Let’s take big cats off the menu, please send one automatic message

From Big Cat Rescue

• 1. Please visit HERE and “click here” on the second option, “Eating a lion burger or petting a lion cub…is there a difference? Let’s take big cats off the menu”
• 2. Input your zipcode at the top of page following ANIMAL ACTION ALERT/Enter Your Zipcode (or at the bottom of the page)
• 3. Use the sample message provided, or feel free to modify
• 4. Select FIVE recipients
• 5. Input your details (name, address, etc.)
• 6. Select a prefix (Mr., Ms., Miss, etc.)
• 7. Send message (you must scroll to the bottom of the area where you input your information in order to see the green “send message” button)

Just recently an Arizona restaurant was serving lion burgers and receiving loads of publicity for it. (See video below or click HERE.)

This has also been documented in FL, IL, & PA.

Though the idea of this is shocking to most, what’s really going on is much deeper. The FDA, not the USDA, is charged with the responsibility of inspecting suppliers like Czimer’s Game & Sea Foods, the butcher who sold lion meat to this Arizona restaurant. “FDA inspected” may reassure you, but it shouldn’t because this butcher served 6 months in federal prison and was fined for his role in a secretive, multibillion-dollar underground animal trading ring. Czimer was convicted of purchasing the carcasses of 16 federally-protected tigers, 4 lions, 2 mountain lions, and 1 liger that he sold as uninspected “lion” meat. These animals were all killed while confined in trailers or cages, not farm raised and free range roaming. While a lion burger may sound like something different to try, if you eat one – make no mistake – you are fueling this underground world of illegal exotic animal murder and trade.

But what’s the connection between lion burgers and petting, holding or posing for a picture with a lion or tiger cub? Since lions are now a threatened species and have dwindled to about 20,000 left in Africa today (as opposed to 450,000 just 50 years ago), it’s doubtful that this lion meat is coming from Africa. Quite the opposite, previous investigations have shown that lion meat was being bred and raised right here in the US.

When you see cute lion or tiger cubs on display to pet or take photographs with, have you thought about where they end up when they grow up and become too dangerous or expensive to house? For many reasons, we have to turn away about 50 big cats per year – and they aren’t going to accredited sanctuaries. The fear is that many, if not most, may end up as exotic game meats. With so few FDA inspectors available, it’s quite possible that tiger meat is still being passed off as unregulated lion meat. This is something we must stop!

You can help put an end to this. By banning the breeding of big cats in the private sector, it would make it impossible for the dealers in the US to acquire and sell this meat. It would put an end to the horrible suffering and deaths we know are happening throughout the country everyday. Please take a moment to sign and send the pre-written letter to your federal lawmakers asking for a ban on the breeding, buying and selling of big cats in the US (other than AZA zoos). Let’s finally take these animals off the menu.

Be sure to confirm your zip code next to “Animal Action Alert” at the top and then click on the “GO” button in order to be directed to the pre-written letter from HERE and selecting the second option.

Vodpod videos no longer available.