I hope that Ming had a good life at the animal sanctuary. Anyone else reminded of Bob and Ray's routine about the guy who kept wild boars in his apartment so he could go truffle hunting in Central Park?
34
I'm really feeling the pain for Mr. Yang after reading some of these comments. He made a mistake out of compassion for what he thought was an abandoned cub. I've read that he'd tried unsuccessfully to find a more appropriate home for his rapidly growing pet. There's more to the story than can told in one brief article. He served his time, give the guy a break.
77
It's amazing to me that the tiger was not discovered by housing authorities for 3 years. And an alligator ! I recall decades ago that someone was keeping a gorilla in the Heights neighborhood in Houston. I never saw it but one could sometimes hear it roaring and pounding in the evening. You cannot really conceal something of this size-noise and odor would be very definite. At least no one was killed- so easily it could have been an innocent person. I love animals and admire their beauty and intelligence.
But keeping a predator of this size is just madness. I also recall the story of the man who had 3 Komodo dragons in an apartment. Eventually they attacked and devoured him. I also recall that he had admitted that women were uncomfortable coming into the apartment and he had given up on a social life.
The sex differences in these behaviors interests me. One sees women that have 85 cats or dogs , devoting resources to trying to keep them fed and cleaned up. ( never possible ) And then these stories of men who can't resist having big, dangerous animals just feet from their couch or bed. What a world.
38
Oh, how wonderful. Just goes to show, in New York, you never who your neighbors are...or were, since these days you can be certain they work in finance or marketing, computers or some such. Glad the cat lived out his natural life in a more spacious world. Gator, too.
21
No mention of where he got a tiger cub?
28
@No Kids in NY That's the question I hoped the article would explore.
17
The story is a sad one from beginning to end. To wrap it in whimsy and fun glosses over the danger created by reckless irresponsibility/cruelty. Readers cheering it all on have no respect for the rule of law, or respect for each other.
45
Some urban legends are true. Tolerant neighbors make accommodations for each other. Mr. Yates must have an embracing spirit. No bad thing for a cabbie.
32
Delightful story. Corey Kilgannon's writing was as sly as the cat who swallowed the canary.
16
I sent a donation to Ming's sanctuary for his care several years after he was moved there because the story stayed with me. What an awful existence. Thank God for sanctuaries. RIP Ming.
53
Wasn’t it mr Yates dancing in front of the lion at Bronx zoo over the weekend ? Oh, it was a woman , never mind ! New York , New York !
5
Holding an animal meant to live in the wild, in a concrete hi-rise is not loving care. It's domination over another species. And another NY story.
38
Give me a room in New York and 20 pounds of chicken a day and I won't harm a soul either.
49
A few readers have decried this man for keeping a tiger in his apartment. Maybe he was irresponsible, misguided or lonely. Who are we to know, if we haven't met the man.
But how many people confine pets, particularly cats and dogs in New York. Especially cats! You hardly ever see anyone take out their cat for a walk! There are plenty of sad cases of people who live in an enclosed 5th floor apartment with their cat as their only company. It's truly sad for both the person and the cat. Is it a selfish act? Too keep a pet confined. At one point I was just as guilty, till we moved to a house with a backyard. Which not everyone can or wants to do.
On the other extreme you have people who own pets and just let them roam wildly around the neighborhood. They lock their pets outside when its cold and forget to feed them. Maybe they too are irresponsible and misguided.
When "my cat" was still an inhabitant of planet EARTH, I considered myself her steward. However, she probably considered me her concierge. In any case I LOVE the time I spent with her. And, I hope she felt LOVE.
That's all we can do for each other. LOVE each other. As I LOVE you. As I LOVE Nicole. And then maybe people don't have to have CATS as their only friend.
-PEACE and LOVE
P.S. @RebeccaToger - yes psychosis can be powerful... and fun...
P.P.S. This article is actually a provocative piece of writing because, it opens up a dialogue about free will and desire. Where do we find the balance?
