Hunters or poachers sneak up on an animal and take their hides, meat, profit or just for the hunt. They often just leave carcasses to rot where they lay. Can you imagine the Despair of the siblings of these animals when they find one of their own slaughtered like this ?  What happens if these animals have babies?  What happens to them ? We need to protect some of these endangered and not so endangered animals from people making money from them. Taking an animals life for profit is just one more reason why we need tougher laws against this. 

Big Cat Rescue willing to provide home for Tony

Victory for Tony

Baton Rouge Court Grants Permanent Injunction, Ordering Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to Stop Issuing Illegal Permit Allowing Tony to Be Kept on Display in Iberville Parish

BATON ROUGE, La. – This morning, a judge in East Baton Rouge District Court granted the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s (ALDF) request for a permanent injunction against the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, preventing the Department from renewing the annual permit that allows Michael Sandlin, owner of Grosse Tete’s Tiger Truck Stop, to display Tony, a ten-year-old Siberian-Bengal tiger. When the current permit expires in December 2011, Sandlin will no longer be able to keep Tony confined as a roadside exhibit at the truck stop where he has languished for over a decade. The court also assessed costs against the Department in the case.

In preparation for the day the current permit expires and Tony is finally free, ALDF hopes to work with the Department to find the best possible new home for him, providing recommendations for reputable sanctuaries where Tony can live out his life in a peaceful, natural environment, free from the 24-hour exposure to noise and diesel fumes that have plagued his life to date.

“Today, the law was upheld in the state of Louisiana, which has explicit regulations designed to protect tigers like Tony,” says ALDF Executive Director Stephen Wells. “It is an incredible victory for ALDF, the tens of thousands around the world who have supported this campaign, and most of all, for Tony. We eagerly look forward to the day that he leaves behind the noise and fumes of the Tiger Truck Stop for a new life of freedom that he has never known.”

May 6th, 2011 http://www.aldf.org/article.php?id=1700

Sign a petition asking that Tony be freed immediately here: http://www.change.org/petitions/speak-out-for-tony-the-truck-stop-tiger

Help Tony the Truck Stop Tiger get away from the gas station and into an accredited sanctuary with your email here http://ow.ly/3871m

Texas exotic animal dealer accused of animal cruelty is now considered a fugitive. May 4th 2010

U.S. Global Exotics, the company Jasen Shaw operated with his wife, Vanessa, traded in hundreds of thousands of exotic animals and "pocket pets" about 500 species in all, including sloths, chinchillas, lemurs, hedgehogs, ferrets, snakes, turtles, lizards, amphibians and spiders -- since the company was founded in 2002. U.S. Global Exotics reported earnings in the millions during each of the years from 2005 through 2007, according to the Morning News.

More than 26,000 of the animals at the Arlington, Tex., facility were seized in the December raid, which was precipitated by a months-long undercover investigation by a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals employee. The investigator, Howard Goldman, provided photographic evidence and undercover video documenting the conditions at U.S. Global Exotics and later offered his testimony about the company in court. To read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/05/us-global-exotics-fugitive.html

Thousands of exotic animals seized in Arlington Texas From U.S. Global Exotics. See the video below

ARLINGTON — It's being called the biggest animal seizure of its kind in the country. Authorities moved in to take custody of a many as 20,000 creatures from an exotic pet distributor Tuesday morning. Arlington Animal Services served a civil seizure warrant on U.S. Global Exotics, a multi-million dollar business that acquires these creatures from all around the world — then sells them for premium prices. The collection includes snakes, wallabys, tarantulas, turtles and hedgehogs. "We're finding huge amounts of dead animals in with the living ones," said Jay Sabatucci of Arlington Animal Services. "We're finding turtles who are basically in a toxic soup of water and other dead turtles."

