"The Elephant in the Living Room"

"The Elephant in the Living Room" is a groundbreaking new documentary that explores the controversial practice of raising dangerous exotic animals as household pets.

EVT sat down with one of the movie's stars, Mr. Tim Harrison, a police officer, Hall of Fame martial artist, instructor for Homeland Security, and animal advocate to learn more. Tim has spent the last 30+ years rescuing hundreds of lions, tigers, bears, alligators, crocodiles, and the largest and deadliest snakes on earth.

When EVT first caught up with him, Tim had just received word that there were fresh tracks of a black leopard heading toward a Girl Scout camp in the area. "Just a typical call in the state of Ohio," was how he described it. This interview was conducted after that situation was resolved.

1. You’ve surely answered this question many times before, but how did you get into rescuing and capturing so-called “domesticated” exotic animals? Particularly dangerous ones?

When I was 16 years old, I started working for a veterinarian in Ohio. An all-around (general practitioner) vet who used to work with big animals—he’d get 3 or 4 calls per year asking for help with them. I went along with him on some of the calls. After he retired, the calls just kept coming, only by then they were calling for me.

Then after 1996, the reality shows became big business. All these people wanted to bring in the same types of animals they saw on TV. People don’t understand they won’t act like the ones on television!

2. I’m sorry you lost a friend of yours to an attack by an exotic pet. Some people may be curious about what made you want to start rescuing dangerous exotic animals, and becoming an animal protection advocate, after this experience.

I’ve lost 2 friends in the last 5 years to exotic animal attacks. I used to work with these animals; I once saw a person constricted to death by a python. I started to realize how often this was happening, but no one was keeping statistics across the country. No one should be keeping these animals as pets. We should keep dangerous exotics out of regular people’s hands. I’ve also seen big cats being put to sleep—big, healthy, active cats. It breaks the heart.

3. How did director Michael Webber first contact you about making this documentary? What were your initial thoughts on the idea of him following you around with a camera and film crew during these dangerous activities?

Mike had read my 2 books (Wild Times: Tales from the Suburban Safari and Wildlife Warrior: More Tales of Suburban Safaris). He said to himself, “If this stuff is for real, it’d be the most amazing stuff ever put on film!” He kept bothering me and bothering me (laughing). But he was a real nice guy. He just followed me around for a couple months, and then took the material to National Geographic. I’d been on National Geographic and Animal Planet, but just didn’t get the exposure I was hoping for. Didn’t want to do TV again.

Then the film won the Genesis Award, and money, at SilverDocs (documentary festival by the Humane Society of the United States), and that was that! The film is very objective. It lets the viewer decide.

4. What was the most frightening situation you’ve ever been in with this work?

The scariest ones are with the big cats. You try not to shoot or dart them. The drug needs 10-15 minutes to take effect, and in the meantime, you have a big drug-crazed cat on your hands.

Probably the worst was with this 180-lb cougar…I was just off a 24-hour shift, and no one else was available to help. This giant cat was in a frenzy in an alley. I knew I couldn’t walk it out. Had a dog snare and a bull rope to try to do this. As I approached him, that cat jumped a 10-ft fence like it was nothing. When I finally caught up to him and snared it, the rope came loose. That animal took two steps, stopped…and looked me in the eye.

I looked around for help, but the people on the scene were all spectators at that point. (Interviewer laughs, notes) "So with this giant cat free and staring you down in the face, you look around for assistance and they’re basically indicating, ‘All yours, Tim—looking good! Let us know if you need anything.’ "

(laughing) Yeah, pretty much! So they’re all watching and this cat’s looking me in the eye and I have nothing but a dog snare on me. And then it comes at me.

Somehow I managed to get the pole of the dog snare in its mouth right when it leaped. I jumped to the side and held it off that way. Managed to get the snare further around it and ended up taking him off balance. When it stumbled I was on him, trying to get that big cat under control. And not get shredded by its huge claws.

