Bengal Tiger Encounter Josip Marcan
It looks like the Bengal Tiger Encounter is just another alias for Josip Marcan who also travels under the name Tigers of India and Adriatic Animal Attractions. Josip Marcan claims to be a veterinarian but he can not be found as licensed here www.myfloridalicense.com Those who have been rescuing tigers from Marcan since the 90’s will tell you that he is a prolific breeder but he only has kept under a dozen of the tigers he has bred, at his “preserve.” It is not open to public scrutiny, but those who have worked there in the past have been quoted as saying the cats are kept in small cages and sometimes rotated through an exercise pen. This is not a true sanctuary.
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I cannot find a business registered in FL by that name. Some similar, but not exact. http://sunbiz.org/
I cannot find a charity listed with the state as approved to solicit funds in FL by that name. https://csapp.800helpfla.com/
There are only three USDA facilities in N. Ft. Myers and none have cats according to USDA’s 2011 records:
Linda Cardinale, Peggy Mendez and the Nature Park at the Shell Factory
I can’t find any USDA facility on the USDA site by that name or in N. Ft. Myers.
The tabby tigers are most often in Josip Marcan’s acts and the guy looks like one of the Marcan trainers. They are in N. FL and go by the names Tigers of India and Adriatic Animal Attractions. He has 10 tigers, but no elephant.
This link makes the connection between Capitol Intl and Marcan so I am pretty sure he is the one. http://www.capitolint.com/
At the Salem fair the photo looks exactly like the Marcan transport vehicle that was at MOSI. http://www.salemfair.com/
This same outfit was in GA in July 2011 http://www.dillardhouse.
Same group here in May 2010 http://www.mywesttexas.
In their 2009 promo video they show the same trailer as Marcan and the woman in the act says the trainer’s name is Terry and that he has been working with Dumbo their female elephant for his entire adult life.
From the PeTA files:
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What might have been just another story of shoddy circus animal handling came to a karmic conclusion last week when a tiger trainer, Josip Marcan, agreed to pay nearly 1 million bucks to settle a lawsuit resulting from a huge traffic accident. The accident was apparently caused when one of Marcan’s tigers escaped into the wilds of NYC—in this case, the Jackie Robinson Parkway—while traveling with the Cole Bros. Circus.
Demonstrating the spirit that has made the business of using and abusing animals in circuses the very definition of heartlessness, Marcan blamed everyone but his own whiny self. He called the injured drivers “reckless” and slammed the NYPD officers on the scene, saying “they just wanted to shoot the tiger.”
Unfortunately, there was no happy ending for the tiger, Apollo, who was captured and returned to circus life.
Written by Jeff Mackey
Tiger owner has to cough up 935G in scratch
BY JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, January 7th 2009, 12:43 AM
The owner of a 450-pound tiger that caused traffic mayhem on the Jackie Robinson Parkway after bolting from a circus is coughing up a lot more than fur balls these days.
Josip Marcan has agreed to pay $935,500 to two drivers who were seriously injured after his cat Apollo got loose in 2004, according to a filing this week in Brooklyn Federal Court.
The settlement ends a nasty legal fight in which Marcan blamed everyone but Apollo for a five-car pileup that ensued on July 31, 2004, as startled motorists slammed on their brakes at the sight of the white tiger.
“A reckless driver, careless and reckless, blaming her recklessness on the poor tiger that was not even close to the highway,” Marcan said, according to a transcript of his deposition. “Trying to blame a tiger to get some kind of money from that.”
Apollo slipped out of his cage in Forest Park and was on the loose for 30 minutes before he was captured by circus handlers.
Marcan even trashed brave NYPD cops who held their fire.
“I don’t know where the New York police got the training on catching a tiger, but they just wanted to shoot the tiger,” Marcan, 70, ranted. “Just so some police comes home and say, ‘Ah, what I did today, I shot a tiger, you know. I’m a hero.'”
The victims, Maureen O’Malley – an off-duty cop forced to retire due to her injuries – and Wanda Colon will split the six-figure lump sum, and also receive $75,000 from the circus and a motorist, under the terms of the settlement.
Marcan’s attorney, Kathi Peisner, hotly disputed claims that Apollo was in the roadway and had leaped over the highway divider like some “old, dopey deer.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/01/06/2009-01-06_tiger_owner_has_to_cough_up_935g_in_scra.html#ixzz1XmNfpIwI
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