Media Contact:
Howard Baskin, Advisory Board Chairman
813.505-5565 Howard.Baskin@BigCatRescue.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE & PUBLIC SHARING Carole Baskin warns private tiger owners they face prison after June 18 TAMPA, Fla. – May 24, 2023 – On December 20, 2022, the Big Cat Public Safety Act was signed into law. This law has real teeth. Penalties for violation of the law include up to $20,000 in fines for each violation and, more significantly, up to five years in prison for each violation.
A key provision of the bill is the phasing out of private ownership of big cats by unlicensed owners who keep them as “pets.” Current owners of big cats are “grandfathered” and can keep their existing animals. But they must register the existing animals with the US Fish and Wildlife Service by June 18, 2023, and may not breed or acquire more.
Carole Baskin, CEO and Founder of Big Cat Rescue, notes that “One of the serious challenges is that no one knows who many of the private owners are. This fact is part of what drove the passage of the bill. First responders had no way to know when they might encounter a big cat when answering a call about something else. A key purpose of the registration requirement is to address this issue of first responder safety.”
She further explained that “If private owners fail to register, at a minimum they automatically will have their cats confiscated by law enforcement. They are also exposed to the financial and criminal penalties of the Act. It is not our desire to have these owners fail to register and then get caught. That is a lose-lose- lose proposition for all involved because the owners suffer, it creates a burden for the limited resources US Fish and Wildlife Service can allocate to enforcement, and sanctuaries then end up with the unfunded mandate of caring for the animals. The win-win-win proposition is to register, which is just a matter of filling out some simple paper based forms that can be obtained from the USFWS website at
https://www.fws.gov/media/3-200-11-big-cat-public-safety-act-registration-form. Media Assets to Use: Video Clip 2.5 minute long landscape: https://youtu.be/aWXrqZCU6P8 Video Clip 60 seconds long landscape: https://youtu.be/7gZPg97Aep8 Video Clip 60 seconds long portrait: https://youtu.be/9e_Jn5afSak About Big Cat Rescue: Located in Tampa, Fla., Big Cat Rescue is one of the most influential sanctuaries in the world dedicated entirely to abused and abandoned big cats. The nonprofit organization is accredited by the Global Federation of Sanctuaries, is certified by Independent Charities of America as a “Best in America Charity,” and has received Charity Navigator’s highest four-star rating for sound non-profit fiscal management for nine consecutive years putting it in the top 4% of rated nonprofits. The sanctuary is home to about 40 exotic big cats. For more information, visit BigCatRescue.org | 
