The action follows a USDA complaint against Cook in 2003 that was later amended in 2007. The decision and order states, "Respondents have repeatedly endangered the lives of their customers and employees as well as the lives of their animals. Marcus Cook has a history of deceiving the public, [the USDA], and other law enforcement agencies."

Cook was found guilty of numerous violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including using electric prods to "control" a tiger during a photo session; numerous counts of handling and exhibiting tigers "in a manner that caused them trauma and behavioral stress with excessive risk of harm to the tigers and the public"; and improper feeding of young tigers, whose appearance indicated that they were suffering from metabolic bone disease caused by a poor diet. Cook was also found guilty of failure to provide veterinary care to tiger cubs, to a tiger with excessive hair loss and weight loss, and to tigers and a lion with protruding hip bones, dull coats, and low energy.

PETA has filed multiple complaints with the USDA over Cook's long and abysmal record of animal abuse and public endangerment. In July 2007, PETA called on the USDA to revoke Cook's license after the deaths of four 2-day-old tiger cubs he was exhibiting at a Minnesota fair.

"The suffering and deaths of big cats that Cook caused can never be undone, but by revoking his license, the USDA has a put a crimp in his decades-long reign of terror over these animals," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "Cook's case only confirms that exotic-animal exhibitors will stop at nothing to make a buck."

For more information, please visit PETA.org.