Suzy had spent her life performing for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus until they closed their final show in May. The circus had closed down following a loss of business and heavy criticism from animal rights groups.
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In a decision much criticized by PETA and other groups advocating for animal rights, Suzy and 13 other tigers belonging to Feld Entertainment were being transported to Germany to join another circus.
However, Suzy managed to escape the transport between Florida and Tennessee. When asked how Suzy escaped, a representative for Feld Entertainment responded, 'We do not know what occurred.'
The police and animal experts were called as Suzy was discovered prowling the motorway in Georgia. The initial plan was to sedate and capture her but before they arrived she had entered a residential area where she attacked a pet dog in a back garden. At this point police were afraid that Suzy could pose a threat to human life and decided to fatally shoot her.
PETA's Vice President Delcianna Winders has made the following statement, 'This isn’t the first big cat to die violently at the hands of Feld Entertainment, Ringling’s parent company — others include a tiger who was fatally shot at close range while locked in a cage and a lion who baked to death in a hot boxcar. When Feld sentenced these tigers to a miserable life in a German circus, this tiger’s fate was sealed. She was gunned down on the streets of Atlanta, and PETA bets that she won’t be the last to die. In light of this tragedy, we are calling on the federal government to revoke Feld’s permit to export 14 other big cats.'
