Carole Baskins Diary

I have that sick, acid feeling in the pit of my stomach

A rescue is underway and the anticipation and concern for the safe travels of the animals kept me from sleeping last night and from concentrating today.  On July 31, 2015 Bobbi Brink wrote:

 

Hi Carole,  Just wondering if you have any space for Tigers out of Ohio I can transport to you? - Bobbi Brink. Founder Director. Lions Tigers & Bears. "Where Every Life Counts"

www.lionstigersandbears.org  619-659-8078

 

I responded by saying:  We do have space and can provide transport via Loving Friends as long as the cats are confiscations, or the owner will contract with us to never possess wild cats again.

 

A year earlier, on Oct. 24, 2014 Bobbie had asked if we would join her in writing the Gov. of OH about Tiger Ridge/ Kenny Hetrick because Kenny Hetrick, owner of Tiger Ridge Exotics, a backyard menagerie in Ohio said, "The only thing I know to do is have my veterinarian come out here and put everybody to sleep end it right here."  We went a step further and set up an alert driving thousands of people to write the state of OH.

 

Dear Friends,  Kenny Hetrick is the owner of six tigers, two lions, a liger, black leopard, Kodiak bear and a hybrid wolf in Ohio. He was served a ten day notice to relinquish his animals or have them seized by the state and face criminal charges. Hetrick has deliberately refused to comply with new laws enacted through Ohio SB 310, the Ohio Dangerous Wild Animals Act, which require private owners to register their animals, obtain permits and insurance and meet certain caging standards. He has had two years, but he waits until now when he is on the verge of losing his animals to begin to take action -we're saying "enough is enough"! It is time to do the best thing for his animals and get them to a reputable sanctuary where they can receive the care they need. Lions, Tigers & Bears is even willing to help! We have offered to provide medical care and a one-way ticket in the LTB Rescue Hauler to reputable sanctuaries. We have even found sanctuaries who have agreed to take his animals. It is now up to him to agree to accept this help.

 

Today I am writing you to ask a favor. Will you please write a letter to the Governor of Ohio, John Kasich, and the Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, David T. Daniels, asking that they enforce Ohio SB 310 by securing Hetrick's animals immediately and ensure no harm comes to them before they can be rehomed to reputable sanctuaries? A sample letter template is below. All letters need to be submitted by 5:00 pm CST on Tuesday, October 28th, 2014.

 

Media reports are referring to Tiger Ridge Exotics as a sanctuary. Hetrick's facility is not a sanctuary. A true sanctuary does not buy, sell, breed or exploit their animals. A sanctuary is "a place of safety, a safe haven." Hetrick has had dozens of USDA violations cited against his facility. Hetrick has deliberately defied the law for the past two years and has threatened to kill his animals rather than see them taken off the property.

 

We need to tell Governor Kasich and Director Daniels that Hetrick's time is up and it is now time to do what is best for these animals and ensure the public's safety. Enforce the law, secure this facility and get these animals to a lifetime home at a proper sanctuary immediately.

 

A letter is always more powerful and effective if it is written in your own words. If you have the time, please feel free to use the sample letter as a guideline for your own letter. Whether you submit your own letter or use the sample letter template, we want Governor Kasich and Director Daniels to know where we stand. Thank you for your support and concern for the welfare of these innocent animals. - Bobbi Brink, Founder/Director  Lions, Tigers & Bears

 

So 3 weeks go by and I don’t hear anything from Bobbi, and then she texts me on Aug 21, 2015 and says the three tigers from OH that she was taking to Shambala, near her in CA, has reneged on

18 years since Don walked out the door

 

Today came and went without much more impact than me being a little more irritable than usual.  Speaking of which, I just figured out a way to make my keyboard less noisy by putting a folded pillow case between it and the typing tray.  Why didn’t I think of that 20 years ago?

