Big Cat Act Summary for our Bill Sponsor HR1818 S2990

This letter to the aide for our bill sponsor was so good, I thought I’d put it here as it details our struggles since the 90s to end the rampant breeding and exploiting of big cats:

 

Thanks so much for the work on the draft letter, on Father's Day no less, wow!

 

I'll review the letter later but for now let me address your question about FWS. At the risk of TMI, I'd like to give you a complete an understanding as best I can.

 

FWS does NOT track captive tigers.  FWS effort is primarily under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  There is an international treaty known as CITES and ESA is the US implementation of that treaty.

 

Under the ESA, one is not supposed to breed, buy, sell endangered species without a permit from FWS. There is language about not "taking" endangered species, which is defined more broadly than the usual hunter's term "take" which means killing.  It includes harassing the animals etc.

 

A permit to breed, buy, sell, import an endangered species (like tigers) is supposed to be issued ONLY if the applicant can show that the activity has conservation value.  FWS has a large department whose job it is to process the large number of applications. As an example, right now, we are trying to rescue 9 tigers from Guatemala. So we have to apply to FWS for an import permit.  Three years ago we rescued a tiger from Peru under an FWS permit.

 

Now, the 2014 issue.  In 1998 FWS issued what is called the "generic tiger rule."  Generic tigers are those where the subspecies cannot be identified.  The ONLY tigers where the subspecies CAN be identified are those that reside at the large AZA zoos.  Those zoos track the genetic history of the cats and, under something called the Species Survival Plan (SSP), they only breed cats tigers who are of the same subspecies AND they are careful to insure they are genetically diverse, i.e. the do not "inbreed" tigers who are related.  There are only about 300 tigers at the AZA zoos who are of pure subspecies.

 

In contrast, ALL of the thousands of tigers at roadside zoos and in back yards are "generic" tigers, aka "mutt" tigers or "junk" tigers.  There is no tracking of genetic history, they are of mixed subspecies (mostly Bengal with some Siberian blood) and these breeders often breed within a family unit. For instance, one of our tigers was bred to his mother.

 

In the bill, in the conditions under the USDA exemption, you will see breeding only allowed if it is pursuant to a science based breeding plan. This is aimed at this rampant inbreeding. The AZA SSP would be in compliance.

 

OK, back to 1998.  At that time, FWS, we believe simply to lighten their work load, said that you did NOT have to follow the ESA requirements to get a permit to breed generic tigers. This as you might guess contributed enormously to the rampant untracked breeding.

 

We and other animal welfare groups started in 2011 to urge FWS to rescind this rule. If I recall correctly, when FWS posted it for comment, we collectively generated over 100,000 comments in favor.  The very modest number of opposing comments all came from the roadside zoos.  I am not sure where the reference to 2014 comes from, they may have first posted the proposed rescission then, but in 2016 FWS did finally rescind the rule.

 

We thought this was going to be significant. Unfortunately FWS has made absolutely no effort to enforce the ESA on generic tigers since then, i.e. require the breeders to get a permit.  When I have asked why, I am told by a person who talks to FWS that it is simply a matter of triage of resources. The department that processes applications does not do enforcement. They just process whatever comes to them, they do not look for people who fail to ask for a permit.  The department that does enforcement devotes their resources to illegal trafficking, mostly illegal import of endangered species, and simply judges that to be a better allocation of resources tha