Breaking: Big Cat Public Safety Act passes the US Senate and heads to President Biden's desk
Source: Humane Society
Press Release December 6, 2022
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate just passed the Big Cat Public Safety Act (H.R. 263, Senate companion bill S. 1210) by unanimous consent. This follows the bill’s passage by the U.S. House of Representatives on July 29. The legislation prohibits keeping tigers, lions and other big cat species as pets, and bans public contact with these species, including paid interactive experiences like cub petting. The legislation was sponsored and championed by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Rep. Michael Quigley, D-Ill., and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. The bill now goes to the White House to be signed into law by President Biden, who has expressed support for it.
Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and CEO of Humane Society Legislative Fund, said: “An extraordinarily cruel era for big cats in the U.S. finally comes to an end with the passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act. We’ve been fighting for this moment for years because so many so-called ‘Tiger Kings’ have been breeding tigers and other big cats to use them for profit. And once the cubs grow too large for cub-petting or selfies, these poor animals get dumped at roadside zoos or passed into the pet trade, which is not only a terrible wrong for the animals, but also a threat to public safety. Now that the Big Cat Public Safety Act will become law, it’s the beginning of the end of the big cat crisis in the U.S.”
Sara Amundson, president of Humane Society Legislative Fund, said: “Passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act addresses a reckless cruelty that has festered for years. For too long tiger cubs have been exploited by ‘pay to play’ operators like Joe Exotic and Doc Antle who profited from charging people for photo ops of their children holding these potentially dangerous wild animals. Since 1990, more than 400 incidents involving captive big cats have occurred in 46 states and the District of Columbia. Five children and 19 adults have been killed and hundreds of others injured, some losing limbs or suffering other traumatic injuries. The bill’s enactment stops what was an endless cycle of exploiting and mistreating big cat cubs, who were dumped after they grew too large for photo ops. The legislation’s lead sponsors Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Mike Quigley and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick rightly saw this as a public safety threat and a gross cruelty. We urge President Biden to sign the bill without delay.”
There are untold numbers of captive tigers, lions, leopards and other big cats in the U.S., most living in shoddy roadside zoos, private menageries or in homes as pets. The presence of these cats in our communities is often the consequence of predatory businesses that operate substandard facilities and charge the public for photo ops and for feeding and petting sessions with infant tigers and other big cats. Bred specifically to turn a profit, cubs are torn from their mothers at birth and subjected to neglect and mistreatment as props for these public encounters. This exploitation occurs for a few months until the animals have grown too large to be handled. They are then warehoused in roadside zoos, sold into the pet trade, and some are killed. Meanwhile, in a never-ending cycle, new cubs have been produced, used and disposed of, increasing the number of captive big cats in backyards and basements across America.
Read more: https://www.humanesociety.org/news/breaking-big-cat-public-safety-act-passes-us-senate-and-heads-president-bidens-desk
Monumental legislation will prohibit keeping tigers, lions and other big cat species as pets and bans public contact with these species, including cub petting
= new reply since forum marked as read
(sorry, couldn't resist)
Answer: USA.
When owned by individuals and not by municipal zoos, they are ill-confined, badly bred within their own species, and people think it’s cute to cross-breed them with lions and call the results Ligurs.
They are a danger to humans individually and collectively. They are wild creatures, not domestic pets. “Roadside zoos” where they get dumped are abusive.
I rejoice at this new law, and hope that every single one of these privately-owned critters is spayed/neutered.
