Remember the hit Netflix show Tiger King? Well, so does the U.S. House of Representatives, who recently passed a bill preventing most people from accessing the purchase of big cats. Known as "The Big Cat Public Safety Act," the bill received a vote of 272-114 with 44 members not voting at all. The Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 "to further the conservation of certain wildlife species" will add this bill as an addendum. It limits who can purchase certain big cats.
This bill also includes handling, transporting, purchasing, and breeding other big cats. Included in the bill as a big cat are lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, jaguars, cougars, or hybrids of any of these creatures. Wildlife sanctuaries, licensed veterinarians, secondary education facilities, and organizations with a license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will still have these abilities and accesses, as well as a few additional groups.
"The historic passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act in the House shows that so many members of Congress agree that big cats are deserving of protection from abuses inherent in keeping big cats as pets and using vulnerable cubs for public encounters," says the president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, Sara Amundson.
Now, the bill will move to the Senate for the next steps. Hopefully, these tigers, lions, and panthers can be protected from people like the Tiger King.