Bonnie Ringo of the Tiger Preservation Center

If you have ever heard of the Tiger Preservation Center it’s probably because they send out professionally created funding appeals, despite the fact that no one in the legitimate sanctuary community appears to have ever heard of her rescuing a cat. 

Craig Busch had dealings with her back in 2002 when she exported 5 tigers (four white and one orange) to New Zealand. It seems she was the forerunner to the type of thing Craig was doing with his hands on with the big cats at Zion Wildlife Gardens.

An anonymous caller reported the following about Bonnie Ringo which may or may not be true.  She claims that she and her husband knew and often worked for Bob and Bonnie Ringo for over 18 years.  We suggested that she file a formal, written complaint, as we have no police power and hearsay won’t help the animals. 

As of 2016 she had 14 tigers, 1 leopard and a lynx. 

It was stated by the caller that Ringo illegally acquired a golden tabby tiger (that’s just a washed out color variation that happens when people inbreed to create white tigers) a TiLiger and a Lemur from Joe Exotic.  Bob and Bonnie told her they were going on “a rescue” to get two golden tabby tigers from Dennis Hill in Indiana, but got a call from Joe offering them a strawberry (same deal; just inbred white variation) tiger, a six week old tiliger and a lemur for $5000.  She claims to have photos and paperwork copies from the transaction and said TPC’s board member, Jim Mitton of Florida paid for the animals even though it is supposedly illegal to sell tigers across state lines.

The caller says Bonnie Ringo is on medication to manage her mental issues and frequently flies into a rage and can’t remember what she’s said.  She has an on again, off again, keeper named Sherry Johnson, who is said to do a lot of her dirty work for her.  They feed the Wal-Mart trash meat diet. 

The caller said that Bob Ringo is a hit man.  The caller said that TPC’s USDA inspector is “in Bonnie’s pocket.”  

The caller said that she was on several trips to Joe Exotic’s place in Wynnewood, OK and that he had a tiger hide hanging on the wall of his private residence as a decoration.  She said he had 7 baby lemurs who she never later saw as adults on the property. She said there was an excess of fur and filth in his cages and that the cats were not watered daily due to the high cost of water. 

Note: All of the above was reported by someone who claimed to be an eye witness and who said she was in fear for her life.  Since the USDA has been investigating Joe Exotic, with no progress on the investigation since 2011 or earlier, I don’t have much faith that they will ever look into any of this.  It’s just one more reason why we need to ban private possession of big cats at BigCatAct.com