“I Noticed a Tiger, and the Tiger Noticed Man”: eight Books Like TIGER KING

Hey, all you cool cats and kittens! (Sorry.) Now that we’re all nonetheless indoors and completed marathoning each episode of Tiger King (together with the replace) and have gossiped about it with our coworkers over Zoom till even we’re uninterested in ourselves saying how precisely Carol Baskin killed her husband, we’d like one thing else to do.

However are we completely prepared to maneuver on from the practice wreck that’s Tiger King? (No.)

Personally, I feel it’s good that almost all of us are collectively consuming this media—it opens our eyes to worlds that we didn’t know existed: The merciless facet of “sanctuaries” and the right way to discern that are actually saving animals and that are exploiting them. The lengths folks go to to be able to acquire cash or standing from animals or their elements.

Tiger King is filled with animal abuse, and it’s not simple to observe. I didn’t watch it and *get pleasure from* it, which I consider is the case with lots of people. I couldn’t look away from all these folks arguing about who was doing the higher job of retaining these wild unique (and in lots of instances, endangered) animals in cages. And I used to be horrified.

Alongside these traces, I’ve discovered myself diving into books following characters attempting to raised the lives of animals or themselves, whether or not or not they really succeed. I’ve chosen these particular books like Tiger King for his or her similarities to discussions of animals in captivity and the morality surrounding that. Some have characters completely reverse to the folks in Tiger King, attempting to do their finest to really present assist, and a few are eerily shut in that there aren’t actually any good characters or folks within the content material, however you won’t be able to cease studying. Nonetheless others are simply downright bizarre (in a enjoyable manner). 

I’ll flag every as finest I can for all warnings, however please take warning and do extra analysis if you happen to want. You too can donate to or help an precise nonprofit that really works to protect wildlife (trace: it’s none of these parks in Tiger King). Listed here are eight books like Tiger King that may preserve your eyes glued to the web page till you’re finished.

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Pleasure of Eden by Taylor Brown

Anse Caulfield is a veteran, a retired jockey, and now, works with unique large cats, elephants, and different wildlife animals for Little Eden, a wildlife park in Georgia. When Anse’s most beloved lion escapes and is killed, his fury turns to obsession as he tries to exchange her, and he’ll do no matter it takes to “rescue” a brand new lion. He and his group consider they’re rescuing the animals, grabbing them from others who mistreat them, however how do they actually know what’s finest for the animals? CW: ugly animal abuse

Sharks within the Time of Saviors by Kawai Sturdy Washburn

Nainoa Flores is 7 years outdated when, on a household trip in Hawaii, he falls overboard right into a shiver of sharks. However when he’s gently delivered again to his mom within the jaws of the shark, his life modifications for good. His household sees this as an indication from the traditional Hawaiian gods, however quickly it looks like it’s tearing the household aside. CW: shark assault

Zoo Nebraska: The Dismantling of an American Dream by Carson Vaughan

Should you have been tremendous into the complicated politics and energy struggles in Tiger King, this nonfiction account of a privately owned zoo in Nebraska is for you! Dick Haskin had a dream to save lots of primates, however because the vacationer commerce boomed and unique animals grew to become more and more in style, this small zoo was a wild and bizarre energy seize between some not-great folks. CW: dialogue of mistreatment of animals

The Wildlands by Abby Geni

The McCloud household was torn aside by a twister that destroyed their Oklahoma house. Siblings Darlene, Jane, Cora, and Tucker have been orphaned, and so they made nationwide information. After the sudden fame, Tucker deserted his sisters, by no means to be heard from once more. However three years later, an animal manufacturing facility bombing triggers a sequence of occasions that out of the blue causes Tucker to reappear within the McCloud sisters’ lives, and he seeks out the friendship and assist of his youngest sister, 9-year-old Cora. Whereas Cora turns into an inadvertent street journey sidekick and confederate, Darlene and Jane work with police to trace down their lacking sister. The household must confront their points with the world and each other to outlive the storm that tore them aside within the first place.

How A lot of These Hills Is Gold? by C Pam Zhang

Newly orphaned siblings Lucy and Sam are out of the blue fending for themselves amid the American gold rush. The youngsters of immigrants, they already face insurmountable challenges in a city that hates them. They shortly flee their mining city, setting off to bury their father. Alongside the way in which, they encounter animals of all types and a disparate panorama as they attempt to lay their previous to relaxation. CW: gun violence, racism and racist language, animal abuse

Barn eight by Deb Olin Unferth

Auditors for the U.S. egg business are uninterested in mass producers getting away with the merciless circumstances they preserve their animals in. As an alternative of filling out extra paperwork, they resolve to hatch (heh) a plot to steal 1,000,000 chickens in the midst of the night time—a whole farm’s animals. They enlist the assistance of animal rights professionals, and this bizarre and enlightening journey for the characters can have you rooting for essentially the most sudden heroes. CW: quick descriptions of animal cruelty, animal deaths (non-personified chickens and hens)

The Evening Tiger by Yangsze Choo

Ren is an easy orphan houseboy, however when his grasp is on his deathbed, he makes one last request: he needs Ren to seek out his severed finger and reunite it together with his physique so he may be laid to relaxation. Ren has 49 days, or his soul will roam the earth perpetually. When Ren’s story collides with that of Ji Lin, a dancehall woman who had a wierd encounter with a dance associate, and a prowling tiger that’s unfastened within the city, they understand they’re the one ones who can cease this. CW: home abuse

142 Ostriches by April Davila

Tallulah’s grandmother runs the household ostrich farm within the Mojave Desert when she’s only a child. Lastly, as an grownup, Tallulah accepts a job in Montana and prepares to bid the farm farewell. However her grandmother dies in a wierd accident, Tallulah out of the blue finds herself answerable for the farm, and the birds mysteriously cease laying eggs. Tallulah tries to promote the ranch, hiding to potential consumers that the birds inexplicably are not laying eggs, and when the prolonged household exhibits up, all hell breaks unfastened. CW: alcoholism, home abuse