 

It’s been 18 years since Don walked out the door that fateful morning on Aug 18, 1997 and until now there has been this looming sense of dread in the days leading up to that anniversary.  I can’t quite pin point why, either.  I think about it often…too often, maybe, so it isn’t like the anniversary comes with some hugely increased pondering of the events.  At any rate, I am glad that this year was finally one that nearly passed without even noting the day.  Maybe that is a good sign of things to come.  If I haven’t been able to figure out what happened by now, the chances are I never will.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.

I’m Way Too Fat

47-39-46 and 193 pounds.  I ordered a book called No Fail Fat Burning For Women by Skye.  She said that I should be looking at my body size and fat ratios, more than weight and that makes sense, as muscle weighs more than fat.  I feel so much better on the Bulletproof diet, so I’d like to stick with it, if I can see some benefits in the way I am shaped.  I already have amazing hair, skin and nails, from the Oligo vitamin packs I take twice a day, but I look like a whale.  I like whales, but don’t like being one.

 

I’ve tried everything and have been a vegetarian now for 17 years.  Eating animal proteins really go against my sense of fairness, and the notion that all of them that I eat were grass fed, cage free, etc., does little to overcome my great sense of cruelty in being responsible for their deaths.  I may not get the full benefit of the Bulletproof diet, which I started on July 14, because I try to limit the amount of meat and substitute a LOT of broccoli, but it helps with preserving my conscience.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.

Email to Chris Wilson, developer of the TigerSelfieApp

Since the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was in the news yesterday, I didn't want to wait for our creatives to come up with messaging, so I took your ideas and turned them into this page:  http://bigcatrescue.org/selfie  Our creatives can tweak the message to help it gain steam.  Happy for your input as well.  I then added the graphic to the side bar of our website to start pulling in traffic for the app.  Our website had 2.8 million unique visitors in the past year, so hopefully a number of them will click on the link.

 

I also added the call to action on the main page of our site and on two of the popular pages about Cecil the lion at:  http://bigcatrescue.org/cecil-lion/ and http://bigcatrescue.org/cecil-the-lion-an-agent-of-change/  Today I will be sending out postcards to members of Congress, asking them to support our bill, but will use the Tiger Selfie Challenge as the image, so that when they start seeing it, they will notice it.

 

I will be posting Cecil stories on Examiner and Medium next, but because of the tie in, of 99% of lions shot as trophies starting out as cubs born in cages for photo ops, I can work in that call to make the Tiger Selfie Challenge in those articles, and then still come back a week later with the article just about the app.  I also picked up the URL Tiger Selfie Challenge since I think people might search that phrase.  I pointed it to BigCatRescue.org/selfie where all of the links then go to your app in iTunes.

 

I created a Facebook ad to run for $1000 targeting English speakers who list cats (and wild cats species, nature, wildlife, etc) in their interests lists.  FB says that based on this criteria, only about $350 will be spent in the next month, but I want to get the big cat enthusiasts onboard first and then could open up the demographics to a larger audience.  I'll give One Green Planet the go ahead to re purpose my article to their 5 million readers.  I think they will run w/ it.  I'll keep you posted.  For the cats,  Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue

 

I also sent it to reporters for Huffington Post, the Dodo, Tigers4Tigers and Jane Velez-Mitchell.  

I sent this FB message to the 52 most influential people I know there:  Would you help protect lions like Cecil by taking the Tiger Selfie Challenge?  It’s a fast, fun, easy app that enables you to post your selfies that turn into a message about why posing with lion, tiger or liger cubs is always Cruel NOT cool.  http://bigcatrescue.org/selfie/

 

I also sent it to our lobbyist, Carson Barylak at IFAW, GFAS, Bruce Perlowin, Keepers of the Wild, the conference members from the Big Cat Workshop.  Mike Markarian said he would check it out.  I asked him to promote to HSUS.  Searched the term #TigerSelfie on Twitter all the way back to Nov 2014 and DM’d each with: Take the Tiger Selfie Challenge to protect lions like Cecil and tigers.  http://bigcatrescue.org/selfie/  #TigerSelfie

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com)

BIG CAT PUBLIC SAFETY ACT RE-INTRODUCED – NEED YOUR HELP!

