Howie responded so eloquently I wanted to preserve it here:  Think about other "mood shifts", or perhaps more accurately "evolution in societal values".  Civil rights, gay rights, marijuana use, dog fighting.  If you were to graph the number of people who adopted the changed belief, I think in most cases you would see a long line that grew painfully slowly over decades and then see a tipping point where it starts to accelerate, perhaps not technically exponentially, but at an accelerating rate.

 

Carole and I were struck by something three years ago.  We have attended every TAFA conference.  The first was 2005 and we laugh at how naive we were as we struggled to learn about legislation from zero knowledge.  Year after year the senior folks at HSUS would give a talk that was like trying to pump up the troops at the Alamo.  Tough year, lot of disappointment, but some victories we need to celebrate and press on because we will prevail.  Then, in 2012, the big plenary speech had a totally different tone - it was like "holy shit, do you believe how many laws we got passed this year??!!!".  It was something like 200 laws as I recall when they added up state, local & federal.

 

We really feel we are in the beginning of the accelerating years and it will not be that many more years until people will look back at tigers in the circus and tigers owned by private individuals and think about that the way we think about women's suffrage or slavery.  We get visitors from England and other countries who already think that way - they are stunned at the private ownership.  And the list of countries banning big cats in the circus is steadily growing.   One of the best examples is what Feld pointed to  - the increasing number of local ordinances banning the circus or bullhooks.  See attached list.

 

Laurie Gage has repeatedly said to me that what we need to stop the cub petting is a tiger version of Blackfish.  Love the name Blackfeld!   I don't know if  have the capacity to do something like that, but if you get any opportunity to follow up with Manny I would urge you to encourage it.

 

We have built our cash back up after our purchases of real estate and barring some unforeseen event or turn in the economy I expect 2015 to be another good year in part due to a bequest that has $300k scheduled for 2015.  This year we have less  planned in the way of capital expenditures unless the last parcel of contiguous land became available, so I expect to add more to reserves.  I am not sure how much funding it takes to create a Blackfeld, but we would consider investing, preferable anonymously since we still have one tiger.  I would love to have Manny come visit and talk to us.  - Howard Baskin

 

Local Jurisdictions Banning Circuses in the U.S.

 

California

 

• Corona - Bans wild or exotic animal displays.

• Encinitas - Bans wild or exotic animal displays.

• Huntington Beach - Bans display of exotic animals.

• Marin County - Regulates animal acts.

• Newport Beach - Proclamation from Mayor that city will not display wild or exotic animals for entertainment.

• Pasadena - Bans display of wild or exotic animals and rodeos on city property; restricts displays of domestic animals.

• Rohnert Park - Bans wild or exotic animal displays.

• Santa Ana - Bans wild or exotic animal displays.

 

Colorado

 

• Boulder - Bans display of exotic animals.

 

Connecticut

 

• Stamford - Bans carnivals, circuses, and wild west shows.

 

Florida

 

• Hollywood - Bans animal displays.

• Lauderdale Lakes - Bans exhibition of wild and exotic animals.

• Pompano Beach - Bans animal displays on City property except for educational purposes; regulates display of animals on private property.

 

Idaho

 

• Ketchum City Council - Bans the use of traveling non-domestic and exotic animals from performing.

 

Indiana

 

• St. John - Bans performing animal exhibitions.

 

Maryland

 

• Takoma Park - Bans animal displays.

 

Massachusetts

 

• Braintree - Town meeting members voted not to allow