02/09/2026
Very urgently important that you contact your State Representatives and tell them to vote NO on HR Bill 7159. This is being voted on soon. If you scroll down this post there is a link that lists your State Representative by state.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THAT NERVOUS LIONESS? Aziza doesn’t seem to remember her! When we first met Aziza, who had been a in Kuwait, she was so agitated and nervous that as she frantically paced, back and forth, she ran up the wall and dropped from the ceiling! Since arriving at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa she has grown in confidence and stature. These days she loves to playfully stalk anyone passing her habitat, sometimes given away by her tail swaying above the long grass, before bounding out to give them a fright.
Aziza is the reality of the cub petting and trophy pet industry. Animals taken young from their mothers and later discarded. Right now in the US the important Big Cat Safety Act is under threat!
HR 7159, deceptively titled the “Protecting Local Zoos Act of 2026” aims to create multiple dangerous exemptions to the Big Cat Public Safety Act (BCPSA). If approved this bill would:
🐯Exempt Class B licensees i.e. animal dealers who buy and sell animals (including those who may want to buy, breed, or sell big cats as pets) from the BCPSA.
🦁Allow volunteers to come into direct contact with big cats.
🐯Exempt snow leopards, clouded leopards, and any hybrid of those species from the BCPSA.
🦁Allow a Class B or C licensee to export or import big cats to or from a foreign entity.
🐯 Allow individuals or entities that newly qualify for an exemption (Class B dealers) to cancel their registration if they registered to be grandfathered under the BCPSA.
The bill is set to be heard in committee TOMORROW, Wednesday, February 4th. In the US, please call/email your Representative TODAY and urge them to OPPOSE HR 7159: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