Congress operates in two year sessions.  At the end of each session, any bills that did not get signed into law “die” and have to be re-introduced in the next session.  Once a bill is introduced, legislators can “co-sponsor” the bill by calling the legislator who introduced it.  The co-sponsor names are published online.  Being a co-sponsor shows support and basically means you are going to vote for the bill if it comes to the floor of the House or Senate for a vote.

 

We are part of a coalition of animal welfare groups that in February 2012 introduced a federal bill to ban private breeding and ownership of big cats with limited exemptions.  The bill would put an end to the rampant breeding of cubs for petting and tens of thousands of big cats living in miserable conditions in back yards and roadside zoos like those pictured here.  INSERT A FEW PHOTOS FROM THE HOW BIG CATS LIVE DOCUMENT

 

In the ten months we had left in the 2011-12 session we got up to 60 cosponsors in the House, which was great.  We re-introduced the bill in 2013 and by the end of the 2013-14 session we were up to 119 cosponsors out of the 435 members of the House, more than 25%!

 

At the end of 2014 our primary Republican sponsor retired.  So in 2015 we have been working on finding a suitable new main Republican sponsor to join our Democratic main sponsor Loretta Sanchez of California.  At this writing we have a great new Republican main sponsor in the House who has not yet been announced and we are working on lining up what are called “initial cosponsors” whose names are submitted at the same time the bill is “dropped” or “introduced.”  In the Senate, our past champion Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut will be re-introducing the bill.

 

By the time you read this, or shortly after, we expect the bill to have been introduced and have bill numbers in both the House and Senate.  Then, what we need is your help in urging your Representatives in the House and your Senators to co-sponsor the bill.

 

When you get this, please check the status of the bill at www.StopBigCatAbuse.com.  If it has been introduced, right there you can send an email to your legislators urging them to co-sponsor.  You CAN play a meaningful role in stopping the abuse by helping pass this bill – but it is critical that your legislators know you care!

 

In addition to sending the email, even more effective is to also make a phone call to the legislator’s office staff person who handles animal welfare issues.  For a sheet of simple tips for making a very brief, simple call, email Howard Baskin.  Thanks!  Written by Howard Baskin for the Fall Big Cat Times.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.

Email to Mike Di Paola re an article he is writing for HSUS Magazine.

I just added this to the top of our page on our evolution to try and sum it up:

 

Animal abusers hate us because we are the leading sanctuary dedicated to ending the abuse at its root by banning the private possession of exotic cats.  These big cat abusers make up lies or twist the truth to make people think that we breed, buy, sell and allow public contact (just like they still do).

 

We never bred lions or tigers.  Our first kitten was born in 1994 and we stopped breeding in 1997.  There were a couple of accidents, from old cats and hybrids we didn’t think were fertile, but the very last cat born here was a leopard cat in 2001.  His parents were both in their late teens and thought to be too old to breed.  As of 2015 we have rescued more than 200 exotic cats.  We have 13 who were born here.

 

We stopped allowing public contact in 2003.  We had only allowed public contact to show people, who thought they wanted a wild cat as a pet, that all the cat wants to do is pee on you.  The sharing of those photos online didn’t get across that same message, so we stopped it.  We stopped allowing our staff to touch the cats in 2004 because it is dangerous and sends a bad message.  Sadly, many sanctuaries that are otherwise pretty good, still like to show off that way and we think it hurts our efforts to stop public contact.

 

They also would like to know more details about your transformation from exotic pet breeder to big-cat rescuer.  I've read this, but I confess I'm a little unclear as to how it played out. Was it a single event or a gradual awakening? (give details if you can)

 

There were two major turning points.

