Mom’s update about Dad:

Vern had a very restless and painful night but the doctor has sent a strong pain medication and Vern is resting peacefully now. Not eating anything for two days even with encouragement from the kids.

Howie’s letter to Pat Craig of Wild Animal Sanctuary

On Sunday after the conference is over they have organized a meeting from noon to 5 to brainstorm about the big cat issue. I have no idea what will come of it. Could be waste of time, or prove productive. But at the very least it should be interesting I think because the people currently on the list (below) that I do know are some very sharp folks and a pretty unique opportunity to be in a room with people from so many organizations. The group is a rather unwieldy size so it will be interesting to see how they conduct it.

I have pasted the info below and the contact at PAWS is Catherine Doyle. We went to the conference last year for the first time only because we were asked to speak. Agree hard to get away. I think you could help us add a lot of on the ground experience to the group. Maybe you could arrange with Catherine just to come for Sunday?

Info on Sunday attached with Catherine contact info.

Regarding the breeding I think you make interesting points. Couple comments:

• The bill grandfathers in all current owners so they are not objecting based on their cats being taken away. Ohio had a couple issues that I think drove what is happening. One is they added caging requirements. People not meeting those is what appears to be driving the confiscations, along with some idiots just refusing to do the simple paperwork to register was also an issue. If they had just grandfathered in the existing owners like the federal bill does without adding requirements they would not have this issue. Second, they correctly did not exempt people with USDA licenses, which as you know is a huge loophole because anyone can get a license. So I think people with USDA licenses left the state for states where a USDA license exempts them from the state rules. The bigger mistake Ohio made in my opinion was exempting ZAA, which I believe was driven by Kasich listening to Jack Hanna.

• The meaningful opposition to the bill is not from owners. Other than Antle and Tabraue, they don't have much a following or resources to oppose. Mario Tabraue and/or Antle have engaged a lobbyist to oppose the bill, and Ringling's Feld has lobbyists opposing even though we put in language to exempt Feld. That is the main opposition. A bigger issue really is ZAA. While some states have refused to exempt them from state laws, once Ohio did, it set a precedent and some other states have followed, giving them undeserved credibility. And, I have to give them credit, they have been smart. They hired a very experienced lobbyist who is well known to state legislators around the country, Alan Smith, as E.D. The guy is smooth. I heard him speak to a committee hearing in TX and he makes this sow's ear sound like a silk purse. Plays on the "small business" sympathy and presents ZAA as the little guy's AZA. Meantime, some AZA zoos have joined ZAA as well. I think they do this to keep AZA off their backs - i.e. if AZA gives them a hard time, they just promote they are ZAA, and the generic public does not know any better. But meantime, these AZA zoos joining gives ZAA even more credibility. The issue with ZAA is not that they oppose the bill. It is that they want to be exempted like AZA, claiming it is unfair to exempt AZA and not them. To deal with this we have crafted different exemption language I can tell you more about.

• Just banning breeding is interesting and worth considering. One issue that comes to mind is enforcement - finding out who is breeding. If someone has a tiger born after the bill is passed (those born before are grandfathered) how do we prove who bred it? I suppose one could try to draft language to address that by requiring records if you have a tiger so it was a serious violation not to have records of where it came from. So I think a bill that just addresses breeding is worth thinking about. I don't think it will in any way reduce the opposition though. Someone who is only concerned about keeping the cats they have is addressed by grandfathering. Someone who, on the other hand, wants to protect their ability to acquire cats in the future, will oppose a ban on breeding.

• Regarding your concern that USFWS somehow use the law to shut down places like yours and ours, no matter what Van Norman or anyone else says, there is no way I see that happening. First, the bill exempts sanctuaries with a definition that does not require GFAS, just a simple test I assume you would easily pass. I.e. no breeding, buying, selling, taking offsite for exhibition. Regarding the FWS view that there should not be captive tigers, frankly I think that is a plus. I wish USDA felt that way, i.e. recognized they don't belong in cages. But, there is no way the bill is going to result in FWS coming in and euthanizing the animals at good sanctuaries. First the language protects sanctuaries, second it grandfathers, but most compelling is there would be a huge public outcry. No way I see that happening. But, I also have no illusions that any of these points is going to change what I suspect is a deep rooted fear you have that this actually could happen.

Well, enough for now. In hindsight would have been more efficient to talk versus type. If we discuss further maybe Skype or Facetime would be good. I'd enjoy continuing to brainstorm with you. Incidentally, although Dr. Gibbens could not meet me in person due to his travel, we did Facetime and had a great hour long chat. People I run into speak more highly of him than I have heard about any other USDA official and I enjoyed getting to know him in the chat.

All for now - maybe more than you wanted! :)

Howard Baskin

Advisory Board Chairman

Big Cat Rescue

"The purity of a person's heart can be quickly measured by how they regard animals."

I am thankful that Howie continues to try and bring on the voices of these recalcitrant sanctuarians. The truth is that they have no other job options and don’t want the problem to go away, but with increased transparency in this world (forced largely by us) they can’t keep making up excuses to themselves and their donors.

I appreciate all the explore.org is doing for us to achieve a virtual reality experience that would end the desire to keep wild animals in cages. I emailed again with Sumo Reality’s Sean and James yesterday. Explore.org gave us 50k to pay them to make an awesome experience.

I am using our cheap versions of their tools to try and make the most of our time filming with them, which has been set for Sept 6-8. I’m glad there ARE cheap versions of their tools.

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story. The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story. My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion. Closing graphic with permission from https://youtu.be/F_AtgWMfwrk

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