The US Senate unanimously approved a bill to limit the individual possession of large beasts like lions and tigers.
With the passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act, people would no longer be able to keep the creatures as pets or allow them to be photographed in public.
Following the release of the Netflix documentary series Tiger King, initiatives to limit private ownership have risen.
President Joe Biden must now sign the bill into law.
A lot of big cats will enjoy better lives, according to Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley, who sponsored the bill into the House.
Conservationists estimate that there are up to 7,000 tigers living in the US, either in zoos or on private property. This number is roughly twice as numerous as the 3,890 tigers thought to be living in the wild globally.
According to the Animal Welfare Institute, many tigers in the US are on public display, where the pursuit of profits at certain privately-owned facilities is believed to drive a “relentless breeding cycle that floods the exotic pet sector with surplus tigers who have outgrown the cub stage.”
Additionally, the institute claims that establishments that allow cub petting have a history of killing tigers when they can no longer be used to generate revenue.
The new legislation will restrict the ownership of lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, jaguars, cougars, or any hybrid of these species to wildlife sanctuaries, academic institutions, and accredited zoos.
The public must be kept at least 15 feet (4.5 meters) away from those on display or kept behind a barrier to avoid touch.
However, current large cat owners will be able to keep their pets as long as they register them with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and forbid direct public interaction with them.
The Big Cat Public Safety Act, according to Susan Millward, executive director of the Animal Welfare Institute, “would halt the horrendous exploitation of big cats and enhance public safety.”
Even as cubs, she continued, “these magnificent yet strong predators ought to live in the wild, not be held in captivity for people’s pleasure.”
One of the Tiger King series’ actors and the creator of the Big Cat Rescue refuge, Carole Baskin, has taken up the cause and expressed her delight at the passage of the legislation.
I am very happy about this first step in stopping the abuse of big cats. But it certainly does not go far enough. The fact that academic institutions will still be allowed to own the cats is very worrying. What could they possibly do with them other than experiment on them? And the fact that those who already own big cats will be allowed to keep them is outrageous. That means that their abuse will be allowed to continue. Registering them with the US Fish and Wildlife Service means nothing as US FW has proven time and again that the welfare of fish and wildlife is not on their agenda.