. Wild animals belong in the wild and can never be tamed. They are ticking time bombs and should not be confined as a pet.”

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