By Wayne Pacelle
Just one week after the tragic death of a 10-year old North
Carolina boy who was mauled by his aunt's 400-pound pet tiger,
President George W. Bush on December 19 signed into law the
Captive Wildlife Safety Act.
This landmark legislation will increase protection for the
public by banning the intestate trade in big cats for the pet
trade. We hope that the enactment of this legislation marks a
first decisive step in our larger campaign to halt the private
ownership of big cats and other dangerous wild animals as
pets.
California Representatives Buck McKeon (R-CA) and George
Miller (D-CA) introduced the bill in the House; Senator James
Jeffords (I-VT) and Senator John Ensign (R-NV) introduced
companion legislation in the Senate. The new law prohibits the
interstate sale and transportation of lions, tigers, leopards,
cheetahs, jaguars, cougars and other dangerous exotic animals
destined for the pet trade.
The new act will not prevent the continued in-state breeding
and sale of big cats. That's why The HSUS continues its work to
get all states to adopt bans on keeping dangerous wild animals
as pets. We are particularly focused on North Carolina, given
the tragic event that occurred there recently.
This was the third fatal attack by a captive tiger in the
United States this year, and the 10th in the past five years.
Scores of people have also suffered grievous injuries, many of
them children. Relatives of the dead boy, Clayton James Eller,
expressed puzzlement at the attack, and insisted that the
400-pound tiger was friendly. Las Vegas entertainer Roy Horn,
arguably the nation's most experienced tiger handler, also
insisted that the animal that attacked him in October wasn't
vicious—and he's right.
The highly trained white Bengal that grabbed Horn's neck in
his powerful jaws and dragged him offstage was acting purely on
instinct, doing what tigers are hard wired to do. And that is
the whole point about the folly of keeping pet tigers and other
exotic predators in captive settings: While they may appear
tame and friendly, they remain wild animals, and the recent
attacks reinforce the ever-present danger to their owners, or
to anyone who comes into close contact.
Feline carnivores have become the nation's hottest new
exotic pet, advertising gimmick, and roadside attraction. The
HSUS estimates that up to 15,000 big cats are living in the
United States—kept as pets in small cages, basements, and
barns; displayed outside gas stations and convenience stores to
attract customers; used as guard animals by drug dealers; and
held in squalid, unaccredited roadside zoos.
The rapid rise in the popularity of pet tigers is a stunning
cultural phenomenon, explainable in part by the
near-pathological need of some Americans to own the gaudiest
truck, the biggest gun, or the baddest pet—be it a 50-pound pit
bull or a 500-pound Bengal. In the hands of untrained exotic
pet fanciers, roadside zoo owners, and even celebrities like
Michael Jackson and Mike Tyson (who got rid of their pet tigers
because they were too difficult to manage), tigers are not only
a danger to people. They are also victims.
Tigers kept as pets or held in roadside zoos suffer from
abuse, poor diet, lack of veterinary care, and painful physical
ailments from random inbreeding. A few lucky ones end up in
accredited sanctuaries. Most are dumped into pseudo-shelters
that operate like puppy mills. They breed the big cats to churn
out cubs for sale on the Internet or at exotic animal auctions.
They cost as little as $300—the price of a pure-bred puppy.
Many tigers end up being dumped in animal shelters or
sanctuaries that are ill-equipped to care for them. Humane
officers report a catalogue of misery suffered by the animals,
from untreatable ailments requiring euthanasia to cats
mutilated and crippled by ignorant owners who tried to declaw
their pets with garden shears.
Owners often insist they are "saving an endangered species,"
but that is a false argument. Their so-called "generic" tiger
pets, the result of random mating in backyard cages and
roadside zoos, are genetically inferior hybrids that cannot be
used in the careful breeding programs conducted by accredited
zoos. In a word, they are inbred mutts.
The fatal mauling of Clayton James Eller, and the other
deaths and injuries, are senseless tragedies. A total of 19
states have a flat ban on the private ownership of dangerous
exotic animals; the remaining 31 states need to adopt similar
prohibitions if the public is to be protected and wild animals
are to be banished from squalid backyard pens. Public policy
should not be driven by tragic circumstances, but by
common-sense principles.
The states that already have bans are Alaska, Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii,
Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire,
New Mexico, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming. All other
states still allow exotic big cats as pets. If you live in one
of the 31 states without a ban, I urge you to contact your legislators
and encourage them to introduce a bill. The life you save could
be your own. Or a neighbor's. Or a friend's. Or an
animal's.
