Tigers removed from Roy Boy's tattoo parlor

/Home/Tattoo News

Tigers removed from Roy Boy's tattoo parlor
May 27, 2010
By Jon Seide
Post-Tribune

GARY — Federal agents seized four tigers Thursday from Roy “Boy” Cooper’s tattoo parlor in the Glen Park section of the city as frustrated fans of Cooper’s longtime Broadway business watched nearby.

Cooper waited in his office while his tigers Storm, Pearl, Kya and Kelly, were tranquilized and loaded in a moving van. At least one tiger seemed awake and aware as its cage was moved by the agents.

» Click to enlarge image

Agents with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service remove one of four tigers Thursday from Roy Boy's tattoo parlor in the Glen Park section of Gary.
(Leslie Adkins/Post-Tribune)


Federal officials on the scene declined to comment, but USDA spokesman Dave Sacks said inspectors visited Cooper’s store earlier this week and found the tigers underweight and lacking proper veterinary care.

The tigers appeared to be suffering, Sacks said, meeting the legal threshold for the USDA to confiscate them. After years of living at Broadway and Ridge Road, Sacks said the tigers are being taken to an undisclosed, USDA-licensed sanctuary.

“They’re no longer his property,” Sacks said.

Cooper said he waited inside his office at the direction of the federal agents. He said he couldn’t keep up with the USDA’s constant demands, and he said it seemed they were trying to make an example of him.

“I don’t believe I’m a criminal,” Cooper said. “I try to do everything they write me up for.”

Fans of Cooper’s business and animals watched on the sidewalk by Broadway as the animals were loaded onto a van.

Mike Giddens, Katina Broaden and Michael Brown said Cooper kept his tigers healthy, and they said they always behaved near children during parades and other public events.