BCR's 20 year extinction plan for big cats

**Raven** · Site Admin Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 217

submitted to REXANO by Thomas K.

Big Cat Rescue's

Twenty Year Plan 2005 to 2025

Goal: End the need for Big Cat Rescue as a sanctuary for unwanted,
abandoned and abused cats by the year 2025.

Method: Make it illegal (and socially immoral) to breed, buy, sell or
trade in exotic cats.

Terms:

Big Cat: tiger, lion, leopard, jaguar or cougar

Exotic Cat: any other exotic cat or hybrid thereof

Sanctuary Standards: general sanctuary practices: no breeding, buying or
selling

Exotic Cat Standards: specific to exotic cats and big cats

Timeline & Action Steps:

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2025

2003: Big cats may no longer be sold as pets across state lines. Laws
exist in all but 13 states that offer some sort of regulation of exotic
cats.

Action: Big Cat Rescue gathers signatures and support for the Captive
Wild Animal Safety Act which is signed into law in Dec. 2003 banning the
transport of big cats across state lines for sale as pets.

2004: Bill introduced to end animals being transported for the purpose of
being sold into canned hunts.

Action: Big Cat Rescue gathers signatures and support for the Captive
Mammal Protection Act and the Captive Wild Animal Protection Act. Support
is gathered through The Big Cat News (23,0000 recipients quarterly), The
AdvoCat and the web site (100,000 hits per day). Big Cat Rescue partners
with Capitol Advantage to create a world class legislative program that
makes it easy for people to contact their representatives on all exotic
cat bills. Big Cat Rescue initiates intern program with 3 full time
interns for 3 months stints that is increased to six by year end. The
AdvoCat program is started and E-zines are sent monthly (5000 supporters)
to keep them apprised of legislative issues and how they can help.
Through improved relationships with the media and key networkers Big Cat
Rescue becomes known in the area and makes a profit for the first time
ever. Devoted a huge section of the website to children's games that
teach them about exotic cats and why they should not be kept as pets.
Online and CD version (1000 copies distributed) include the Truth About
White Tigers and the moral ethics of keeping exotic cats in cages for any
reason. The object of this is viral marketing and reaching children with
a message of compassion in their formative years in the hopes that their
parents will begin to rethink the values they were raised believing. The
Big Cat Picture (nearly 5 years in the making) is completed that
documents all of the abuse issues and conservation issues that effect
exotic cats. Clips have been added to the web site for each specie and
each issue. Big Cat Rescue completed the Sanctuary Standards and the
Exotic Cat Standards and began promoting them online.

2005: Our goal was that exotic cats may no longer be sold or traded into
canned hunts and while we won at some state levels, we failed at a
Federal level. This will be pursued again in 2006.

Action: Meet with legislators in our area, specifically Mike Bilirakis
and Senator Bob Young (head of the appropriations committee) The website
has been upgraded to make it easier for supporters to reach their
Representatives and Senators in an effective manner via sample letters,
pre written letters, petitions and automation. Big Cat Rescue invites No
More Homeless Pets and Florida Voices for Animals to partner in this
effort and will contact The Association of Sanctuaries, The American
Sanctuary Association, ACE and the Captive Wild Animal Protection
Coaliation to join forces. Appointed by Commissioner Blair to serve on
the Animal Advisory Committee for Hillsborough County.

Intern program to be doubled so that there are always 12-15 full time
interns on site in addition to four staff. A director for this program
has been appointed to insure its success. This increase in unpaid yet
well trained ³staff² will allow us to increase tours and educational
programs, thus reaching more people with the issues and fostering their
support. These interns then are better educated and better positioned to
make a difference for animals in the zoos, veterinary practices and
sanctuaries around the world. They will also be more capable and inclined
to influence legislation in their own part of the planet.

Appointed to board of directors for HumaneUSA's PAC fund and on the
steering committee for the Florida Chapter. Giving lectures to the Animal
Defense League at Stetson Law College.

To insure Big Cat Rescue's ability to be self sustaining corporate
sponsorship programs were designed and promoted.

Donor management was revised and better software implemented to make the
most of our current donor base and to eliminate duplicative efforts.
Fundraising programs will be evaluated and implemented, such as our first
direct mail campaign, improved grant writing campaigns and in a revision
of the web site and online gift shop to make donations easier and more
compelling.

Big Cat Rescue is becoming a regular guest on radio talk shows, and is
increasing the submission of articles to print media and has become a
regular guest on PBS stations.

Big Cat Rescue will encourage implementation of the federal bill signed
Dec. 19, 2003 that makes it illegal to breed, buy, sell or donate a big
cat as a pet across state lines. We will research and begin work on
making the breeding, buying and selling of exotic cats at a state level
illegal.

2006: Exotic cats may no longer be sold or traded into canned hunts.

Action: Meet with legislators in our area, specifically Mike Bilirakis
and Senator Bob Young (head of the appropriations committee) and gather
the support of non animal groups, such as the Florida Chamber of
Commerce. Big Cat Rescue will become better educated about the
legislative process and teach classes on ethics and legislation. We will
contact HSUS to find out how the best way to do this will be and to see
what training they provide. Big Cat Rescue will train members in ways to
gather the information needed to end the cruel trade in exotic cats by
demonstrating that so small a percentage of the public approves canned
hunts or is supported by canned hunts that the legislation really does
represent the majority.

