NOAH'S LOST ARK New York man goes distance to visit tiger held by sanctuary

The owner would like the animal to be moved closer to New York.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
BERLIN CENTER -- A New York City man plans to plead with Noah's Lost Ark officials today to allow him to visit with his 400-pound tiger that he says was snatched from his Harlem apartment.
When the exotic animal sanctuary opens to the public today, Antoine Yates and two bodyguards plan to be there.
"I just want to visit with him, that's all," said Yates, who drove six hours from New York City to visit with the tiger he last saw in October.
"I lived with him for three years. He's like my brother. I miss my tiger. Every inch I get closer to Ohio, I get goose bumps. If I can't see him, I will be so disappointed."
Yates, a construction worker, noted that he is not upset with the sanctuary owners.
"I have no hard feelings toward anyone," Yates said. "It's just tearing me up being so far away. I want to make sure he is OK. It will wreck me if I can't see him."
Officials at Noah's Lost Ark could not be reached to comment on today's planned visit.
What happened
Yates, 36, would like to move the tiger to a sanctuary closer to New York.
Larry Wallach, a board member of Noah's, has said that the sanctuary will not release Ming to Yates.
Yates said he bought Ming in Minnesota and never gave up ownership.
"I want to me able to visit him and not have to travel 400 miles," Yates said.
He said that he had tried to create a utopia in his five-bedroom public housing apartment in New York, but the plan went astray in October when Ming, a 2-year-old orange and white Siberian-Bengal mix, bit him.
Shortly after Yates went to the hospital, authorities found out about Ming and Yates' other pet, an alligator. Both were taken to animal sanctuaries.
Yates, who has four scars -- the worst about 2 inches long -- on his right leg from the bite, is facing criminal charges of reckless endangerment. He has pleaded innocent. A trial is scheduled in New York for June.
sinkovich@vindy.com