I was reminded by a reply that I should probably emphasize this: the Big Cat Public Safety Act literally has an exemption specifically for state colleges and universities. Why? Because there’s two schools with live mascots who live in habitats on campus, and their representatives absolutely would not have supported the bill if it had taken away their college’s cats.
Meet Mike VII at Louisiana State University:
And Leo III at the University of North Alabama:
(Leo III’s mate, Una, passed away a few years ago).
It’s tradition for these schools to have a live mascot, so the bill that *checks notes* is meant to end unethical commercial of big cats had to ensure that they’d still be allowed to have a big cat living next to their stadiums. Luckily neither school takes their mascots to the sidelines of football games anymore, but LSU actually only just stopped that practice in 2017.
These mascot cats have consistently been part of the commercial trade in big cats, although it’s unclear if they will continue to be (even though it’s still legal for these schools to buy their next mascot). Una and Leo III came from a wildlife park in New Hampshire as young cubs, and Mike VII is ostensibly a rescue but the story of the facility he came from doesn’t quite pass the smell test.
Here’s the wild thing. Under the new law, right, most entities that want to keep big cats - like sanctuaries and zoos - have to follow certain rules regarding fencing and breeding restrictions and preventing public contact in order to be allowed to do so. But state schools? Nada. They can buy, sell, and breed without any limits. They could, quite literally, run a tiger puppy-mill or start a cub petting franchise across multiple state universities and it wouldn’t be illegal. Obviously that’s a worst case scenario that’s super unlikely, but it goes to show just how odd it is that these entities have a totally unrestricted exemption. Credible zoological facilities and sanctuaries have to comply with much stricter regulations to prove they’re not exploiting the cats in their care, but for the sake of football, state colleges and universities can do whatever they want!! (sigh). It’s amazing how really specific political interests, such as the culture around football mascots, can result in carve-outs in even bills promoted specifically to create consistent regulations for animal welfare.
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