Category Archives: What’s Going On At Your Zoo?
Congress: Stop the Reckless Big Cat Trade
Shockingly, there are more captive tigers in the U.S. than there are in the wild. Due to lack of laws, unqualified people may easily purchase and breed tigers and other big cats across the country.
A recent HSUS investigation of one facility holding hundreds of big cats uncovered numerous dangerous public interactions with tigers, tiger deaths, frivolous breeding, and tiger cubs punched, dragged and kicked by workers.
The Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act (H.R. 4122), introduced by Reps. Buck McKeon and Loretta Sanchez, would prohibit the private ownership and breeding of tigers and other dangerous big cats.
TAKE ACTION Please make a brief, polite phone call to your U.S. Representative urging co-sponsorship of H.R. 4122. Look up your Representative’s phone number. You can simply say: “Please co-sponsor the Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act (H.R. 4122).” After making your phone call (please do not skip that crucial step!), submit the form below to send a follow-up message. Be sure to edit your message so it stands out.
SAMPLE EMAIL:
Your Message
Dear U.S. Representative,
There are currently more tigers in captivity in the U.S. than there are in the wild, and captive uses of big cats can undermine conservation efforts to save these species. Many are kept by unqualified people in flimsy cages.
This bill doesn’t affect legitimate zoos and sanctuaries possessing big cats. The majority of big cats are kept, purchased, and sold by poorly run roadside zoos and reckless private owners with little or no experience in the keeping, handling, or proper care of these animals.
Big cats are continuously bred to ensure a steady supply of young cubs are available for handling and sale, and older animals are transported to substandard facilities across the country.
Consequently, law enforcement must spend resources to deal with incidents where these deadly predators escape and threaten public safety.
Please co-sponsor H.R. 4122.
Article – HumaneSociety.org
Video – HumaneSociety.org
White Tigers
The ONLY way to produce a tiger or lion with a white coat is through inbreeding brother to sister or father to daughter; generation after generation after generation. The kind of severe inbreeding that is required to produce the mutation of a white coat also causes a number of other defects in these big cats.
In June 2011 the board of directors for the American Zoological Association (AZA) formalized their 2008 ban on the breeding of white tigers, white lions or king cheetahs by their member zoos. Their report said, “Breeding practices that increase the physical expression of single rare alleles (i.e., rare genetic traits) through intentional inbreeding, for example intentional breeding to achieve rare color-morphs such as white tigers, deer, and alligators, has been clearly linked with various abnormal, debilitating, and, at times, lethal, external and internal conditions and characteristics, which are outlined in this paper.” This change in policy came more than 12 years after Big Cat Rescue first released Dr. Laughlin’s expose below. Read the rest of this entry