 

Circa 1995 my late husband, Don and I were at a wild animal auction and I recognized one of the lynx being sold as being one that we had previously owned.  He had been one of the rescued fur farm kittens that we had placed in a pet home.  I had told everyone that if their kitten didn't work out to bring them back.  Most did, but this cat somehow ended up at an auction where taxidermists were likely to end up with him.  We brought him home that day, but it was one of those moments where the light came on in my head and said, "others are not committed to lifetime care of these cats, so you can't trust people who say they will always love the animal or bring them back."

 

When my husband would go out of town, I would neuter as many of our male cats as I could get done quietly.  Spays would be obvious, but he didn't notice the males being fixed.  The good that came of it was that he was frustrated that the cats weren't breeding, so I was able to convince him that they needed better food, more space and more privacy.

 

The second turning point was after Don left in Aug 1997 when I could openly spay, neuter and separate the cats to stop the breeding.

 

There was a third turning point was circa 2000 when walking alone through the sanctuary, I passed by Nini an ex circus tiger and, as clear as day, heard her say, "We don't belong in cages."

 

I'd been working on the Captive Wildlife Safety Act since 1999 and before that on pig gestation crates in FL, but Nini's voice was so powerful and just stopped me dead in my tracks.

 

Trying to end the abuse wasn't enough.  I HAD TO END THE ABUSE because magnificent creatures like her were suffering in prison cells and it wasn't going to end until the laws were changed.

 

The sanctuary had never even broken even, and had to be funded by my real estate business up until 2003, but as early as 2000 or so I knew that we had to turn around our finances so that I could focus on the legislative issues that would end the abuse once and for all.  Thankfully, I met my current husband, a Harvard MBA in late 2002 and he was able to lead us into an era of financial stability, so that we could pursue the most important part of our mission, which is to End The Trade.

 

I'm sorry if there are typos.  I am running out the doo

Dealing with Mobile Home Permits

 

Photo:  Underpass at Linebaugh was flooded, so I had to go the long way to work on my bike.

 

Yesterday, while walking around the sanctuary with my mother she told me that the little old bitty who lives near my lot on Valimar had thrown a fit that we were putting a used DCA mobile home on the lot rather than building a new house that would increase her property value.  She threatened to burn it down if we proceeded and later in the day somehow managed to get code enforcement to come out for the second time, and halt our progress with no reason given.

 

The permit expert, Laura, had been told by the county that they didn’t have to answer any of her questions about why our permit had been revoked.  My mother asked if I wanted to give in and build a new house there or fight it…Not too hard to guess which way that conversation went.

 

So today I wrote Marty Williams, of AAA Manufactured Housing:

 

Dear Marty,  I'd like to go with Laura to let Jim know that I own  properties in Pasco County and as a developer of vacant lots I add hundreds of thousands of dollars of value to their tax rolls?

 

And as founder of Big Cat Rescue we have 78,000 supporters in Florida who aren't going to be happy if we are being treated unfairly?

 

And as a litigant have recently been awarded a 1.2 million dollar judgement against a defendant who thought he would try to play unfairly with me?

 

What is the exact time, address and suite number for Jim?

 

9 minutes later Marty wrote:

 

Carole as of  8:15 this morning,  Laura with GTS installers & permitting told me county has released the permit for Valimar  so we start again  I think county had their meeting and knew they had no right to stop work on this permit just because  someone did not like that you were putting a  pre-owned home there, I will email you the permit

Big Cat Rescue Entrepreneurial Audit

Jaclyn Gutierrez & Josh Cooper ENT6930

 

Introduction

 

One of the main staples of Corporate Entrepreneurship at the University of Florida involves performing an entrepreneurial audit.  This audit is to be performed by a team of graduate students (Jaclyn Gutierrez and Josh Cooper) by the permission of the executive team of Big Cat Rescue.  The purpose of the entrepreneurial audit is to measure the frequency and intensity of entrepreneurship being performed at the company.  In addition, it highlights ways the company can incite increased innovation and entrepreneurial action through their employees.  Howard and Carole Baskin gave a wonderful tour of the Big Cat Rescue campus and allowed themselves as well as others a part of their team to be interviewed.

