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.

[6] Ming's existence became known and reported in the media after Yates was taken to the Harlem Hospital Center emergency room on September 30, 2003 with bites on the arm and leg.

[7][8] At the time of treatment, Yates claimed that his pet pit bull had bitten him;[9] however, the medical personnel were suspicious, because the width of the bite marks suggested an animal with a much larger jaw.

[9] Yates checked out of the hospital that same day, and following up on the tips, an officer of New York City Police Department was sent to his home address to investigate on October 3.

[8] The NYPD Technical Assistance Response Unit drilled holes through a neighbor's walls and used a camera on a pole to locate Ming.

[8] After Ming was discovered in Yates' apartment, questioning of the neighbors determined that the existence of the tiger had been widely known for at least three years, but as a sort of urban legend.

The neighbor added it was not a problem until the summer of 2003, when she opened her windows for the first time that year and found her windowsills soaked with urine accompanied by a heavy animal odor.

[14] According to the New York Daily News, A woman who shared a Harlem apartment with a 425-pound tiger said yesterday she was terrified at first—but soon got used to living with the man-eater down the hall.

Caroline Domingo told the Daily News she couldn't believe her eyes when she spotted the big cat roaming free in the apartment where she and her husband rented a room from tiger-owner Antoine Yates.

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.

[16][17] He was released after serving three months, and subsequently he sued New York City for the loss of his pets (including a rabbit) and for $7,000 cash, which he claimed had also been in the apartment.

[19] According to Yates, the suit was dismissed because it would have revealed the New York City Housing Authority had not been conducting required quarterly inspections of the apartment, as records had stated.

[20][16] For approximately a decade, human visitors were barred from visiting Ming in Ohio, but the sanctuary later changed their policy in the interest of enrichment.

[12] A 2020 interview with Yates stated that he was living in Philadelphia with his mother and "a more humble collection of snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises and chinchillas".