'Britain's Tiger King' rushed to hospital after being mauled by his own big cat
8 November 2024, 17:37
A man dubbed "Britain's Tiger King" has been rushed to hospital after being attacked by his own big cat.
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Terry Moore, 78, was attacked by a puma at The Cat Survival Trust in Hertfordshire on Tuesday.
The big cat took a bite out of his leg before police were called to the scene, the Sun reported.
He was rescued without the puma having to be killed.
Mr Moore has since been rushed to hospital and has been undergoing urgent treatment for his serious injury.
Officers said in a statement: “Police were called to Codicote Road, Welwyn, at 4.04pm on Tuesday 5 November, following reports of a medical emergency.
“Officers attended the scene alongside colleagues from the ambulance service.
“The incident involved a man and a big cat that is caged on site.
"The man, in his 70s, was transported to hospital via air ambulance with serious injuries and has received specialist treatment. He remains in a stable condition.
“The scene was quickly contained and there is no wider threat to the public.
“A spokesperson from East Anglian Air Ambulance, said: “Anglia Two, our Cambridge-based helicopter, was tasked to Welwyn to assist the East of England Ambulance Service Trust with a man in his seventies who suffered an accidental injury."
Mr Moore was fined £14,000 and banned from keeping big cats earlier this year, after it was found he didn't have the licence to sell visits to his centre.
The prosecutor at the trial found that the centre was "messy and dirty".
He added: "Food preparation, storage and disposal were not hygienic, the housing of some animals was inadequate or insecure, and a large number of unvaccinated domestic cats were wandering around exposing the trust cats to risk of disease".
Moore, who set up the centre as a charity decades ago, once said: "The relationship you can build with a cat is, in many ways, often stronger than you can build with a human.
“They have nothing to fear from you and you have nothing to fear from them."
He appeared on several TV shows, including with Paul O'Grady - and once brought a snow tiger onto the show for Katy Perry to hold.
His nickname is a reference to Joe Exotic, whose own big cat centre in Oklahoma was the subject of a popular Netflix show.
