Man mauled by black leopard after paying for ‘full contact experience’
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A Florida man who paid $150 to get up-close and personal with a black leopard is now suing the sanctuary that made it happen, after the animal mauled him instead of submitting for pictures and belly-rubs.
The attack happened at a backyard animal sanctuary in Davie, Fla., on Aug. 31, according to a report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Dwight Turner, 50, paid $150 for a "full contact experience" with the black leopard, and expected to "play with it, rub its belly and take pictures," local station WPLG reports.
Turner entered the backyard enclosure and the leopard growled at him, then attacked, according to the FWC report obtained by WPLG.
“The owner of the facility brought the victim into the leopard cage," said the victim's attorney, Steve Lander. "About three seconds after entering the cage, the leopard attacked, going for the jugular and took his head in its mouth.”
The animal ripped off part of the victim's scalp and tore his ear in half, officials said. Turner says he spent a week in hospital and required multiple surgeries to recover from injuries sustained in the attack.
Turner alleges that the entire visit was illegal and so any safety waiver he might have signed is invalid. He announced plans to sue the sanctuary operator on Thursday on allegations that the operator let his insurance lapse.
The property's occupant, Michael Poggi, describes himself on Facebook as an "exotic animal breeder" who owns a "private animal sanctuary" for rare, exotic and endangered animals.
The website for Poggi's Animal House lists a black leopard named Dasha as the "resident carnivore."
Poggi has already been charged with allowing full contact with an extremely dangerous animal, wildlife officials told WPLG. He was also cited for maintaining captive wildlife in an unsafe condition.
Mr. Poggi allowed the victim access to inside of the leopard's cage for a full contact experience which led to the leopard attacking the victim, causing extensive damage to the head and right ear," an FWC officer wrote in a citation filed in court.
The citation adds that full contact with a black leopard is in violation of Florida law.
Officials say Poggi was licensed to have the leopard but not to offer full-contact experiences.
The Facebook page for Poggi's Animal House was offline Friday morning. However, videos posted on Poggi's YouTube page show a wide variety of animals on his property, including iguanas, zebras and big cats. Several of his most recent videos advertise marmosets for sale.
Poggi can be seen showing off a caged black leopard in 2012, in a video he flagged as a "pilot" for his "reality show."
He describes one black leopard in the video as a female between six and eight months old. It's unclear how many he had in the zoo at the time.
Big cat experiences have captured the spotlight this year following the release of Tiger King , Netflix's documentary series about eccentric cat breeder Joe Exotic .
Poggi did not respond to requests for comment from WPLG and WSVN .
He is due for a court hearing on Dec. 2.
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Seems to me he got what he paid for, so what's the problems?
Yeah, he's probably got a pretty good case. I know it seems like an assumption of the risk kind of thing, but if the guy represented the cat as docile and harmless, and invited the victim in with this understanding, then he's kind of responsible for his injuries.
The world is full of stupid asswipes which would include this guy and the owner of this ''zoo''.
All of these places should be closed.
Lol Freedumb!
Jeez, a lot of housecats won't even let you rub their bellies and keep your hands intact. Why would you think a leopard would?
Yes, Sandy I know... that is why I take such great care while handling the wild Wally
I have never been owned by a cat who would have allowed that. Some would allow a tummy rub, but none would have tolerated that kind of tummy rub. And most would have torn you to ribbons for approaching either their tummy or their back paws.
Of course, I've always favored mean cats.
You need to get a snowshoe and a boy. They are all sweeties like that. I love the fact that after I slap the heck out of his tummy ( he loves that), he purrs like a machine.
My cats are both boys. One likes a tummy rub, and the other just tolerates them. Of course, the one who likes tummy rubs thinks my feet are chew toys, and woke me up this morning by biting my arm. So he's not all that tame, just not protective of his tummy.
Wally used to attack my toes in bed when he was younger. Now we fool around with him by moving our feet under the covers where he can do less harm with his clamping mouth.
This is my Yoda Girl.......she is an Egyptian Mau (Mau stands for Cat in the Egyptian language)
She is also known as Chief Secretary of my office and supervises my work. She does not like tummy rubs, but, loves back rubs and scratches. She will come and call me when she wants either one, and you must go...no ochoice, she is the boss and I must go immediately when she calls. Her eyes are a med gold, so they do look yellow in the camera flash. She talks to me a good deal, and will follow my 'requests' (can't call them orders) pretty well. She is a pretty mild cat, and is great company to me.
My morning routine - Marco attacks my feet while they're under the covers. I give up trying to sleep and get out of bed, then Polo attacks my feet from under the bed, and I go to the bathroom with Polo still either chasing my feet or hanging onto one by his teeth. The dog barks at my attackers for a bit and goes back to sleep.
Reminds me of an old cat we had named Tinkerbell. Don't let the name fool ya, you'd be lucky to get your hand intact if you touched her belly
I also had a cat named Tinkerbell. She tolerated tummy rubs from me. She loved tummy rubs from my ex.
I think boy cats tolerate a lot more than girls. All my cats have been guys and I never had a problem with a tummy rub.
Lol maybe your right I've only had two cats (both girls) Tinkerbell was somewhat insane but otherwise a good cat and Blue (a Siamese) who was completely insane and hated my guts
Yeah, you never know. When I was a kid, we had a cat in our neighborhood that was always friendly and let us pet him. Then one day he walked up to me, and rolled over on his back as if he wanted to me to rub his belly. But when I tried, he absolutely shredded my arm. Something triggered him, but to this day, I have no idea what.
My grandpa owned the meanest cat in the world. She was a fluffy tuxedo cat. She'd purr and rub up against the unsuspecting, tempting them to scratch her ears. She'd act like she was enjoying the attention for a few seconds, then flay them. He gave us one of her kittens, and that cat was also mean, but much less subtle. He wouldn't act friendly; he just attacked. He had our neighbor's Siberian husky terrified of him.