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"All a ban law will do is force all these people to go underground and it will not help the animals at all," said Joseph Schreibvogel, president of the United States Zoological Association, which advocates on behalf of wild animal owners. Lynn Culver, executive director of the Feline Conservation Federation, thinks the number of people who keep exotic cats as pets has been hugely inflated by proponents of the House bill. She says the bill will interfere with captive conservation and bring an end to circus and stage acts and cats in movies and on television. "Independent zoos will be allowed to keep their existing animals but when the cats die, there will be zoos without big cats and that's tragic," Culver said. "Big cats are charismatic species, key to the success of any zoo or wildlife exhibit." There are as many as 20,000 privately owned cats in the U.S. and about half are tigers, according to groups like the World Wildlife Fund and the AZA. The WWF says there are only 3,200 tigers left in the wild in Asia. How the backyard population swelled while dwindling in nature is partly attributed to an unregulated industry, where a tiger cub can be bought for as little as $300 without any permit or registration. Yet someone trying to adopt a kitten from a shelter might have to undergo a home inspection and have the pet sterilized, vaccinated, microchipped and licensed, said WWF senior policy adviser Leigh Henry. In just months, a cub can weigh 400 pounds, cost $5,500 a year to feed and need room to roam. Defanging and declawing them doesn't make them safe, said AZA spokesman Steve Feldman. Backyard breeders sell the big cats for pets, parts, game ranches, canned hunts, sideshows, photo booths and roadside attractions.
Overwhelmed pet owners often turn to sanctuaries to rescue them from mounting bills and potential danger. Bobbi Brink, owner of Lions Tigers and Bears outside San Diego, started her sanctuary in 2002 after rescuing tigers Raja and Natasha from a Texas man who was ordered to upgrade their 6-foot-by-12-foot cages or find new homes for them. She spent $250,000 on a tiger habitat with a pool and plenty of running room on 94 acres. Brink recently said no to three 8-year-old Texas tigers seized from a man with dementia. She doesn't have room. Accredited and established sanctuaries across the country are reaching capacity and some have been forced to close because donations dwindled during the recession. Accredited zoos will no longer take privately owned tigers. Their goal is species preservation and privately owned or "generic" tigers can't be traced to their wildly caught ancestors. If the McKeon-Sanchez bill succeeds, some worry there will be a glut of displaced tigers and too many will be euthanized.
[Associated
Press;
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