On Tuesday, President Joe Biden signed into law H.R. 263, known as the “Big Cat Public Safety Act,” which puts a slew of new amendments on an older law that regulates wildlife trafficking. The legislation bans private citizens from breeding, purchasing, and transporting big cats, mandates owners register animals they already own, effectively phasing out private ownership of big cats. The bill, which unanimously passed the Senate earlier this month, also restricts public contact with six species: lions, tigers, cougars, leopards, snow leopards, and jaguars.
It’s said that US private ownership amounts to 25,000 tigers. Half of all that exist. That’s half the entire species to now be made progressively illegal.
Might not work out as people desire you know.
Government getting rid of the lions.
They’ve been reading this blog.
Why do the Democrats want to get rid of large carnivores? Is that eco friendly?
Can still own a panther, lynx or bobcat, I guess.
I wonder how Mike Tyson is taking the news.
Why is that a federal issue, and not one for states?
@Sean O’ Connor
Oh Sean, let me tell you about something called the “general welfare” clause:
https://youtu.be/c5qYTV6B1pY
You could argue for Federal Law on the grounds that an escaped tiger might cross a state border. A bit feeble, perhaps, but not necessarily dishonest or corrupt. Which, come to think to it, means that that can’t have been the logic behind the law.
As for the effect: if tigers thereby become less valuable fewer will exist.
Check out the figures illustrated on this diagram: https://xkcd.com/1338/ and ask your self if a species had a choice would they want to be wild or pets/livestock?
“Big Cat Public Safety Act”
These same twats are reintroducing wolves and bears.
Does the Second Amendment give the tigers the right to bear flamethrowers?
“I bought this damn animal because he’s a free spirit, like me. I’m not going to register him with the federal authorities. He deserves better than that. Live free or die. First sign of government interest, he’s released into the high sierra…”
Having seen the poor bloody animals owned by the oxygen thieves of ‘Tiger King’; I’m happy with this. I’d rather all the big cat owners were fed to their pets, but life is all about compromises.
It strikes me that Americans might have a pressing need for lions in the near future. If not the present. With or without laser beams or flamethrowers.
I agree with Sean O’Connor.
The Feds should never have this clout.
Back in the UK, hunting bans if desirable should have been devolved to LAs.
Can even a tiger tell if it’s an Impossible burger?
What if a tiger identifies as a rabbit?
No, Dhdhhdf, can’t own a panther. Because that’s a term that refers to leopards, and – in some areas of the States – to cougars.
But I’m unsure why cougars are on the list anyway, as they aren’t members of the big cats, in a scientific classification sense.