In April 2000, Antoine Yates, a 31-year-old part-time taxicab driver and resident of Harlem, New York City, purchased Ming, an 8-week-old male Siberian–Bengal tiger hybrid, from the BEARCAT Hollow Animal Park in Racine, Minnesota. Records indicated that BEARCAT Hollow had previously sold a lion cub to Yates, but he had found another home for the lion shortly after purchasing Ming.
Discovery
Ming's existence became known and reported in the media after Yates went to the Harlem Hospital Center emergency room on September 30, 2003 with bites on the arm and leg. At the time of treatment, Yates claimed that his pet pit bull had bitten him; however, the medical personnel were suspicious, because the width of the bite marks suggested an animal with a much larger jaw. Later, Yates said he had been bitten while trying to keep Ming away from Shadow, a cat he had recently adopted. Yates checked out of the hospital on October 3, and the same day, following up on a tip, an officer of New York City Police Department was sent to his home address to investigate. Loud growling noises could be heard through the door of the apartment, causing the officer to avoid entering. The NYPD Technical Assistance Response Unit drilled holes through a neighbor's walls and used a camera on a pole to locate Ming. Martin Duffy, another police officer was sent to the roof, from which he abseiled on a rope sling to view through the apartment's windows. Ming roared at Duffy, who then anaesthetized Ming by firing a rifle with a tranquilizer dart prepared by the city's Chief Veterinarian, Dr. Robert Cook. After being darted, Ming charged at the window from which Duffy had fired, breaking it, then retreated further into the apartment. Authorities waited several minutes for the sedative to take effect before an animal control team was sent into Yates' apartment. Dr. Cook used a catchpole and gave Ming another sedative injection to ensure he would remain asleep during transport. It took more than six men to carry Ming down via elevator to a waiting truck. The team also discovered Al, a five-and-a-half-foot alligator that Yates had been raising in one of the other bedrooms. Yates was later located at a hospital in Philadelphia and placed under guard. After Ming was discovered in Yates' apartment in October 2003, questioning of the neighbors determined that the existence of the tiger was widely known for at least three years, but as a sort of urban legend. One fact that turned up was that Yates regularly bought large quantities of raw chicken at the local supermarket, and it was a standing joke in the building that he could eat so much chicken every day. By 2003, Yates was feeding Ming of chicken, livers, and bones per day. In addition, Yates had taken roommates, who were unaware at first of the animals in the home. According to the New York Daily News,
Legal actions
Yates was arrested on charges of reckless endangerment and the possession of a wild animal. Later, his mother was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, since she had been babysitting children in the apartment. As part of a plea agreement to reduce charges against his mother, Yates pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment, and eventually served a five-month prison term with five years' probation. He was released after serving three months, and subsequently he sued New York City for the loss of his pets and for $7,000 cash which he claimed had also been in the apartment. A judge dismissed the case, calling him full of "chutzpah".
Life after New York
Authorities decided to move the seized animals to more appropriate housing: Ming was sent to Noah's Lost Ark Animal Sanctuary in Berlin Center, Ohio, while Al was given a new home in Indiana. Around 2010, Yates lived in Pahrump, Nevada near Las Vegas with 22 big cats, including four tigers, having redubbed himself "Antoine Tigermann Yates". He established the Reach Out And Respond Foundation in 2011. A 2018 article in the New York Post cast doubt on Yates's veracity, noting that a licensed tiger owner in Pahrump stated that Yates had never lived in Nevada.
In media
In October 2010, the story of Yates and Ming was dramatized on the Animal Planet show Fatal Attractions. The episode was titled "A Tiger Loose in Harlem". A mix of re-creation and documented footage was used, complete with commentary by Yates, his family and police. Ming is mentioned in the documentary film, The Tiger Next Door. Ming of Harlem: Twenty-One Storeys in the Air was screened at the New York Film Festival on October 3, 2014.