21
NYC is the greatest show on earth!
12
Props to Corey Kilgannon on the perfect last line for this piece. And rest in peace Ming.
32
I'm wondering how someone who lives in public housing can afford 20 lbs of chicken for Ming, let alone how he fed the alligator. Food for thought.
39
You know most people who live in housing projects work, right? Many have middle-income jobs but still can’t afford market rate rents in New York, so they qualify for low-income housing. He was a cab driver. Maybe he got a lot of long distant fares who also gave big tips.
60
He could have gotten chicken parts and organ meats, which would be much cheaper per pound than white meat.
27
For all the crazy this is what make NYC the greatest city on the face of the earth. Where else could you go out at 3am and get your suit dry cleaned; rent an electric piano and have it delivered
at 4 am. Rent the Museum of Natural History on a Sat night for a big party; and never eat in the same restaurant for a full year.
I may reside in Palm Beach but my heart is in NYC -
54
It must be nice having a multi-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, tiger or no tiger.
60
I heard about this incident when I was in 9th or 10th grade I believe. At 15 or 16, I pretty much started realizing how I loved animals so much. At one point, I also wanted to own an white tiger. I begin doing my own research on the beast. I realized that indeed having a wild animal even if I had the space can be a bit dangerous. The animals instinct is a enough to tell someone that some animals should be just animals wild and free. Later on, I did see a documentary on this incident as well in my mid 20s. Mr. Yates loved animals indeed as well but I do agree that having wild animals in a confined space can be bad for the animal. He took care of the animal pretty well. It was healthy and did lived exactly the life span you expect from a tiger. So, yeah I can understand people's mixed feelings but at the same time the only thing Mr. Yates did wrong was having a tiger in a confined space or just not taking the tiger to a animal rescue facility when he found the tiger cub. the only thing that was irresponsible was bringing an domestic cat in the presence of a wild bigger cat. Cats fight no matter how they get along. I think that goes for any animal really. Hopefully, one day Mr. Yates has his dream of owning a animal rescue facility.
26
Housing a tiger in a NYC apartment is obviously a very poor idea. But three months in Rikers Island should be reserved for those who act out of malice, not a misguided love of animals. No doubt Mr. Yates' lack of resources had much to do with his sentence.
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@Linda Wow Linda Great idea " no doubt Mr. Watts' lack of resources had much to do with his sentence "
Suggestion Let all people who do not have lack of resources be provided with no sentence Great idea
8
@Linda I agree - 3 months at Rikers which is one of the most dangerous prisons in the country is insane. Multiple other options for sentencing here such as probation or supervised release. On a side note this was a great article. Might have missed this but where did he get Ming in the first place?
42
But what happened to the stray cat?
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@Lisa P good question
9
"He's out walking the dog." Meaning, of course, his Alaskan timber wolf.
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I don’t understand how a person who worked and made enough money to buy and care for a tiger and an alligator (with separate rooms) was living in a project. I thought these projects were subsidized housing for very poor people. In any case, I suppose just about every penny that cane in went down those gullets.
Amazing that there apparently was no knowledge of this on the part of the people responsible for maintenance and no complaints. These days tenants often have to pay a pet deposit and a monthly fee for a cat or dog. Glad to hear that Mr. Yates now has a more conventional pet.
14
This is so sad. Imagine you being kept in a 9 x 10 room for your life? Defecting in a sand box. The writer says, "scent of urine". No, it would be the STENCH of urine. It would be impossible to keep it clean.
How is it a person living in taxpayer subsidized housing can afford to feed his pet 20 lbs of chicken a day? The animal was probably close to starving. Tigers need much more variety than chicken to be healthy.
A family of humans needed shelter and this man, because of his own selfish desire took that space for a tiger and alligator. Robbing all of a proper place to live. I assume he got kicked out of public housing and that is why he is with his mother.
Problem is, articles like this make people believe it is OK to do these type of things... and even celebrated. If this article brings a smile to your face go lock yourself in the bathroom for the rest of your life and see how long you smile!