 

To begin it is very important to understand the concept of entrepreneurship and corporate entrepreneurship in the context it is being discussed in the class.  Entrepreneurship has many different definitions, but the majority of them include the same elements.  They way we define entrepreneurship in the course is “the process of creating value by bringing together a unique combination of resources to exploit an opportunity” (Morris).  On the other hand, corporate entrepreneurship holds many names including, “organizational entrepreneur,” “intrapreneurship,” and “corporate venturing.”(Morris)  By examining the definition of entrepreneurship above it becomes clear that entrepreneurship is not specified by organizational context.  As a result, “Corporate entrepreneurship is a term used to describe entrepreneurial behavior inside established mid-sized and large organizations” (Morris).  Thus corporate entrepreneurship relies on management and employees to innovate in every facet of the business.  Such entrepreneurship is paramount to helping companies that hope to establish a sustainable competitive advantage in the market.

 

The entrepreneurial audit aims to engage Big Cat Rescue in reflection of the entrepreneurial mindset present at the company.  The audit hopes to measure this presence in Big Cat Rescue as well as in the employees.  In the interest of the audit’s purpose, entrepreneurship must be quantified in a manner that enables Big Cat Rescue to decipher the amount of entrepreneurship present in their company as well as compared to other nonprofits similar to them.

 

This entrepreneurial audit of Big Cat Rescue will target aspects inside of the company that foster entrepreneurship.  The aspects inside of Big Cat Rescue that will be evaluated are strategy, and culture.

 

Background

 

Big Cat Rescue is an animal sanctuary located in Tampa, Florida committed to the rescue and rehabilitation of big cats.  The sanctuary is the largest in the United States serving specifically to big cats and is staunch on ending the private trade and ownership of big cats.  The nonprofit has evolved overtime and started when the founder Carole Baskin rescued numerous bobcat kittens from a fur farm.  Originally, the company bred and sold some big cats early on, but shifted focus once Carole Baskin came to the realization that big cats should not be pets nor bred in captivity.  As a result, Big Cat Rescue became determined to outlaw the private trade and ownership of Big Cats in the United States through legislation.  Pushing legislation has become a main focus for Big Cat Rescue and they engage their visitors to become active in joining their efforts.

 

Strategy

 

Entrepreneurship in strategy is key for companies that hope to stay ahead of their competition.  An entrepreneurial strategy is defined in the course as “a vision-directed, organization-wide reliance on entrepreneurial behavior that purposefully and continuously rejuvenates the organization and shapes the scope of its operations through the recognition and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunity’ (Morris).  When this strategy is applied to organizations it enables the company to pros

Erin Carden, Vanessa Ply and me at the Animal Rights Conference 2015

 

 

The day before the conference the news broke about Cecil the lion and today I finally could put to paper (our website) what I’ve been mulling over.

 

Cecil Lion Changed the World

 

I have a theory.  I can’t prove it, but it feels right to me.  Tell me in the comments if it makes sense to you, or what you believe.

 

I believe that we all are part of one universal consciousness that is becoming enlightened through this dance of perceived time, space and sense of individuality.  I think we sign up for our lot in life before we ever arrive on this stage, with the intent of playing our role toward the end goal of nirvana. Maybe it is just a coping mechanism, meant to protect me from utter despair, which fosters hope that Cecil signed up for his heroic role too.

 

Centuries of humans destroying the planet and everything that is beautiful and magnificent, to pursue personal wealth and status, has brought on the sixth mass extinction, with lives being extinguished at rates that are 10,000 times the norm.  The mounting evidence, of the destruction being caused, hasn’t been enough to make the masses stop and take notice, but Cecil did.

 

When Cecil the lion was lured from a protected area, onto private land to be brutally shot with a bow and arrow, caused to suffer for 40 hours as he ran for his life, only to be gunned down by a rich American, so that his head and skin could be stolen as a trophy; it was an act so egregious that just about everyone was outraged.

