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Big cats are in crisis.
				As mighty as lions and tigers are, they are powerless against abuse. The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) has been leading a legal campaign to shut down the captive wildlife trade and cruel roadside zoos that abuse these magnificent creatures for profit.
				Many have seen lions on the brink of starvation or confined to small, barren cages with no shelter from the winter cold, a tiger who became lame because his crude concrete enclosure made it impossible for him to walk normally, and another tiger who was displayed for tourists even as he was sick and dying. Roadside zoos keep big cats as tourist &ldquo;attractions,&rdquo; putting profit ahead of the animals&rsquo; well being. The animals rarely receive proper veterinary care and lack the freedom to engage in natural behavior.
				&ldquo;Cub petting&rdquo; is a cruel practice in which newborn tiger cubs are torn from their distressed mothers just moments after they&rsquo;re born to get used to human handling. Then these cubs are worked to exhaustion and often physically abused just so customers can be photographed with a baby tiger. Sadly, once these captive-born cubs are too big to be handled, some are killed and others are sold to cruel roadside zoos or a life of suffering, caged in someone&rsquo;s backyard.
				The ADLF is working to pass the Big Cat Public Safety Act, a bill in Congress that would prohibit the irresponsible private ownership of big cats, putting a stop to the cruelty many big cats endure. But there are powerful interests determined to stop this action. A shocking lack of federal legal protections has allowed cruel roadside zoos to stay in business with virtually no oversight and has allowed individuals to keep big cats in homes and backyards where they are often caged and neglected.
				Five thousand signatures are needed from each state to show lawmakers that there is nationwide support for this bill. Contact aldf.org to sign a virtual petition or for more information. Now is the time to act, when across the country, people are learning of the plight of captive big cats giving momentum to drive powerful legal change.
				Tigers, lions and all big cats belong in the wild, not in cages. Please help protect captive wild animals by preventing abusive, private ownership of big cats and providing a voice for the voiceless.
				Patricia Marks
				Wilkes-Barre

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