It's Fashion Week time, so advertisers are working non-stop to get your attention. The photo you see is currently featured on billboards and in many fashion magazines. The lion cubs grab your attention and you think, "how adorable they are!"
What you don't see is the terror when they were pulled prematurely from their mothers, stuck in a cage, loaded up for transport because their life as a photo prop begins and ends so quickly. Legally, their shelf life is short, so more and more are bred constantly. The babies are pulled from their mothers so that she can quickly be bred again.
You've heard about fairs, malls, circuses, backyard zoos, and traveling exhibits that use and abuse animals this way. Now, we're even seeing high profile celebrities and designers using them as nothing more than a marketing tool to sell products. They claim they're treated well on the set, but what happens to them after they leave?
Everyone hears when domestic animal shelters are overflowing with animals in need of adoption. The good news is that there is the possibility of a pet-loving home for them.
What is the option for these cubs when they've outlived their economic usefulness? The exhibitors DO NOT raise and keep all these baby lions and tigers. The expense is enormous, so how could they? And every accredited big cat rescue facility in this country is full.
These cubs will flow into the pipeline of illegal exotic animals traded for parts, for breeding, for a life of misery. The next time you see an ad for "Lion Steaks or Burgers" being served legally in restaurants throughout the US, you might think of these cubs and wonder if that was their fate. That's the reality behind this "adorable" picture.
This is why it's urgent that we pass national legislation banning the breeding of more big cats for lives spent in misery and in poorly regulated captivity. We must stop the flow.
Wenn Sie hier unterzeichnen, akzeptieren Sie die Nutzungsbedingungen von Care2
Sie können Ihre E-Mail-Abonnements jederzeit verwalten.
Sie haben Probleme, dies zu unterzeichnen? Informieren Sie uns.