Captive Wild Animal Technical Assistance Group
After
two years of meetings and untold thousands of tax dollars spent on hotels,
venues and travel the Captive Wild Animal Technical Assistance Group
held their 14th and final meeting. On August 10th the 11 member
panel summarized their work and made their final recommendations to the
Florida Wildlife Conservation staff. The good news is that of 35 species
considered, they decided to uplist 16. That means that people who
want to own exotic pigs, alligators, capuchins, wolves and other dangerous
animals will have to meet a tougher set of requirements.
The bad news is that they did not effectively deal with any of the exotic cat problems because when all was said and done they made two decisions on the cats:
- Since they don’t know how many baby big cats are used for public contact and then are discarded, killed or warehoused, they decided to leave that to some future committee. They all acknowledged that it is happening and in the minutes the FWC staff said it is increasing, but since no one tracks how many (because no one can) they didn’t think they should have to deal with it.
- Despite the cougar rating high enough on their matrix to warrant being uplisted from a personal pet to a Class I animal that cannot be kept as a pet, and their previous consensus last November to uplist the cat, they waffled at the last moment and chose to do nothing.
Dr. Terri Parrot opened the argument for keeping the status quo by saying that a lot of her clients had pet cougars. There are 79 held currently as pets and that doesn’t count people who own them in their businesses. The uplisting would mean to the owners that they could keep their animals until the animal died with no change, except a 10.00 increase in their annual permit fee. If they wanted to buy another cougar, they would have to meet the Class I requirements. The vet said she didn’t want to keep her clients from buying more cougars. (If you are an exotic pet vet, of course you want your clients to buy exotic pets.)
Dan Martinelli chimed in that he has a lot of friends who own cougars too and he didn’t want them to be restricted from buying more cougars. He noted that if they bought more cats then they would have to meet the bond/insurance requirement and he didn’t want to subject his friends to that. Kathy Stearns said that if they uplisted the cougar to Class I then anyone who wanted a tiger could get one if they had 1000 hours with a cougar if it were moved up to Class I. Joe Cristman rebutted by saying that just because you have a Class I tiger, it doesn’t qualify you for a Class I ape. FWC’s Captain Harrison interjected that the Class I permit just says Felids and that if someone had a cougar, and it was considered a Class I animal, then they could obtain a tiger that way. Captain John West had debunked that theory earlier in the day by saying that they could revise that by rule or policy, but when the cougar’s fate was on the line he was gone.
What
happened next was typical of the entire two year exercise. The
facts and the tools they used to measure them were thrown out the window
and the decision was made by the majority, based upon the implications
to their own personal lives. The USDA defines
the cougar as a big cat in their policies and every
other state in the country that regulates big
cats counts the cougars in with the biggest and most dangerous. But
on this critical day, only 4 panel members voted to uplist the cougar
to Class I so that it would no longer be traded openly as a pet. This
same group decided to uplist exotic pigs to Class I but not cougars. (I
guess they don't have any pig owning friends to worry about)
Throughout the discussions, those who want to keep cougars available as pets kept repeating that there is no information available to know if people are being injured by these animals. In the minutes recorded at Nov. 2006 meeting it was noted that Sheriff James Scott, on behalf of Big Cat Rescue, delivered packets to all of the members and the FWC staff that detailed all of the known maulings, killings and escapes by exotic cats since 1990. In the packet were several pages of photos of people who had been mauled by cougars to illustrate the severity. Apparently the information was disregarded because it states in the minutes that, “These incidents centered on injuries, bites and escapes and were not specifically germane to the issue of public contact with wildlife.” The injuries are from public contact with captive wild cats and if not germane, then what would have been?
These facts have been presented at the meeting, and subsequently to FWC staff as they continue to escalate: There have been at least (652) incidents involving captive exotic cats since 1990. The U.S. incidents have resulted in the deaths of 19 humans, 15 adults and 4 children, the additional mauling of 171 more adults and children, 133 escapes, the killing of 79 big cats, and 105 confiscations. 53 of these incidents occurred in FL. These figures only represent the headlines that Big Cat Rescue has been able to track.
