Senator Susan Collins just helped pass a bill banning private ownership of big cats.

According to our info partners at CBS 13, Collins co-wrote the bipartisan bill with Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The bill, called the Big Cat Public Safety Act, will prohibit private ownerships of big cats, such as Lions, Tigers, Cougars, Cheetahs, Leopards, and Jaguars. Private ownership of these huge predators has led to multiple public safety concerns such as at least two tiger attacks in Missouri in 2008, among many other big cat related injuries.

The law also restricts cub petting zoos, which can cause irreparable harm to the cubs. Cubs in these petting zoos are usually separated from their mothers at a young age. and frequently bite and scratch people.

Zoos, universities and sanctuaries are exempt from the law. Current big cat owners will be grandfathered in but will have to register their animals.

This is a major victory for animal rights activists who have constantly rallied against private ownership of big cats due to neglect from the owners. Scott Smith, the vice president of the Arkansas based Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge said in an interview with Yahoo: “It stops in its tracks the unnecessary breeding just to supply these non-scrupulous facilities that are doing these activities and doing what we call speed breeding”.

This bill was largely inspired by the “Tiger King” mini-series that dropped in 2020 on Netflix, which shed a light into the world of big cat owners, and the crimes and public safety issues that come with their ownership of the cats.

To read the original WGME article, click here.

To read the Yahoo article, click here.