Sent a letter to President Obama re: Generic Tigers

The Humane Society of the United States asked me to collaborate on a letter to the POTUS.

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

On behalf of Big Cat Rescue, one of the largest accredited sanctuaries in the world dedicated entirely to abused and abandoned tigers and other exotic cats, I write in strong support of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposal to remove mixed lineage, or “generic”, tigers from the list of animals that are exempt from registration under the Endangered Species Act Captive-Bred Wildlife (“CBW”) regulations. 76 Fed. Reg. 52297 (Aug. 22, 2011); 50 C.F.R. § 17.21(g). The generic tiger exemption has led to a proliferation of tigers in unqualified facilities, undermining animal welfare, public safety and conservation efforts. Additionally, the sanctuary community has been left to take in and care for numerous abandoned tigers that are often cast aside once they grow too large to be used for direct contact with the public and are therefore no longer considered profitable. As this rule would provide the requisite federal oversight needed for thousands of generic tigers who are bred and housed in substandard conditions, Big Cat Rescue urges the Administration to take swift action to finalize the rule.

Big Cat Rescue is a non-profit educational sanctuary devoted to rescuing and providing a permanent home for exotic cats who have been abused, abandoned, bred to be pets, retired from performing acts, or saved from being slaughtered for fur coats. As part of its mission, Big Cat Rescue works to educate the public about these animals and the issues facing them in captivity. Big Cat Rescue is home to the most diverse population of exotic cats in the world, with 10 of the 35 species of wild cats represented. Currently, Big Cat Rescue is housing 90 residents. These include tigers, lions, leopards, cougars, bobcats, lynx, ocelots, servals, caracals and others, many of whom are threatened, or endangered.

By best estimates there are more tigers living in the U.S. today than exist in the wild, though the total number of captive tigers is unknown (in part because of the CBW exemption for generic tigers, which has facilitated rampant breeding by unqualified entities and eliminated necessary oversight). Nearly all of these generic tigers are held at unaccredited breeding facilities, roadside zoos, traveling zoos, pseudo-sanctuaries, circuses and private menageries. Many roadside zoos and traveling menageries in the U.S. profit from a constant supply of infant tiger cubs used for public contact exhibition (petting, play sessions, bottle feeding, photo ops, and swim with tiger cub programs). At just a few months of age, the tigers can no longer be used for these types of ventures, whereupon they are often discarded and sanctuaries, like Big Cat Rescue, are called upon to provide care for these generic tigers.

The breeders and dealers do not contact Big Cat Rescue for placement directly, because they know it is our policy to require that anyone giving up a big cat never own one again, so it is the hapless private owner who ends up calling us. After cubs are no longer profitable they are often given away to people as pets. By the time the cats are a year old and twice the size of their owners, is when we get the call to rescue them.

Big Cat Rescue is currently home to 13 tigers and has been the final home for 17 more tigers over the years. Proper care for one big cat at Big Cat Rescue requires a financial commitment of approximately $10,000 per year, with tigers in captivity living for approximately 20 years. This places a large financial burden on sanctuaries that care for these animals. Just these 30 tigers have meant a commitment of resources exceeding five million dollars. We have been asked to rescue an additional 42 tigers during the same time frame (1999-2015) but could not afford the lifetime care and were unable to help them.

Tigers Rescued From Texas

In 2011 we rescued three tigers from a sanctuary in Texas that went bankrupt under the crushing weight of some huge rescue missions it had attempted. Those three tigers had been bred to be used as cub handling props, but when an adult tiger escaped the breeding facility in New Jersey, the Texas sanctuary came to the rescue and took in 23 tigers at once. That was in 2003. I remember thinking that no sanctuary was prepared for such a massive undertaking, and in time they folded. When they did, it left 400 lions, tigers, bears and chimps without food or a place to call home. It took the concerted efforts of several large animal protection groups and two full years to place all of the animals in other sanctuaries.

Two of the tigers we rescued had broken off their canine teeth during the 2003 transfer from NJ to TX. Due to the fact that most sanctuaries have no money in the bank, the tigers never had medical or dental care. Imagine exposed nerves in your mouth as you chewed through bones for eight years. We made sure they received root canals and extractions of the broken teeth and are doing well, but that’s not what it’s like for most big cats in captivity.