The Big Cat Picture will be narrated by a celebrity, widely distributed
via sales, public and private showings and the website. We will edit the
clips to load faster and play better or switch to streaming media for
maximum effect.

Big cats will have protection under state laws in all states in that they
may not be owned as pets.

Action: Big Cat Rescue will provide better state, county and city level
resources to educate and enable our expanded supporter base to create
laws that better protect the exotic cats. In part this will be on Big Cat
Rescue's own Animal Planet program called Big Cat Rescue which will
showcase big cat rescues by accredited sanctuaries. These weekly segments
will include discussion of all of the issues that exotic cats face,
expose the perpetrators and the effect that each person makes with their
choices and will be a means by which to broadly spread the message that
no exotic cat should be kept as a pet or in a cage. We will film anything
and everything that could make for an interesting 30 minute television
documentary. Big Cat Rescue will solicit video from other accredited
sanctuaries for use in exposing the big cat issues. We will find someone
in the film editing industry to help us turn these segments into
something saleable to Animal Planet.

By suggesting permits, permit fees and substantial fines for non
compliance we can insure that the laws have the funding needed to make
them effective. Once game farms are no longer licensed to keep exotic
cats the exotic cat pet owners who circumvent the pet laws by keeping
exotic cats under the guise of a game farm will be unable to renew their
permits. This decreases the number of buyers for their offspring
significantly. The Sanctuary Standards and Exotic Cat Standards will be
accepted as the guidelines for exotic animal care and used as a model for
the new laws. Big Cat Rescue will introduce a federal bill to prevent the
trade in all exotic cats across state lines as pets.

Big Cat Rescue will continue to encourage implementation of the federal
bill The Captive Wildlife Safety Act signed Dec. 19, 2003 that makes it
illegal to breed, buy, sell or donate a big cat as a pet across state
lines. We will continue to research and work on making the breeding,
buying and selling of exotic cats at a state level illegal. We will
research ways to close the USDA permit loopholes that allow private pet
owners to pay $40.00 to call themselves a commercial enterprize in order
to circumvent the law.

2007: Exotic cats may not be traded across state lines for sale as pets
or for the purpose of being traded or given into homes as pets.

Action: Big Cat Rescue will solicit our legislators to enact laws that
protect exotic cats from being kept as pets based upon health and safety
issues. The public will be educated about the fact that all exotic cats
spray so that the market for them dries up. Cats will no longer be bred
and killed in fur farms because the market will have been better educated
and the canned hunt laws passed in 2005 will set the precedent for ending
an un necessary industry that relies on killing animals for their fur.
Once it is made illegal to kill exotic cats under the license of a fur
farm, the pet owners who keep exotic cats under the guise of a fur farm
license will be unable to renew their permits. This will significantly
decrease the number of people who could use fur farm or game farm
licenses in order to circumvent the restriction on owning exotic cats as
pets. Big Cat Rescue 's television program will continue into its second
year, but now that the trade in exotic cats has ceased, it will focus on
individual cats who have been rescued or the heroes involved, so as to be
used more as a fund raising tool to continue the work of Big Cat Rescue
and accredited sanctuaries that are caring for exotic cats.

2008: Big Cat Rescue will work with the state of Florida to prevent the
private ownership of exotic cats.

Action steps: By requiring sanctuaries to meet the Sanctuary Standards
and all zoos to meet AZA guidelines it will eliminate licensure for
pseudo sanctuaries and road side zoos. Because of the publicity generated
by the Animal Planet show Big Cat Rescue , the state will be more
inclined to agree that there is no reason to allow people to skirt the
law by misidentifying their purpose. Making those in office look like
heroes on national television will enable us to persuade them to do the
right thing and will aid us as we approach other states with the same
ideology.

2009: Using the Florida model, pseudo sanctuaries and ³roadside zoos²
will become a thing of the past. The Sanctuary Standards will be the
model by which sanctuaries are allowed to exist. Non profit status will
not be granted to sanctuaries that do not adhere to the basic principals
of no breeding, no buying, no selling and no trading. There will be one
recognized accrediting body that will be accountable to the government
and the public to oversee the implementation of proper Sanctuary
Standards. This will be funded by the dues and fines required to be
accredited. The same will be true for ³roadside² zoos that will be held
to the AZA standards or else not be permitted to exist or at the very
least, not be allowed to exhibit big cats.

Action: Big Cat Rescue will promote tougher federal scrutiny of exotic
cats requiring that all be micro-chipped within 6 months of birth, that
they be registered with ZIMS (ISIS) and tracked for life and that in the
event of a death or disposition there be necropsies and sufficient
documentation to insure that the animal was properly cared for. If tax
laws cannot be changed to prohibit pseudo sanctuaries and ³roadside zoos²
from seeking charitable status then we will have to rely on the Animal
Planet show to be the guide for donors.

