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Congress passes ‘Tiger King’ invoice banning non-public possession of massive cats

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    Story abstract

    • Congress unanimously voted to ban the non-public possession of massive cats with out a single “no” vote within the senate
    • Current huge cats should be registered
    • No new cats may be acquired/bought/owned
    • Public contact with six sorts of huge cats can also be banned
    • Licensed zoos and sanctuaries are exempt
    Unique story by Steven Nelson of The New York Put up

    WASHINGTON — Rating one other win for Carole Baskin. The principle antagonist of Netflix’s “Tiger King” Joe Unique prevailed once more over her locked-up nemesis late Tuesday with congressional passage of laws banning non-public possession of tigers, lions and different huge cats.

    The Baskin-backed invoice sailed by means of the Senate with out a single “no” vote and now goes to President Biden’s desk to change into legislation. The White Home says Biden will signal the invoice, which handed the Home 278-134 in July.

    “Apparently I’m tougher to intimidate and kill than some thought!” Baskin stated in a video celebrating the milestone — a transparent jab at Unique, who’s serving a 21-year federal jail sentence for crimes together with hiring somebody to kill her.

    “The passage of the invoice is the profitable end result of a few years of battling towards narcissistic, abusive, harmful males who dominated the merciless commerce and did all the pieces they might to cease its passage, together with eager to intimidate, discredit and even kill me,” Baskin stated.

    The laws phases out the possession of massive cats by forbidding non-public house owners from buying new animals whereas forcing them to register their present shares.

    It additionally bans direct public contact with six sorts of huge cats — lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, jaguars and cougars. Baskin contends cubs usually are killed by house owners after rising out of their potential as earnings mills.

    The invoice exempts licensed zoos and sanctuaries equivalent to Baskin’s personal Large Cat Rescue facility in Tampa, Fla.

    Baskin, 61, turned nationally well-known in 2020 with the huge success of the documentary collection that documented her rivalry with Unique, now 59, who described himself as a “homosexual, gun-carrying, redneck with a mullet.”

    Baskin campaigned towards Oklahoma-based Unique’s companies, together with creating public strain to halt his tiger cub-petting gigs. In retaliation, Unique accused Baskin of feeding her lacking first husband Don Lewis, who disappeared in 1997, to her personal huge cats.

    Unique even produced a tune and music video referred to as “Right here Kitty Kitty” about Baskin allegedly feeding Lewis’ physique components to lions and tigers.

    Unique additionally accused Baskin of hypocrisy in her marketing campaign towards huge cat possession, noting that her sanctuary originated with a personal assortment.

    Unique operated the Larger Wynnewood Unique Animal Park, specializing in tigers and lions, and allegedly paid $3,000 in 2017 to Allen Glover — the right-hand-man of his enterprise rival Jeff Lowe — to homicide Baskin after years of violent rants towards her.

    Unique, additionally convicted of federal animal abuse, stated he was framed and Glover recanted his testimony final yr, saying in a sworn affidavit that “Jeff Lowe created your entire murder-for-hire plot from begin to end.”

    Prosecutors stated this yr, nevertheless, that Unique’s conviction ought to stand due to secret recordings wherein he appeared to verify particulars of Glover’s preliminary allegation.

    Baskin stated that the invoice headed to Biden for closing approval will remove mistreatment of enormous felines.

    “Inside a decade, many of the hundreds of massive cats dwelling this manner could have handed away, and in 20 years, no huge cats might be dwelling in this sort of distress,” she stated in her celebratory video.

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