Online update re: Joe Schreibvogel lawsuit

Some of you have asked for an update on the lawsuits with Joe Schreibvogel, who we view as one of the two most notorious exploiters of tiger cubs in the world. See www.tigercubabuse.com.

During litigation the general rule is not to comment publicly. But there are some events that are a matter of public record on which we can provide an update.

In early 2013 we obtained a consent judgment in Federal Court in Tampa for a little over $1 million against Schreibvogel personally and against the zoo he ran at the time, which we refer to as the “Park.” Employees of Schreibvogel then incorporated a new entity which we refer to as the “Zoo.” Assets of the Park were allegedly transferred to the Zoo. Then both Schreibvogel (personally) and the Park (as a nonprofit corporation) filed bankruptcy, with the Park showing only nominal assets left. After that, Schreibvogel signed an agreement stating that his personal debts were not discharged by his personal bankruptcy. The Zoo’s bankruptcy was dismissed by the bankruptcy court.

We have filed a lawsuit arguing that the assets allegedly transferred from the Park to the Zoo should be available to satisfy our judgment. We are also seeking to obtain certain personal assets of Schreibvogel’s to satisfy the judgment. When we filed the original lawsuit in early 2011, the land that the Park occupied was owned by Schreibvogel personally. A few days after we filed the lawsuit, a deed was recorded in which Schreibvogel transferred the land to his mother, Shirley. The Bankruptcy Trustee has filed a lawsuit against Shirley to bring the land back into Schreibvogel’s personal bankruptcy estate.

So, the plan now is to persistently and patiently go through the time consuming process of going after assets of the debtors that would satisfy some or all of the money owed to us in the judgment.

While this is serious business, Schreibvogel does provide us with some pretty good comic relief along the way. Here are examples we particularly chuckle about. First, Schreibvogel repeatedly makes the absolutely ridiculous claim that Carole pays $100,000 to have dinner with Wayne Pacelle, CEO of HSUS. How he comes up with nonsense like this, and who he thinks would believe such rubbish, is beyond me. Past employees report that he is a regular user of illegal drugs. Perhaps that explains some of his thought process. But I chuckle every time a hear him make this absurd claim.

Another comical assertion he makes is that our efforts to collect on our judgment are nothing more than Carole’s “obsession” with him instead of efforts to recover on our judgment. He blames Carole for every decision we make. What he fails to understand is that ever since he began using our name and part of our logo, the decisions we have made on devoting more resources to educating the malls about tiger cub abuse and hiring and working with our attorneys have been primarily my responsibility, not Carole’s. I’m starting to feel hurt that he gives me no credit for all this work.

In a way though, seriously, the decisions were all his. If he simply had the good sense to stop using our name and logo and stop using our photos and stop using our videos when we filed the early lawsuits, it would have ended there. It was his decision to engage in prolonged, expensive litigation by filing counterclaims that were so lacking in merit that the court threw them out on summary judgment.

Most recently he made a rather pathetic video appeal online saying that if we would “back off, I would love to get out of this industry”, but if we continue our efforts to collect on our judgment, he will continue to breed tigers. Yeah, right. Next he will be trying to sell me a bridge. The funniest thing of all is that he has someone sing country western songs, then films himself lip syncing the song, and now claims he is a country western singer. And his gullible followers seem to actually believe him. What person in their right mind would lip sync and claim to be a singer? Can’t wait to see his first live performance. :)

Schreibvogel could have avoided all this by just not continuing to violate our intellectual property rights after we filed the early lawsuits. Instead he chose to force us to spend money and time suing him. There is no “obsession” involved in our efforts to collect on our judgment and recover those costs. It is our responsibility to do so. And I will continue to pursue him for as long as it takes.

Schreibvogel makes videos he wants our supporters to see where he tells them not to donate because we are wasting their money suing him. What he does not understand is that our donors are outraged by his treatment of animals, and our donors’ consistent and growing support is what allows us to continue this effort. Many thanks to all of you who have so generously supported the sanctuary and this effort against an individual we view as one of the worst of the worst among those who mistreat exotic animals. - Howard Baskin

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