Time.news – US President Joe Biden has signed a bill banning the private possession of tigers and other big cats, limiting it to zoos, sanctuaries and universities. Current owners of lions, jaguars and the like are exempt but will need to register the animals with the Fish & Wildlife Service. The measure has been welcomed by the animal rights group ‘In Defense of Animals’.
It was also to raise awareness on the subject “Tiger King”, the docuseries produced and distributed by Netflix which tells the story of Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, known as Joe Exotic, American criminal and former zoo operator, as well as owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, accused of abuse and exploitation of exotic and wild animals.
“Tiger King” ha denounced the turbulent roadside zoo industry in the United States and the “miserable conditions in which thousands of tigers, lions, leopards and cougars are kept by irresponsible owners,” Rep. Mike Quigley, a Democrat of Illinois, said in a statement.
With this new law, commented animal rights activist Brittany Michelson, “these animals will no longer be drugged, transported and used as photo props.” Ownership of the big cats will be significantly limited as will the ability to give paying customers the ability to hold, feed or photograph the young.
Joe Exotic is currently in prison in Fort Worth, Texaswhere he is serving a sentence of 22 years for trying to arrange the murder of activist and animal shelter owner Carole Baskin, which failed. After the success of the series, in September 2020, Joe Exotic wrote a letter to then President Donald Trump pleading for a pardon. But a few months later, in the list of 73 pardoned, his name did not appear.
“I’m too innocent and too gay to deserve forgiveness”
I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump. I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first. pic.twitter.com/ysGfwnqlHi
— Joe Exotic (@joe_exotic) January 20, 2021