18 Oct 2020

Steve Winter: Revealing the dark side of America's private zoos

From Sunday Morning, 10:40 am on 18 October 2020

There are more tigers in captivity in the United States than there are in the wild in Asia, thanks to Americans' growing appetites for posing for photos with big cats and their cubs. National Geographic photographer Steve Winter has previously photographed wild cats in places like Myanmar and Peru, but for his latest project he spent two years tracking the fates of those in private roadside zoos across the US, documenting their confinement, maltreatment and exploitation. He says its vitally important for people to understand what is happening to these cats, and the industry for breeding them - which has been bolstered by the popular Netflix documentary series Tiger King.