‘Tiger King’-Style Venues Could Finally Be Outlawed In US
The landmark Big Cat Public Safety Act has just passed the House, in a big step towards ending ‘tiger selfies’ and other public interactions with big cats.
Credit: Amy Jones/Moving Animals
A bill that seeks to outlaw cruel roadside zoos, like those seen in the infamous Tiger King documentary, is one big step closer to becoming law after being passed by the U.S. House.
The Big Cat Public Safety Act, H.R. 1380, passed the House on December 3, by a vote of 272 to 114 (with 44 members not voting).
The legislation seeks to protect big cats and public safety by outlawing inhumane cub handling exhibits as well as backyard big cat collectors.
The prominence of this year’s Tiger King documentary on Netflix, has helped propel the issue of America’s longstanding problem with captive exotic animals into the spotlight. With around 5,000 captive tigers in the US alone, campaigners have repeatedly urged for more to be done to protect big cats.
Whilst there are twenty-one states that prohibit the keeping of dangerous exotic pets like tigers and leopards, there is currently no U.S. federal law concerning big cat ownership.
Earlier this year, a Florida man suffered multiple lacerations and required multiple surgeries, after an unethical roadside zoo encounter turned violent when a leopard mauled him. And throughout the year, numerous inspections of roadside zoos and wildlife ‘entertainment’ facilities have repeatedly found severe animal abuse, including government officials finding burned, rotting tiger corpses, and seriously ill animals denied veterinary care.
Now that the Big Cat Public Safety Act legislation has passed the house, the bill’s potential success is now in the hands of the U.S. Senate.
“No one needs a pet tiger or lion in their backyard or garage, and no one needs to take a selfie with one, especially at such tremendous cost to the animals” said a representative from The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). “It’s time we stopped this madness for good”.
Campaigners are urging the public to ask their senators to support the Big Cat Public Safety Act - find out how you can do so here.
More stories:
Species Unite
A collection of stories of those who fight the good fight on behalf of animals.
How to protect rhinos from poachers, learning about what owls know, and the campaign to stop the construction of the biggest ‘monkey farm’ in the US - these are just some of the topics covered in our most listened-to episodes of the year.