Floyd Mayweather may have retired from boxing but he is still making headlines by once again courting controversy.
The polarizing athlete shared a photo on Instagram revealing he had received a very rare and one-of-a-kind Christmas present – an exotic baby tiger from India.
The announcement was immediately met with outrage and shock on social media – and from PETA.
PETA’s Senior Vice President Lisa Lange said in a statement that; ‘Floyd Mayweather can have anything he wants, and what he should want is an end to the wild-animal trade, not to be a facilitator of it.
‘Tigers do poorly as “pets” – they belong in their native habitats, not in a cage in a celebrity’s home as a “show-off” prop, 100 percent certain to be discarded to a roadside zoo or a cheap circus or to meet some other tawdry end after they become too strong to handle and show a will of their own.
‘Wild animals kept as amusements never have a
fighting chance of a natural life.
‘Having been torn away from their mothers, many end up violently beaten by trainers and all are deprived of what’s natural, normal and important to them.
‘PETA appeals to Floyd Mayweather to be a real champ for animals and allow his “Christmas present” to be moved to a wildlife sanctuary.’
It is not clear where Mayweather plans to keep the tiger, which he received in Moscow.
He lives in the Las Vegas suburb of Enterprise and Nevada is one of the eight states in the country where it is legal to have a tiger as a pet.
Boxer Mike Tyson had three Royal Bengal tigers, which he kept in his Las Vegas mansion.
The cost to purchase a tiger is shockingly cheap, sometimes as little as buying a dog, but monthly expenses are thousands of dollars as well as the cost of hiring a year-round animal trainer.
Mayweather’s rare tiger however could have cost as much as $20,000, possibly even more.
