Big Cat Act

The Most Important Big Cat Bill Ever

The Big Cat Public Safety Act (H.R. 1380- S.2561) is a federal bill that would address two of the biggest sources of abuse of big cats by ending owning big cats as pets and stopping exploitative roadside zoos from offering cub petting and photo ops. Big cats purchased as pets are dangerous and typically end up living in inhumane conditions. Cubs used for petting and photos are ripped from their mothers at birth, physically punished to diminish their natural behaviors, deprived of sleep, then often discarded a few months later when they are two big to pet, with no tracking of what happens to them or how many die.

In the 2017-8 session of Congress we had enough votes in the House to pass the bill because so many of you called your legislators’ offices asking them to cosponsor the bill.  But the Chairman of the Committee last session was influenced by the lobbyist for the roadside zoos and would not grant us a hearing. We started that session with seven initial cosponsors and ended with 144, including 43 Republicans making it very bipartisan. This session we started with 53 initial cosponsors. For the first time ever, the House bill passed out of full Committee on 9/18/19. And as of 9/27/19 the Big Cat Public Safety Act has 138 cosponsors in the House!

Calls to Congress do work! Please help by taking two minutes to follow the easy, quick instructions below to call the offices of your Representative and your Senators using the simple system and script we have set up for you.

This video shows you how to make the call in detail. (Please note: this video was made before the bill was introduced in the Senate):

If you would like more details on the bill (which you do NOT need to know in order to make the call) download the Big Cat Act Fact Sheet.

To help spread the word, print out the Fact Sheet or print out your own Big Cat Public Safety Act business cards that are easy to carry with you to help inform others about big cat abuse and have them take action:

BCPSA business card front JPEG
BCPSA business card back JPEG
BCPSA card front 116th PDF
BCPSA card back 116th PDF

Leave this with your Congress Member’s staff when you visit in person.  Get Factsheet

To learn about Law Enforcement support for the Big Cat Public Safety Act, including the endorsement by the National Sheriffs’ Association and a compelling 3 minute video by Sheriff Lutz whose officers suffered from having to handle the Zanesville massacre, visit bigcatrescue.org/lawenforcement

To follow the progress of the bill online go to Congress.gov – House bill, Senate bill. The “Cosponsors” tab shows the all of the cosponsors.  If your Representative or Senator is already a cosponsor, it is very helpful to call and thank them to show that constituents care!

To make the call visit BigCatAct.com or just text the word CATS to 52886 for instructions and automatic dialing to your legislators.

Contact Congress and tell them that you support this bill.