2010: Accountability across the board: Exotic cats will all be registered
and protocols for accountability will include breeding by permit only and
only at the recommendation of the Felid Taxon Advisory Group, disposal by
permit only and substantiation of the necessity of euthanasia (other than
the need to draw in more paying guests). The permit costs will be
substantial enough to administer the enforcement of compliance. Fines
will be prohibitive enough to encourage compliance and to finance the
cost of enforcement, litigation and subsequent housing of the animal.

Action: Big Cat Rescue will introduce a federal bill to prohibit the use
of exotic cats in circus and performing acts. (By then most or all of the
retired Ringling cats will be dead. Frankly, I think this will happen by
2009, because the Standards of Care will be too demanding for a circus
act to meet, but if not then we need to make it happen)

2011: Circus acts no longer use or exhibit exotic cats. This will come
about by the public being properly educated about the fact that exotic
cats do not perform reliably on a rewards-only based training program.
The public will be aware and enlightened enough by now to be repulsed at
the idea of big cats in small cages being transported in boxcars and
trains and then being forced to perform for their entertainment. The
Exotic Cat Standards will be in force by now and make traveling with a
cat too costly.

Action: Big Cat Rescue will be involved in the Convention of
International Trade of Endangered Species and be a voice to insure that
all exotic cats be given protection under CITES. The Animal Planet show
Big Cat Rescue will begin to focus on zoos and international issues to
expose the fact that zoos are not saving exotic cats for reintroduction
because there is neither protected land nor a program in place to return
these carnivores to areas where they will be constantly in competition
with man for food.

2012: All exotic cats will be afforded protection under CITES. This means
that they cannot be sold across state lines for any reason. The reason
for this, unfortunately, will be that there are no longer viable
populations left of most species and the look-alike species will be
protected in a last ditch effort to save what is left.

Action: Big Cat Rescue will use its enormous supporter base and
internationally known name to expose zoos for the prisons they are. There
won't be a person in America who hasn't been exposed to the fact that
their support of a zoo only causes suffering and abuse for the exotic
cats. Big Cat Rescue will propose that zoos be required to financially
provide for long term care for any exotic cat previously in their use.

2013: Zoos will no longer exhibit large exotic cats, from pumas to
tigers, due to the public's increasing intolerance for seeing these
majestic creatures imprisoned.

Action: Big Cat Rescue will be used as a training ground to help
sanctuaries fill the demand caused by the zoos abandoning their big cats.
We will help with fundraising activities through our own support base for
like minded sanctuaries so that these displaced cats will receive the
best care possible.

2014: Sanctuaries will see a significant rise in the need for their
services because the zoos will trying to rid themselves of the cause of
so much public scorn by dumping their unwanted cats into the only place
allowed; i.e. accredited sanctuaries.

Action: Big Cat Rescue will pressure zoos, through public awareness and
legislation, to stop breeding, buying and displaying exotic cats.

2015: Zoos no longer display exotic cats. This will be a result of the
public learning the truth about zoo life for the exotic cats and not
being willing to support an industry that uses these creatures to make
money. Because the plight of the exotic cats in the wild will be such a
lost cause by this time, the zoos will not be able to hide behind their
³Noah's Ark ² argument any longer.

Action: Big Cat Rescue will aid accredited sanctuaries in funding the
retirement of these cats and continue to train the staff who will care
for these cats. Big Cat Rescue will offer workshops, online classes and
on-site training to accredited sanctuaries to help them with their
fundraising efforts. Big Cat Rescue will continue to raise funds to
provide grants to other accredited sanctuaries for their exotic cat care.
Our staff will be trained in the best fundraising methods and best
husbandry practices so that they can continue to teach in our ever
growing intern program. The oversight of grant distribution will require
site visits and a thorough understanding of the best practices to insure
that the funds are used properly. This should keep us busy for the next
10 years. As the cats in cages age and die the need will gradually
dissipate. We can scale down as the needs dictates. Those who wish to
continue may decide to branch out into other species using the experience
and knowledge base acquired over these past 20 years.

2025: Most of the cats displaced by the closing of zoos will now have
died out. The few left will be in tightly run and closely watched
sanctuaries. The public will no longer allow exotic cats to suffer in
anonymity.

Cynthia · Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 26

Sounds like the "New World Order" according to Baskin---what a monopoly this would be and her sanctuary being one of very few to be able to see big cats--this is suffocating!

**pythonjosh** · Joined: 01 Mar 2008 Posts: 59

You should include house cats in there too. Much rather have a Serval than a stupid lazy house cat that doesn't listen to me and kills local wildlife.

**REXANO** · Site Admin Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 446

Please note we on this forum do NOT like that place Big Cat Rescue, BCR, and their 'plan', it was just posted here for information/warning, here is more info on that place:
http://www.rexano.org/bcr.htm

Z
_________________
www.REXANO.org

**pythonjosh** · Joined: 01 Mar 2008 Posts: 59

I wish all the animal laws everywhere be lifted. I wanna keep whatever I feel like I'm qualified to keep. Problem is there's lots of ppl that think the same, but are not.