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@Peggy / you might also say: A "real" animal lover would give their pets a real habitat, housing project or not.
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I remember when a young man jumped into the tiger enclosure at the Bronx Zoo, saying he wanted to be "one with the tigers". He got chewed but survived. Happened again this week in the lion enclosure without injury this time.
Never underestimate the power of psychosis, or simple stupidity.
38
An immortal final line to the piece.
21
There is nothing cute or nostalgic about this. This was abuse by a person who hated tigers enough to lock one into a small Bronx apartment. Not one word about Ming and the life he lived.
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@MP at least the tiger was spared death by poachers
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@tony Quality versus quantity. Tough call.
3
@tony this tiger was stolen from its mother years too soon. There is no excuse for this torture. Even in death, Ming is treated as a plaything of his abuser.
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Sure, it's true, an apartment is not the best place for a wild animal. But you commenters shouldn't pounce all over Mr. Yates. He meant no harm; no one except himself was ever hurt. It appears that Ming was well taken care of. He lived much longer than most tigers in the wild, where he could have been killed by a predator. Sometimes, folks, just let a story be a story.
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@Rhonda
"It appears that Ming was well taken care of."
It seems like the man meant no harm - but no, a tiger being kept in a NYC apartment is not being "well taken care of."
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@Rhonda Predator? Man is tiger's only predator.
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@Rhonda one can’t take a cub from his mother at least two years too soon, torture him in too small Bronx apartment and say “no harm meant”. It doesn’t work that way.
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He may have loved animals but he wasn't very wise.
From a Post article last year:
Yates had bought Ming at age six weeks from a wild-animal dealer out west, starting him on a bottle, then on pureed meat lovingly spooned from Gerber baby food jars, then on chickens, liver and bones from the supermarket, from which, by 2003, he was lugging home about 20 pounds of big-cat food a day.
On the day Ming turned on him, Yates had tried to step between the tiger and a small black cat, named “Shadow,” that he’d taken in as a rescue, but which had escaped from its closed bedroom.
“When they say I got mauled, that’s not true,” he insisted. “He was just trying to get me out of the way.”
Yates was lucky to be alive, he was hospitalized after the attack. Thankfully the tiger got to live out its life in a wildlife sanctuary.
Tigers aren't domesticated cats. They don't belong in apartments. Most of us know this was not a good thing to do on many levels. Thankfully he didn't escape the apartment and kill someone. Some people are good hearted fools.
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NYCHA can't find, much less remediate, lead paint in its apartments. Any surprise that it couldn't find a 400 lb tiger?
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I concur that it is unfortunate that this episode of animal abuse is being written up as a cute "it could only happen in New York City" story. It has happened in many other places. If you want to see how badly it can end, read up on the Ohio "wild game preserve" where law enforcement wound up shooting 18 lions and 17 tigers, in addition to other wild animals after the collector let them loose and killed himself.
People who keep wild animals in domestic situations like this are not animal lovers. I don't feel Antoine should have gone to jail for his actions; he sounds good hearted and well-intentioned but deluded and possibly mentally ill. I fault the NYT for the tone of the story, but the last line is genuinely hilarious. All the best to you and your doggie, Antoine.
25
As a Minnesotan, I was curious about the mention of Racine, Minnesota on Ming's headstone. According to The Cut, "Ming was brought to Harlem in 2000, when a man named Antoine Yates, then a resident of the Drew Hamilton Houses in Harlem, purchased him from a wild animal dealer in Racine, Minnesota, in 2000." https://www.thecut.com/2019/10/rip-ming-harlem-tiger-king.html
4
You must read the New York Times' 2003 article about Mr. Yates and Ming. It is my all-time favorite and my family routinely quotes it. It can be found here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/08/nyregion/a-tiger-s-keeper-says-he-misses-his-friend.html
I was sad to learn of Ming's passing.
9
RIP, Ming. You brought comfort and joy to Mr. Yates.
