If convicted, Nicholas Perkins, 32, of Studio City, faces imprisonment after Logan Paul and other influencers were filmed playing with his tiger.
Internet celebrity Logan Paul has found himself mired in controversy once again after police tracked down the owner of a tiger that appears in one of his videos.
If convicted, Nicholas Perkins, 32, of Studio City, California, faces nearly three years in jail, thanks to a YouTube video released on Paul’s channel last year that featured a tiger cub. The video,which racked up more than 8.2 million views, was what led to authorities discovering the cub’s location and identifying Perkins as the owner, investigators said.
“Tigers and other exotic animals are not pets,” city attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement Thursday. “Keeping these potentially dangerous animals in a residential setting poses a serious safety risk for residents and animals alike.”
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife began investigating after receiving an anonymous tip about a model posing with the tiger cub on Instagram in October 2017.
Later that month, Paul posted the 15-minute video titled “KONG MEETS A BABY TIGER! **Showdown**” featuring the same tiger cub and a Pomeranian dog.
The tiger was seized in a raid of Perkins’ home in November 2017 and was allegedly being kept in “poor living conditions” and reportedly being fed kitten milk replacement formula with a baby bottle, Feuer said. There were also anabolic steroids present in the home.
The tiger cub, later named Neil, was rehomed in a large cat rescue and sanctuary.
Perkins was charged with two counts of illegal possession of a tiger and one count of possession of anabolic steroids, and is scheduled to be arraigned next week.
Paul was not charged in the case.
The YouTuber has come under fire for his previous videos, including one uploaded last year filmed in the Aokigahara forest in Japan, dubbed the “suicide forest.”
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