Big cats in captivity

It’s been estimated that 10,000 to 20,000 big cats like tigers, lions and cougars are kept captive in the U.S. by private owners. The exact number is a mystery because few records are kept. What we do know is that these animals should never be kept as pets.

Why is privately owning big cats such a problem?

It’s inhumane. Most captive big cats are kept where they shouldn’t be: backyards and basements, on farms and ranches, in garages and sheds. Private owners who acquire big cats as cubs are often not able to manage them once they’re fully grown. Consequently, the animals may be poorly fed, abused and left to spend their entire lives in cages with barely enough room to move.

It’s a public safety issue. In the past 11 years, U.S. incidents involving captive big cats (tigers, lions, cougars, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, and lion/tiger hybrids) have resulted in:

21 human (16 adults and 5 children) deaths
246 maulings
253 escapes
143 big cats deaths
131 confiscations.

We need a comprehensive federal law to protect big cats and people. The current regulatory patchwork of federal and state regulations for dangerous captive big cats is expensive and it just doesn’t work. A single, nationwide policy is necessary to accomplish what many states have already tried to do: Stop big cats in private possession from endangering communities. Having a nationwide law would also reduce a complicated regulatory burden and could even save taxpayer dollars once in effect.