We've all seen the photos; happy tourists posing with cute tiger cubs. They look fabulous, but the reality is far less joyful. Cubs are taken from their mums, treated cruelly and kept in horrible conditions. They are forced to interact with people and then abandoned to private zoos or killed when they grow too big.
Take action now!
While tiger, lion and other big cat cubs look cute and cuddly, they are not. They are wild animals that deserve our respect. Paying to take a selfie, have a cuddle or feed them a meal is not only cruel but also dangerous. These animals are kept in poor conditions, mistreated and deprived of natural development and their mothers love. It’s not unusual for them to act out at their captors or those paying to pet them as they try to escape their nightmare.
Furthermore, once they have outgrown the cub stage and no longer fit the ‘cute and cuddly’ specification that these experiences require, they are kept as pets in people’s backyards, moved to live in cramped conditions alongside other neglected and abandoned animals or killed. Meanwhile, adult big cats are forced to breed to produce more cubs to fill the empty spots. It’s a circle of cruelty fuelled by demand from tourists wanting a unique experience or Instagram-ready photo.
Don’t fuel the fire; fight it. Support the Big Cat Public Safety Act and stop people from keeping lions, tigers and other big cats as pets or using them as entertainment and profit-making machines.