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Faced with Getting Rid of His Animals in The Tiger Next Door by Dennis Hill

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Estimators report there are more tigers living in private captivity in the United States, than there are roaming around the world. In the film, The Tiger Next Door, longtime animal lover Dennis Hill is faced with getting rid of most, if not all of his animals. Before Dennis Hill owned exotic animals, he was a very wealthy construction worker until he let the rich lifestyle get the best of him, and lost most of his money through drugs, reckless motorcycle driving, and a rough divorce. After Hill was sentenced to six month house arrest, he found his true passion to be owning and breeding tigers. The major controversy the film discussed was that tigers are exotic and unpredictable animals, and even the most skilled tiger handler cannot fully predict what they will do. This causes neighbors and wildlife conservationists to be skeptical and uneasy when they find out that someone in the community owns and breeds tigers and other exotic animals.
During the time of the film, Mr. Hill lived in Flat Rock, Indiana and had all different kinds of animals, including (24) tigers, (6) leopards, (3) bears and one cougar. After hurricane Katrina hit, the Department of Natural Resources went to Hill’s home and took pictures of the living conditions of the animals, and then published those pictures on the front page of the local newspaper. This brought up controversy within the community and the DNR was forced to make a drastic change. Indiana state law says the DNR is able to seize animals in

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