House passes 'Tiger King' bill to ban private ownership of big cats
It wouldn't be accurate to say that the hit Netflix documentary series Tiger King was the inspiration for the Big Cat Public Safety Act - but it would be hard to deny that the show helped put a pretty bright spotlight on the issue. Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill which would outlaw the ownership of big cats - lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, snow leopards, pumas, and cheetahs (and any hybrids thereof) - with the sole exemption being facilities licensed by the USDA as exhibitors (with other current owners grandfathered in).
In reality, I'm not sure how much of an impact this will have. I've never really seen clear statistics on how many privately owned pet tigers and lions there are in the US (by which I mean animals that are NOT on public display, but kept in someone's home). It's an often-quoted statistic that there are more privately owned tigers in the US than there are in the wild across all of Asia, but that's never been backed up to my satisfaction either. Roadside zoos such as Joe Exotic's now-closed animal park are, by nature of being open to the public, already licensed by USDA, so I don't see how these would directly impact that.
Plenty of the zoo folks that I know are agitated by this, but largely in the sense that they get agitated by any zoo-related legislation, viewing it as a slippery slope to what they see as our inevitable doom. For what it's worth, the AZA heartily endorsed the bill - but that just makes it even more suspicious in the eyes of some zookeepers, who are, by their nature, a suspicious lot.
One change that we will see, which I am excited about, is the banning of cub petting. I hope that this not only improves the welfare of animals in unaccredited zoos, but will also, by reducing the demand for cubs, limit irresponsible breeding.
On an unrelated note, Big Cat Rescue, one of the facilities portrayed in Tiger King, saw tragedy yesterday after a volunteer was mauled by a tiger. I hope that the volunteer makes a full recovery.
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