The famed Ringling Bros and Barnun & Bailey Circus is in town beginning tonight through April 18th. As a child, I found the circus magical: trapeze artists flipping and flying though the air, a line of elephants "dancing" around the ring and fierce tigers jumping through flaming hoops on demand. As an adult, however, knowing how unnatural all this is for traditionally wild animals makes the circus concept more troubling.
Last year PETA released damaging videos showing Ringling Bros. animal trainers mishandling animals and launched a campaign, including a website, they called "The saddest show on earth." I read the articles and press releases from both sides, but can't watch animal abuse videos. Instead, I've focused my energy and donations on two organizations providing sanctuary to tigers and other large cats in need.
Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, FL, is where Ringling Bros. tigers retire when they get too old to perform. Begun in 1993 by a husband and wife who stumbled upon a lynx "fur farm" in Minnesota, it's now the world's largest big cat sanctuary, with tigers, lions, leopards, cougars, bobcats, lynx, ocelots, servals, caracals and other lesser-know large cats. They host a range of events for kids and adults and have enough staff and the right climate to run daily guided tours.
Closer to home (Reed's Creek, PA) and to my heart however, and operating on such a shoestring budget that nails for cages are on their donation wish list is T&D's Cats of the World. T&D's is privately owned by one family with the inability to say "no" when it comes to accepting an animal in need. I donated $100 to sponsor a tiger last year, and in my thank-you acknowledgment, I received a 5"x7" framed color photo of Tasha, confirmation that my name would be listed as a supporter on her enclosure, and her story. Tasha was used as a "photo" cub in malls that allowed children to get their picture taken with baby animals. This is illegal in Pennsylvania; when the owners were forced to stop they neglected the cubs in tiny backyard cages with insufficient food. Tasha now lives with a male and female lions at T&D's. Like many cats there, Tasha eats about 30-40 lbs of meat every day, which the Mattive family funds. T&D's is located about 130 miles north of Baltimore and is open May through September on select days; visit their website for more information.
The Humane Society estimates that only 10% of the 10,000 tigers in the US are in professionally regulated zoos and sanctuaries. That leaves a huge number being raised primarily for their fur or as "pets" in tiny backyard cages until feeding costs get too high or neighbors complain or get bitten. Thank goodness for groups like Big Cat Rescue or T&D's. Support them if you can; even by just spreading the word that these groups exist, you can help give these majestic wild cats a humane and better life.
1 comment:
Very cool that rather than getting involved in the mud slinging back and forth you are doing something positive!
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt
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