John Basile took a recent stroll through downtown Lockport with a young Siberian tiger, something he didn't think was that unusual. Police thought otherwise.
Basile, 57, owner-operator of the Big Run Wolf Ranch, located about three miles northeast of Lockport's downtown, was charged with reckless conduct and keeping a dangerous animal. He could be fined - even jailed - if found guilty of either misdemeanor.
Basile has gone public - against his attorney's advice - with his version of what happened on Feb. 16 when police spotted him with the tiger named "Shere Khan" near the intersection of State and 10th streets.
Basile and the rare tiger had just dropped into Uncle Richie's Place on 9th Street. "Everybody knows him there," Basile said. "Half the time he's lying down sleeping."
Basile, a federally licensed exhibitor of wild animals, was arrested after he caged Shere Khan. But it took eight days for the Will County state's attorney's office to file charges in the unusual case.
How unusual? Police Chief Terry Lemming, who became Lockport's top cop earlier this year, said he hadn't encountered a similar situation during his 32 years as an Illinois state police officer.
Lemming acknowledges there is some humor in the idea of taking a Siberian tiger out for a stroll. But he said the reality is a bit different when that tiger can grow up to be 11 feet in length and weigh as much as 500 pounds.
Tigers shouldn't be in restaurants or places that serve alcohol because "[l]iquor alters people's personalities and judgment," he said.
Guns are banned from bars "for the same reason we wouldn't want an animal that could hurt a person," he said.
"Through our investigation we learned Mr. Basile had the tiger in a bar on Dec. 14 for a Christmas party and, at that point, the cat bit a woman on the arm."
Basile contends Shere Khan's "not harmed anybody."
He estimates 23,000 children have interacted in varying degrees with the animals at the nonprofit, federally-licensed Big Wolf Run Ranch during its approximately three decades on the 14800 block of Farrell Road.
The tiger is the newest addition to a menagerie of 10 wolves, a North American black bear, a cougar and a coyote, as well as smaller animals that include a striped skunk, a porcupine and brother-sister raccoons.
Basile said he and his staff hand-feed Shere Khan.
Estimating the cat's size at 40 pounds, Basile said, "He's little now."
"Oh yeah?" responded Lemming, who places the tiger's weight closer to 80. "Ask him if you can put it on a scale."
Basile is due in Will County Circuit court March 28.
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