Remove Carole Baskin From Captive Wildlife Technical Advisory Group (CWTAG)

News 9 Story on Carole Baskin:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U9lwrzk13c

To whom it may concern:

It has come to my attention that Carole Baskin of Big Cat Rescue has been selected as a member of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission "CWTAG" committee. I am writing to you to respectfully ask you to remove her from this position for the following very good reasons:

1- She does not qualify for the position due to the fact that she has no expertise in the breeding of animals. She is very vocal about being against any and all captive breeding and the only breeding she has done in the past was with bobcats in the early 1990's. It is said that she kept them in 5 gallon buckets in her home, and as a result of that most of them died.

2- She does not qualify for the position due to the fact that she has NO recent hands on experience with Class I or Class II cats, and she advocates that no one should ever interact with big cats. The only big cats she has ever had hands on experience with was a a black leopard cub (Jumangi) and several small tiger cubs that she purchased in the mid 1990's. To the best of our knowledge she has not had hands on experience with any big cats since her moratorium on any contact at her facility after her husband mysteriously "disappeared."

3- She does not qualify for this position due to the fact she has NO circus experience, she has NEVER been involved in working with circus animals and or big cats, and therefore she is not qualified to represent that faction of Fish and Wildlife's regulations either.

4- She has made it quite clear by her hand-outs and her website that she does not even agree with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

5- She really does not represent the animal industry at all. She is NOT an expert on anything. They only thing she does know how to do is to put big cats in flimsy cages (which she claims to be against), charges people to see them (which goes against the definition of a true sanctuary), and then uses the money to fund the animal rights agendas and their lobbying to shut this industry down (which goes against her non-profit rules and regs). How can that qualify her to represent anything to do with animals and/or animal welfare??

6- As per her own 20 year plan (see her own website) she states that she has given up on big cats in the wild as there is no way to save them now, and she hopes to run herself out of business by getting rid of all the big cats in captivity. This would be an atrocity to have someone on a conservation board that advocates the extinction of all the big cats on this planet!!

7- She has been accused of over 60 counts of Notary fraud but was never brought to justice. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XovvaJeZFqA

8- She is still the only suspect in her husband's (Jack Don Lewis) disappearance back in 1997. That matter was never solved but was conveniently swept under the rug. See: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20127008,00.html

9- She has had over 100 cats die at her facility and has not been held accountable for any of them. Recently she used her own Facebook page to seek public advice on whether or not to sedate her new "rescues" in order to figure out why they wouldn't eat. How does she qualify as an expert on ANYTHING?? She should know by now how to care for those cats! Her facility is built on an old dump site and the water is polluted and green, but it's still used for the pools and swimming holes for the big cats. Her cages go against all the regulations in place right now, but no one calls her on them. Why is that? It seems that she is not only exempt from following your existing rules, but now you want to put her in a position to suggest new ones? I do not believe that this is a good idea.

10- She was asked to resign from the Hillsborough County Animal Advisory Board.

I truly believe that you could find much more qualified people to put on this board to make the right decisions and suggestions for the future of the animal industry in Florida. The changes that are suggested by CWTAG directly affect not only the lives of thousands of animals, but also the businesses that rely on them as well. So PLEASE reconsider this assignment and get Carole Baskin AND the HSUS person OFF CWTAG! Neither of them have ANY business representing any of the animal people in this state!! And just for the record, I am a very concerned Class I and Class II license holder with a USDA licensed facility since 1997.

It seems this TAG was formed covertly and there was no announcement of this new group development nor any notice to those persons who would most be affected by the decisions made by the TAG.

Thank you for your time.