Tim Harrison bringing in the 180-lb cougar from his “scariest story"

(Interviewer): You were essentially wrestling this beast mano a mano—with a dog snare?

Yeah—and he peed on me, too! (laughing)

I almost did the same. That was one of the most frightening situations I’ve ever been in. That part lasted a couple minutes, which is a long time to be doing that kind of thing. When I finally got it under control enough for the police officers and EMTs to step in, the animal control people didn’t even want him in the van. It was that scary.

5. Have you ever had to put an escaped exotic animal down, rather than rescue or capture it?

Yes. I have had to put some animals down. I’m trying to protect the animal, but also trying to protect the public. Mike, the film’s director, asked me to consider the question of whether I was the hero or the villain. I’d never thought of it that way before, and thought it was a very interesting question. It’s a complicated and difficult position to be in.

6. Could you educate us on what some of the animal pet laws are in the United States? Are there federal or state agencies that monitor this kind of “pet” ownership?

It’s illegal to own dangerous animals in 13 states. I’m hoping for 17 states, but it’s big business. This is a $20.5 billion dollar per year industry, according to The New York Times in an article last year. The only things that sell more in the U.S. are drugs and firearms.

There are lots of regulations, but some are loose. Others can’t be enforced very well, the state departments don’t have the resources for it. Ohio is the worst for exotic animals: hyenas, baboons, etc. Missouri is also up there. When Steve Erwin was hottest, crocodile and gator calls were record-breaking, coming in about 20 times a year. Then it went down to about 4.

But I believe 80% of people are good. If they know it’s against the law, they won’t do it. That still however leaves you with about 20% that will ignore the law. And that’s a lot of animals and situations getting out of control.

7. What is the most exotic animal or species you’ve ever dealt with?

(Laughing) I always have to go check the books at some point. I’m still learning every day.

Probably the most exotic animal I ever saw was a…binturong, I think it’s called, from Asia. It’s a bear cat, looks like a wolverine. It’s harmless enough, but I saw it on sale in the want ads. I know enough to say, “This should not be here!”

8. What kind of fan mail do you receive? Any complaints? How have you dealt with both?

Most of the complaints are from those (the companies and people) selling them. But I’ve been a cop for 29 years, so I’m used to people not liking me. What’s difficult is when they manage to contact my family with all these complaints and criticisms. That’s the hard part.

I do get quite a bit of fan mail. There are more people supporting me than against me. So that’s good. I joined a group called “Outreach for Animals”, made up of police officers, firefighters, and paramedics about 10 years ago to help teach people about exotic animals and that they belong in the wild.

9. Congratulations on the film winning FOUR “Best Documentary” awards,* and the Genesis Award. Do you have any current thoughts on working with Michael Webber again in the future, or on doing another film project at some point?

We have so much footage not used!—stuff that would take your breath away. We’ll probably take it to National Geographic, make a mini-series or series of specials. To any network that might be interested.

I think animals are often being treated as entertainment, and we need to take it to another level. We need to bring respect back to wildlife. Our approach should be Man with Wild, not Man vs. Wild.

10. Is there anything else you’d like to share with us regarding your work?

We want veterinarians on board too, not surgically altering these exotic animals.

I’d also like to see more people get involved in teaching kids properly about wildlife. If you asked people coming out of a zoo with their kids, “Do you want a monkey?” The answer would be “Yes!” If you asked, “Do you want a tiger?” the answer would probably still be “Yes!” But after seeing our film, they’d say “No way!”

Theatrical trailer (2:07 mins)

*March 14, 2011
 Exotic Pet Documentary Wows Audiences Across the Country

Along with The HSUS’s Animal Content in Entertainment (ACE), "The Elephant in the Living Room" has won numerous awards, including Best Documentary at both the Sedona International and Traverse City Film Festivals, and Best Socially Conscious Film at the Burbank International Film Festival. It won in the Best Documentary Feature category at The 25th Anniversary Genesis Awards.