Caged Tiger At Miami High School Prom Upsets Students, Parents, Sparks Outrage

A fully grown tiger was invited as a “special guest” to a prom night at a high school in Miami on Friday night, enraging some parents and students. The presence of the caged tiger sparked outrage on social media with people calling it animal abuse in the name of entertainment.

The Christopher Columbus High School held their annual prom at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Miami Airport and Convention Centre with the theme “Welcome to Jungle,” during which the organizers decided to take up the idea literally by arranging for a tiger to roll into the dance.

According to ABC news, the caged tiger made its debut during the dance along with other exotic animals like an African fennec fox, lemur and macaws. Students took photos and videos of the tiger which trotted around the small cage in the center of the dance floor, while the performers used fire to entertain the audience.

Mari-Cristine Castellanos, sister of one of the students, was outraged by the act and posted a video of the incident on Facebook calling it “shameful.”

“Tigers are wild animals. They don’t need to be displayed as objects for our amusement. They don’t like the fire, the cages, the music, the teenagers with the cameras, they didn’t ask for that, they don’t have voices,” she told CBS Miami. “My mom doesn’t appreciate that she spent $200 for prom and got this type of attraction. He’s nothing more than an object that people used to amuse themselves in exchange for money.”

Castellanos said she was worried the tiger was uncomfortable on being put on display and added her brother was unwilling to come forward for the fear of retaliation from the school, reported ABC news.

In a statement to ABC station local10, the school stated the wildlife was overseen the whole time by a Florida-licensed facility and the animals were displayed in a "very controlled situation.”

“The tiger, which was displayed for a few minutes in a cage, was never harmed or in danger, was not forced to perform, was always accompanied by his handlers, and for the great majority of the time, was laying down in a relaxed state, facing away from the audience,” the school spokesperson said.

In a statement, PETA said, "Wild animals aren't prom decorations. Displaying a tiger in a tiny cage and allowing students to handle lemurs is cruel to the animals and dangerous for the students, and it sends the harmful message that living beings are props to be used for human amusement,” reported NBC Miami.

“The tiger is clearly looking for a way to get out of that situation; it’s not difficult to interpret that behavior. He was surrounded by people, cell phones, lights, jugglers juggling fire. I really don’t know what they were thinking,” Ron Magill, a spokesman for ZooMiami told the Inquisitor.