Tigers Rescued From New York

Kimba, Keisha and Zeus were rescued last year from New York. They too had been bred to be used as pay to play props. Because white tigers are a bigger draw for the tiger pimps, they bred Zeus back to his mother, Kimba, over and over, in an effort to force the mutation of the white coat that comes with inbreeding. Keisha was one of those cubs, but was born golden. There were 11 tigers at the facility and all of them were the product of inbreeding Zeus to his mother. Five of the tigers suffered from luxated lens, which is when the lens in the eye breaks loose and begins to scratch against the wall of the eyeball. This would be akin to having glass in your eye all the time.

It took four sanctuaries to remove all of the big cats out of the New York facility, which was in such dire straights that the only food provided was road killed dogs, cats and other wildlife. Kimba only survived a few days with us, as she had been so starved, for so long, that her body was shutting down. Zeus looked like a tiger skeleton, draped in a dull and matted coat. Keisha had lost her tail and part of her ear to cage mates and was starving too. Now Zeus has had his eye attended to by an expert vet and both cats are filled out and have shiny coats. I doubt seriously that the other tigers with eye problems have gotten any relief, because sanctuaries just aren’t financially sound enough to do so, in most cases.

Photo: Kimba on the day of the rescue at the facility in New York.

Tigers Rescued from Ohio

In just the past few weeks we have taken in four more tigers from the Ohio Department of Agriculture (“ODA”). Three are part of a lawsuit resulting from the backyard breeder refusing to comply with state law. The fourth was a similar case, where the owner had five tigers in a small pen in his backyard. When the ODA arrived and darted the tiger named Teisha, she didn’t stand up, so they asked him if she had a problem. They reported that his answer was that the other tigers beat her up all the time, so she can’t walk.

During her two weeks at the Ohio facility for confiscations they said the tiger would lay in her own waste and didn’t stand until they began giving her pain medication. She could get to her feet and move a few feet out of her own feces and urine, but the state of Ohio knew that we would be able to give better medical care and accommodations, so they asked if we would take her right away. Ohio found other sanctuaries for the remaining four tigers. When Teisha arrived here, it took her three hours to be able to stand and step out of the transport trailer into her new enclosure. She’s doing a little better every day.

Burden Placed on Sanctuaries

There is a huge problem looming ahead and it’s only a matter of weeks or months before there is another disaster that will cause the need for relocation of dozens, if not hundreds, of tigers. It all starts the same way: Cubs are bred, pulled immediately to be used as pay to play props and then discarded into pet homes or overcrowded and underfunded “sanctuaries” or warehoused for the purpose of breeding more profitable cubs.

Photo: Zeus upon arrival to Big Cat Rescue

The “sanctuaries” are depending on the money they can raise from a “rescue” but it’s only enough to cover the costs for the first year, so they keep “rescuing” more and more cubs until they implode. The “zoos” are breeding more and more cubs to pay for the overhead of the animals they have, but as those hungry mouths increase, they can’t breed enough cubs to keep the reverse Ponzi scheme going. I know of at least three facilities with an excess of 500 tigers that are on the brink of collapse. None of these tigers serves any conservation value, and in fact the breeding and use of them as pay to play props hurts conservation.

The pitch made by those who charge for cub handling is that paying to pose with a cub helps conservation. The public is being duped and their funds diverted from real conservation, which can only happen in the wild. Breeding tigers in captivity, and labeling it as conservation, only fools the public into thinking they don’t have to do the hard work of saving habitat, because there are so many places that have them in cages. This harms real conservation efforts.

Photo: Keisha looks better now, but lost her tail and part of an ear to improper housing of tigers

The Service’s proposal to eliminate the CBW exemption for generic tigers would ensure all tigers in this country are subject to the same safeguards and protections. It is a necessary step to guarantee the preservation and humane care of these iconic creatures and to ensure the safety of our communities. Big Cat Rescue urges the Administration to swiftly finalize the Service’s rule regarding generic tigers.

Sincerely, Carole Baskin

Also copied:

Christy Goldfuss, White House Council on Environmental Quality, christina_w_goldfuss@ceq.eop.gov

Eisenhower Executive Office Building

1650 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20501

Administrator Shelanski, Office of Management and Budget, howard_a_shelanski@omb.eop.gov

Eisenhower Executive Office Building

1650 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Rm. 262

Washington, DC 20503

Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, Small Business Administration

409 Third St., SW, Suite 7000

Washington, DC 20416

Secretary Jewell, Department of Interior

1849 C St., NW Rm. 6612

Washington, DC 20240

Director Ashe, Fish and Wildlife Service

1849 C St., NW, Rm. 3359

Washington, DC 20240