"Big Cat Public Safety Act" Heads to US House For a Vote

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The Big Cat Public Safety Act is inching closer towards becoming a law in the United States after the U.S. House of Representatives Committee On Natural Resources voted in favour of the law 25-17. Now, the bill heads to the U.S. House for a vote after once making it to the Senate, but dying in the 116th Congress. This law would mean a serious upgrade in the protection of big cats throughout the United States and is a crucial step in bettering welfare standards.

The Big Cat Public Safety Act is aimed at stopping the horrific exploitation of big cats like lions, jaguars, cheetahs, and tigers. Included in the law;

• Prohibiting keeping any variety of big cat as a pet.
• Prohibiting establishments like circus' & zoos from allowing direct contact with cubs
• Preventing big cats from moving through the system of abuse & exploitation
• Keeping the public safe from the possibility of big cat escapes.

BIG CATS AS PETS

There are so many reasons why keeping any species of big cat as a pet is immoral, exploitative, and cruel. It all starts with how these animals are obtained; filthy, exploitative breeding operations, roadside zoos that allowed the constant mistreatment of cubs, or plucked from the wild at a time when they desperately need their mothers. However they're obtained, it's likely rooted in cruelty.

Their entire lives are completely unnatural to them. They lack even a fraction of the space they would need to truly thrive had they been in the wild. Their diets are completely unnatural as well and they're denied instinctual things like hunting, socializing, and forming bonds with other big cats from their broods. Keeping a big cat as a pet is unethical and puts both the owner and the big cat in jeopardy of an accident. You cannot tame a big cat and there are always risks attached to trying to do so, further proving that the only places these big cats belong is in sanctuaries or the wild.

BIG CATS IN ROADSIDE ZOOS / CIRCUS'

There is nothing moral about how these establishments acquire baby cats, much the same as those who acquire them as pets. They come from the same horrifying beginnings of either being ripped from the wild or bred for profits. Baby cubs in roadside zoos are passed around to tourists for shameless photographs, terrifying them. Once the babies become too large and unmanageable, they are then sent to unaccredited zoos, trophy hunting organizations, or as pets where they'll spend the rest of their miserable lives in forced captivity.

The horrors of the circus are well known and we've seen many countries around the world banning the use of wild animals in performances. It's widely accepted that animals in the circus are forced to perform, usually taunted, starved, or prodded until they are submissive. It's needless exploitation for human entertainment and it's animal cruelty 100%.

The only place big cats belong are in sanctuaries or in the wild. The only time big cats should be bred is to rehabilitate the species and aid in their chance of survival. They do not belong captive in any other instance, especially if it's for human entertainment. With the plethora of options available to us locally and outside of our respective homes, visiting unaccredited roadside zoos to see tormented baby animals, or circus' that force animals to perform frightening tricks seems nothing short of absurdity.

It's time to end big cat exploitation in the United States. Profiting off of the exploitation of endangered animals is frightening behaviour. The Big Cat Public Safety Act must become law!

​Learn more through the link at the top of this post from World Animal News.

HAPPY VEG