 

For days his plight made every media outlet even though animal abuse is rarely discussed in mainstream media, for fear of offending industries who profit from animal suffering by being massive advertisers.

 

Social media first broke the news of Cecil’s torture and slaying, and the public outcry was so enormous that mainstream media couldn’t ignore it.  Jane Velez-Mitchell from CNN passionately spoke about how we have finally reached a tipping point in our attitudes toward animal protection at the Animal Rights Conference 2015 in Washington, DC on August 1.

 

“The evolution revolution is a process; not an event and we are headlong into that process.” said Jane Velez-Mitchell

 

I’ve been busy providing interviews to CNN, ABC and Fox, as well as a number of newspaper reporters and documentarians, but in between educating them about the nature of lions and their plight, I’ve been trying to look at this from the 30,000 foot level.  What is it about Cecil’s story that so moved everyone?  What made this lion different from the hundreds of thousands of lions who have been massacred since the 1940’s when there were estimated to be 450,000 of them in the wild?

 

The drop in wild lion populations to 30,000 by 2011 was enough to prompt many large wild animal protection groups to petition the US Fish and Wildlife Service to list lions as endangered.  Since then lion numbers have dropped as low as 20,000, and yet even knowing these facts the USFWS has ignored the petition for four years and the public has allowed them to do so…until Cecil.

 

I can’t help but think about how many of us first learned to read by following the heroes in comic books like Batman.  We grew up loving the storyline of a hero bringing the evil villain to justice, for his crime against a sympathetic victim.  All we had to do was shine that bat symbol on the night time sky (expose the issue) and we knew that justice would soon be served.  From what I’ve seen, most people want their part in Cecil’s justice to be that they easily sign their name to a petition and lions will be protected.  That’s a start…but it’s only a start.

 

Thanks to Cecil we are all shining the light on the issue.  But here’s the mind bending part.  We are all Batman.  We are all the victim.  We might all be the villain as well.  That’s the part I can’t quite wrap my head around.  Do some of us sign up before we enter this life to be evil incarnate, just to cause th

International Tiger Day and I was quoted by CNN

Ban America's pet tigers, activists say, as wild tiger numbers drop to record low

 

By Monica Sarkar, CNN July 29, 2015

 

International Tiger Day falls on July 29, aiming to raise awareness of the endangered animal. Around 3,000 wild tigers exist today, yet an estimated 5,000 are kept in U.S. backyards Wildlife organizations are urging the U.S. government to pass the The Big Cats and Public Safety Act

 

(CNN)More tigers are kept as pets in the U.S. than roam free in the wild, campaigners say, as they call for tough new laws to ban the practice on International Tiger Day.  While just 3,000 tigers inhabit forests across Asia and Russia, it's estimated that as many as 5,000 are kept captive in small cages in U.S. backyards.

 

"The main reason for all of these cats in backyards and basements and garages across America is that it's legal for people to have their picture taken with a cute little tiger cub or lion cub," Carole Baskin, founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue, explains to CNN.

 

"And those cubs are only cute and manageable until they're about 12 weeks old. By the time they're 13 weeks old, the people who are using them for these photo booths find that it costs $10,000 a year to take care of them, so they give them away. They sell them," says Baskin.  And that cost is just for food and veterinary costs -- not the maintenance of highly secure cages and facilities.

 

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), in conjunction with other animal protection organizations such as Big Cat Rescue, are calling on Congress to pass The Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act, to end private possession and breeding of various big cats.

 

Leigh Henry, Senior Policy Advisor at World Wildlife Fund (WWF), tells CNN: "The Act has failed to gain sufficient support to be moved through the legislative process in the past," although she hopes that will change.  "It is critical that the U.S. get a better handle on this population, and that we demonstrate conservation leadership to influence China, with an even larger captive tiger population, to take similar actions," she adds.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.