But wild things must be wild. You are running free with your species now in tiger-Heaven.
19
Presenting this as a charming tale without discussing the harm caused by people keeping wild animals as pets is irresponsible.
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@Jason . So the Times needs to also educate people to not keep wild tigers in their homes. Thank God I read that article in the Times. Otherwise I wouldn't have known how problematic a 400 lb tiger would be.
First of all, I want news, not to be preached to or educated. It's not the Times responsibility to teach right from wrong. We can leave that to our politicians.
21
A thriving black market for wild animals that threatens species and leads to intolerable living conditions for the animals that do survive is a real thing. Congratulations for having the sense to not keep a 400 lb tiger, but that doesn’t solve a real world problem that articles like this that almost celebrate the practice propagate.
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@Jason
So every tale must be clearly moralizing? That makes for some pretty stultifying "literature." I'll take straight reporting anytime.
9
Even house cats can get crazy if kept inside and they have not been altered. I assume Ming lived his three years in the apartment intact.
Poor kitty.
26
@RM
Intact but declawed. He was deprived of the ends of his fingers when he was just 8 weeks of age. So often this happens with big cats marketed as pets, they undergo this trauma while still in infancy. Others, as adults, suffer the filing down or extraction of their sharpest teeth even. The breeding of these cats for an American consumer market is a brutal, ugly industry. Ming was luckier than many of his peers, at least he got rescued and rehomed to a safe and responsible sanctuary for the rest of his life.
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@mary dear god! I had no idea he had been declawed! That’s so so wrong! Poor Ming. He deserved better than the treatment in life and death he has received.
8
Declawing a cat should be punishable by death.
9
Unlike lions, tigers are typically solitary creatures. And in my experience house cats are more temperamental than dogs, easily turning aggressive if a bit irritated by friendly strangers.
Of course, there's also variability within a species for any particular behavioral trait, but it has to be extremely dangerous to keep a large, semi-domesticated tiger in an apartment. If the apartment manager had entered for some reason, he could easily have been mauled if not killed. And the tiger would probably have been euthanized immediately.
More context here about the inadvisability of such pets would probably be a public service. That's besides the larger and more important survival problems affecting all tigers in the wild.
22
@Michael Tyndall Yes, the worst thing that can happen with predatory animals, is interraction with humans. We must learn to leave them alone!
14
@Michael Tyndall I've always said there's a reason that we haven't "bred" cats who weigh 150/200 lbs., as we have dogs. My little domestic short hair (named "Tiger") would not be safe to be around if he weighed 200 (or 400) lbs., instead of 15.
7
Kudos to Corey Kilgannon for a just-right rendering of this story, and a lovely last line. It makes me nostalgic for the days of meatier Metro coverage since there are, in fact, a million stories in this city waiting to be told, with or without tigers.
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@Brenda Becker
I too miss the Metro section. There are seven million stories in the Naked City and this is just one of them.
4
The "owner" of this tiger did not provide "loving" care. A tiger is a wild animal who deserves to live in an environment that is suited to the animal, and not to a person who selfishly or for mental health reasons wants to prove something to other people.
I'm thankful the sanctuary was able to take the tiger on. The idea that tigers ever belong in small urban cages, which is in essence the situation described here, needs to be abolished forever.
66
Twenty pounds of chicken parts a day! That’s more than three and a half ton a year! I wonder what the supermarket checkout folks thought? Keep in mind that everything that goes in eventually comes out.
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@Bello What does that say about NYCHA's management? That they need more resources?
5
@Bello
...and what about the size of that litter box! Whew.
Sad, neighbors were wrong to be so tolerant.
I can't even begin to understand the mechanisms (?) for keeping these creatures inside.
14
It surprises me that there aren't anymore pictures with this story. Maybe of Goldfleck walking through Central Park. There must be something in the vast archives of the NYT.
Or of Ming inside the apartment.
