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Grim ‘Tiger King’ tale prompts big cat safety bill in US

Thu 10 Dec 2020    
EcoBalance
| 3 min read

The United States voted Thursday to ban the keeping of big cats as pets, following the grievous light the controversial Netflix documentary Tiger King threw on the issue early 2020, sparking escalating concerns.

The Big Cat Public Safety Act, as it has been termed, was passed in the House of Representatives 272 to 114, reeling back the extents of breeding, selling, buying, owning or even transporting, large felines like lions, tigers and leopards.

“Animals like tigers, lions, leopards, and pumas should not be exposed to miserable conditions so many of them in our country currently face,” Democratic Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, who introduced the bill, said in a statement.

“By passing the Big Cat Public Safety Act we are one step closer to ensuring these animals are treated humanely and to keeping the public safe from dangerous big cats.”

If the bill passes, it will bar most individuals from owning large cats. Direct public contact with the animals will also reportedly be banned.

Groups granted exception to the rule would include universities, wildlife sanctuaries, practising veterinarians and licensed officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Existing pet-owners of big cats would be required to register the animals and refrain from breeding them or sharing them with the public. Violations of the law could result in $20,000 in fines and a prison sentence of up to five years.

The ruling comes about nine months after Tiger King gripped the nation in March with the first stirrings of the pandemic.

The Emmy-nominated Netflix series followed the career of Joseph Maldonado-Passage, or “Joe Exotic,” who caged several felines in Oklahoma. The eccentric figure is now serving a 22-years-long prison sentence for killing five tigers and plotting the murder of critic and animal rights activist Carole Baskin, who runs Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida.

What Happened After 'Tiger King' - The New York Times
Joseph ‘Joe Exotic’ Maldonado-Passage, former owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, who claimed to be the most most prolific breeder of tigers in the US.

Baskin, who also featured in the series, is one of many numerous wildlife advocates who has been pushing for Congress to pass the bill for years.

“We are thrilled that the Big Cat Public Safety Act passed the House with bipartisan support to protect the big cats from abuse, the public and first responders from injuries and death, and the tiger in the wild from extinction,” cheered Baskin in a Facebook post, when the news broke.

Carole Baskin, founder of Big Cat Rescue, Florida, has been fighting to free the large felines from their abusive circumstances for years.

The bill however has not yet made it out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee yet.

Quigley, criticised by the Senate leadership for passing the bill instead of focusing on coronavirus relief, countered in his final legislative statement Wednesday that over-worked first responders would be additionally burdened if aggravated felines attack their owners or others.

“Too often, law enforcement and first responders are the ones who end up in danger from these animals and, in a time when our first responders are already facing increased risk from the pandemic, we owe it to them to limit the additional dangers they face on the job”, he said.

Heartily endorsed by a wide variety of animal welfare groups, the bill has also landed in the good books of a sum of law enforcement agencies — over 60 mixed organisations now support the cause, affirmed Quigley.

“Long before ‘Tiger King,’ Joe Exotic and dozens of others like him were under our scrutiny due to their abuse of tigers – both adults and cubs,” the Humane Society of the United States said in a statement.

“We estimate that hundreds of tigers across the country are kept as pets and money-making props by roadside zoos, pseudo-sanctuaries and cub-petting operations. They are often torn from their mother moments after birth, hit, dragged, and forced into photo ops, and live in squalid conditions.”

Calling this reality a “public safety disaster”, the organisation appealed for the Congress to pass the Act and “put an end to this cycle of misery, abuse, and danger once and for all.”

[Sourced from Agencies]