FWC staff has repeatedly remarked that they know there is a problem out there, but they don’t think it is in Florida. These same packets illustrated clearly that Florida leads the nation in the number of killings, maulings and escapes involving captive exotic cats. They have also repeated consistently that they don’t want to change the status quo. If they don’t want to change, then that could explain why they aren’t considering the evidence.
During the closing remarks Dan Martinelli summed up the CWATAG’s past two year mission. Responding to Kathy Stearns suggestion that a sanctuary should not be a private collection in the back yard of some rich person he said, “I don’t care if the person is rich or not. As a committee we have been trying to protect our right to use and own these animals, so why should we care?” As the FWC considers the input from this group we can only hope that they consider the source.
Please let the FWC know that you do not want exotic cats to be bred for life in cages and that they should end the trade by adopting a ban on the private possession of wild cats other than AZA zoos and legitimate sanctuaries. Contact them HERE and let them know that the majority of people are opposed to the practices condoned by their advisors on the CWATAG.
Carole Baskin, Founder
Big Cat Rescue 12802 Easy Street Tampa, FL 33625 813.920.4130 www.BigCatRescue.org and www.CatLaws.com
Permission to reprint in full granted along with photos taken by Jamie Veronica provided credits are given to photographer and www.BigCatRescue.org
Captive Wildlife Technical Assistance Group Members:
Ms. Julie Alexa Strauss: Corporate Counsel for FELD Entertainment, Inc. (Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus); former Captive Wildlife Committee member.
Dr. Terri Parrot-Nenezian: Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine specializing in wildlife and exotics; Wildlife Rehabilitator; Exhibition/Sale Licensee with authorizations for most Class I and II families; former Captive Wildlife Committee member. Has had pet cougars.
Mr. Dan Martinelli: Treasure Coast Wildlife Hospital, Executive Director; Wildlife Rehabilitator; Exhibition/Sale Licensee with authorizations for most Class I and II families; Venomous Reptile Licensee.
Mr. Eugene Bessette: Ophiological Services, Founder and Director; Venomous Reptile Licensee; Exhibit/Sale Licensee for Class III reptiles; former Captive Wildlife Committee member.
Mr. Joe Christman: Curator of Mammals for Disney’s Animal Kingdom; extensive background in zoo operations and husbandry. Bow hunter.
Dr. Leroy Coffman: Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine; Former State Veterinarian and Director of Animal Industry with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; extensive background regarding bioterrorism, disease issues involving livestock/wildlife and emergency response to natural and man made disasters.
Mr. Ken Johnson: Representative for the Humane Society of the United States; Director of IT for FSU College of Medicine; former Captive Wildlife Committee member.
Dr. Susan Clubb: Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine; Co-owner of Hurricane Aviaries; Staff Veterinarian for Parrot Jungle Island where cockatoos ride bicycles to amuse guests and Doc Antle shows off his liger.
Mr. Bill Armstrong: Hillsborough County Animal Control, Director; Florida Animal Control Association, President; County Emergency Response Coordinator for Emergency Support Function (ESF) 17 (Animal Issues).
Mr. R. Donavan Smith: Close Up Creatures, Inc., Founder and Director; NGALA Private Reserve, Founder; Exhibit/Sale licensee with authorizations for elephants, hippos, felids, crocodilians, and ratites. Takes wild animals to parties for a fee.
Ms. Gloria Noble Johnson: Owns cougars and a white tiger she bought from Savage Kingdom just before it was shut down by USDA. Lobbyist who has done work for a hunt club used by FWC Commissioners. (RESIGNED)
Mrs. Kathy Stearns: Stearns Zoological Rescue and Rehab, Founder; Wildlife Rehabilitator; Exhibit/Sale Licensee with authorizations for Class I bears and cats, Class II primates and cats, and Class III. Claimed during the June 2007 meeting that only she, the dog and her family are on the board and that they control the non profit.
Minutes from the meetings are available here:
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