I wonder if the scientific community was ever interested in finding out how a man could live with a tiger in his apartment for 3 years (and vice versa) That must have been some serious high maintenance if he never took the cat out. ( and an alligator under the same roof to boot).
I understand Mr. Yates had to go to jail. But it would have made for an interesting case study, if it wasn't done to find out more about his state of mind, how he managed it.
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@leoelfeo
Do a cursory search of historical NY area newspapers from the early 1910s and you will find a few photos of Goldfleck as a cub being cradled in the arms of his owner upon his purchase from Ringlings. The lady and her cub occupied an entire floor of the Plaza hotel along with a menagerie of other so called pets, including a bear cub, several dogs, and an alligator. Goldfleck did not live to see his 4rth birthday. He fell ill and died, from what is not clear. Big cats have very sensitive immune systems and nutritional needs though, and I doubt even the finest food from the Plaza's kitchen was appropriate to sustain him or to fend off any bugs he might have caught off the streets of Manhattan.
11
@leoelfeo
Goldfleck is buried in the same cemetery as Ming!
Google led me to a Slate article about the lion.
7
"He's out walking the dog" best wrap up of a story, I laughed audibly.
172
@Kate I was wondering about the dog too! A wolf maybe?
8
I am wondering how he came to be in possession of a Bengal tiger cub. Where did he get it?
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@Maureen -- I wondered the same thing. There's one tiny clue in the article -- the caption under the photo of the gravestone, which says that Ming was born in 2000 in Racine, Minnesota -- pretty far from Harlem. Maybe some sleuth in Racine can sniff out Ming's origin.
8
@Maureen
You can buy amazing things on the internet.
3
@Maureen I am wondering as well.
2
I would have liked a at least a little info on what Ming's life was like at the sanctuary.
95
@Dave Wyman Hey Dave there are a couple pics on Noah’s Lost Arc website; maybe they’ll do a story to raise funds.
3
Surprised Ming doesn't work for a zoo or wildlife sanctuary.
9
@Kristine are you referring to Mr. Yates? Ming is name of the tiger.
6
That picture in the animal cemetery looks pretty grim. I hope it was a decent place for him to live.
8
@KarenAnne The Hartsdale Animal Cemetary is a lovely park-like setting (I lived right behind it for many years). You should visit it sometime.
28
@KarenAnne probably not as grim as living in an apartment and eating 10kg of chicken each day.
9
Great story and perfect punch line!
28
Yeah, "dog" sure, I bet it was a wolf he was walking.
65
This is so sad, in so many ways. I picture the two of them playing together when they were in the apartment, maybe wrestling a little, and playing fetch and running after toys and balls of yarn? Then they would take lazy naps together and he would pet him behind the ears and under the chin? Oh right this was a Tiger, not a kitten.
31
Nicely reported, Mr. Kilgannon. The monument to MING, Tiger of Harlem was beautifully elegiac and that it was placed facing south to New York City was also a very nice touch.
Thank you for this heartwarming story.
49
This is extremely dangerous, and really ought to be addressed at the federal level for the sake of safety. It should be a federal crime carrying extremely severe penalties. For the sake of communities and outdoor lovers this behavior is unsafe and dangerous! It must be outlawed with extreme penalties, including death, penalty believe, because of the danger it pauses for others.
12
@Freak Well that seems extreme. I have spent many years as a volunteer in wildlife rehabilitation, where we work to help people understand why wildlife do not make good pets. It's funny how arrogant people are, believing they have the right to deprive an animal of it's innate right to freedom. For this man, it seems like it came from a place of love and compassion. It sounds like it started out more like a rescue. Actually this story is unique in that it did not end in tragedy, so he was very lucky!! I believe that the wildlife trade is immoral and both buyers and sellers should be imprisoned. He did the crime and he paid his time.
11
Do not judge,
lest ye be judged
7
Are you sure your pauses don’t pose a danger too?
2
Mr. Yates's benign intentions aside, confining a wild animal in an apartment is both heartless and dangerous.
I wonder whether, when Ming was confiscated, the authorities bothered to find out how Yates procured the animal.
The trafficking of wildlife is a lucrative and hideously cruel underground industry. Those at the source have to be stopped. And those who witness the inappropriate confinement of these animals need to report it.
At least Ming lived out his remaining years in a sanctuary. Many exotic animals bought on the black market as pets or for more nefarious purposes are not so lucky.
163
@JR
If you read the article & looked at the photos you would see that the tiger was born in Racine, Minnesota, in 2000. He was not trafficked from another country.
4
@Salix
I found no such information in the article or photos.
7
@Salix
I see the date and location of his birth on the monument.
Regardless of where he was born, he was clearly held and sold illegally if he ended up in a Harlem apartment. That's trafficking too.
15
So the Hartsdale Pet Cemetary becomes yet a little weirder. I used to live within a mile or so of it. It abuts Central Avenue, the main non-parkway route from the Bronx to White Plains,, very near the commercial center of the hamlet of Hartdale.
12
@carol goldstein The Hartsdale Pet Cemetery is a wonderful and beautiful place. Everyone there is kind and respectful. They were so helpful and comforting when I buried my cat. They take pride in maintaining the grounds and graves and always have a kind word when I visit. If Ms. Goldstein thinks those of us who CHOOSE to bury our loved ones there and go to visit them are weird, so be it. Ms. Goldstein, if she has pets, can CHOOSE NOT to bury them there. I would never call her "weird" because of her choice.
20
@New Yorker
And, Hartsdale is the only animal cemetery to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its well worth a short train ride up the Hudson to visit for the afternoon.
11
@carol goldstein
Not clear to me what is "weird" about the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery. Its name is pretty clear. Please elucidate.
3
I never met Ming (by choice) but I know Antoine from the neighborhood. I, of course, disagree with him or anyone keeping a Tiger in Drew projects because they are beautiful creatures meant to roam free. I'm so sorry to hear that Ming has died. I imagine Antoine didn't take it well. He loves animals -- as I do. I have the usual cats and a dog.
143
@Condibeans I am always fascinated when people who abuse animals are considered to be animal lovers. And, make no mistake, keeping a large wild animal in a small apartment is abuse. He loved having the animal around I’m sure. That is not the same as loving the animal.
125
@ Chutney You are the like kettle calling the pot black. And Maggie makes a perfectly valid point.
2
Only in the USA! Oddly this makes me smile!
28
@mari I have the opposite reaction.
25
@mari Wild animals are kept as pets throughout Asia. To wit, cheetahs are a huge status symbol in Dubai.
3
So Yates' mother had no problem with him confining a 400-lb wild animal inside a tiny apartment, where it couldn't get proper exercise and posed a potential menace to neighbors -- who also didn't bother to report it -- had it gotten loose Sad. No culpability. But why am I not surprised??
63
@Debussy How did his mother get involved in this story?
6
@Debussy Obviously there was something very wrong with both of them.
19
@Debussy I wonder if the neighbors ever realized that a 400 pound Bengal tiger lived in one of the apartments. Even if they heard Ming roar or detected a strong scent, I don't think that anyone could have ever imagined the source. In once episode of Animal Planet's "Fatal Attraction," a man managed to keep a spotted hyena in his 10th floor apartment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTWI2YV4juk
2
the new york i know and love.. the ultimate urban jungle
113
It might have been interesting to know whether Yates ever visited his former pet at the Ohio sanctuary and, if so, how the visit went.
189
@Luder Yes, I kept reading the article waiting on that answer and nothing.
16
@Luder after three months in Rikers I'm guessing he stayed away form Ohio.
9
@Luder I'm guessing he did not have the means to visit. It's sad too, that Yates spent three months in Riker's Island-- a notoriously awful prison-- especially since no one was harmed by his unusual choice of pet. It's a rather fanciful story and one cannot help but wish the best for Yates. I hope he has a wonderful friendship with that dog now.
91