U.S. Global Exotics will likely be shut down all day Tuesday as the seizure continues. No criminal charges have been filed against the firm, which — according to its Web site — has been importing and exporting exotic animals for 11 years. The Web site claims that U.S. Global Exotics is licensed by U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Officials said the seized animals would first be removed to an undisclosed location to evaluate their conditions. If a court awards the animals to the city, the survivors will be shipped to places where they will be properly cared for. E-mail ddenmon@wfaa.com

See the video below

911 Animal Abuse  Big Cat Exploitation

You may be the only voice they have!

THE TRUTH ABOUT TIGER CUB PETTING DISPLAYS IN MALLS

When undercover investigators made their way onto Chinese fur farms, they found that many animals are still alive and struggling desperately when workers flip them onto their backs or hang them up by their legs or tails to skin them. When workers on these farms begin to cut the skin and fur from an animal's leg, the free limbs kick and writhe. Workers stomp on the necks and heads of animals who struggle too hard to allow a clean cut.When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals' heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile of those who have gone before them. Some are still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly. Some of the animals' hearts are still beating five to 10 minutes after they are skinned. One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog on the heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera.Before they are skinned alive, animals are pulled from their cages and thrown to the ground; workers bludgeon them with metal rods or slam them on hard surfaces, causing broken bones and convulsions but not always immediate death. Animals watch helplessly as workers make their way down the row.

Each year across the nation, countless numbers of exotic animals are purchased as pets. Sugar gliders, hedgehogs and prairie dogs are just a few of the exotic species recently gaining popularity in pet stores. Others, such as non-human primates, tigers and even bears are readily obtainable from private breeders and dealers who advertise to buyers via magazines and over the Internet. Wherever they come from, the global commercialization of exotic animals is a multi-billion dollar industry that often results in animal cruelty, health risks and serious population declines.

• What is the exotic pet trade?
• Where do exotic animals come from?
• What is the environmental impact of the exotic pet trade?
• How are most exotic animals sold to the public?
• Is it difficult to take care of an exotic pet?
• Are exotic pets dangerous?
• Can exotic pets spread disease?
• Why do exotic pets often become the victims of abuse?
• What about small exotic animals—don’t they make good pets?
• Are there laws about keeping exotics animals as pets?
• What can I do to help?

What is the exotic pet trade?
The exotic pet trade is the trade and keeping of wild animals as pets, essentially contributing to the suffering of millions of animals, threatening public health and safety, disrupting ecosystems and driving species to endangerment and extinction. Most exotic pets end up in the hands of private individuals, where they suffer from inappropriate housing and care and poor nutrition.

Many exotic animals arrive in the United States illegally. Illegal trafficking in exotic animals is a global business, worth close to $20 billion each year. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the profit made from illegal trade in wildlife ranks second only to the trade of illegal drugs in the United States.

Where do exotic animals come from?
Hundreds of millions of animals enter the exotic pet trade every year. Some are captured from their native lands. Others bred in private kennels. Even more are surplus from roadside menageries, zoos and circuses.

• Exotics are taken from the wild
  To meet the demand for exotic pets, thousands of animals are taken from their native lands each year, perpetuating the decline of many species and disrupting delicate ecosystems. The animals often endure horrific transport conditions before being sold—many die along the way.
  
  
• Exotics are bred in captivity
  While it is common for exotics to be taken from native habitats, others are mass-bred in captivity—but life for these animals is no easier. Similar to puppy mills, conditions at exotic breeding facilities are often very dismal and the breeder animals are often forced to live in less-than-sanitary conditions. Breeders also often remove newborns from their mothers within hours or days of birth so that they can be hand-raised. Such traumatic separations leave both mother and infant emotionally scarred.
  
  
• Exotic animals are surplus animals
  Due to rampant over-breeding in certain zoos, circuses and other public animal attractions, there is often a surplus of captive-bred exotic animals entering the market. Furthermore, when baby animals reach adulthood, they are typically traded out to make room for a new batch of younger animals. Surplus animals may travel from buyer to buyer before finally ending up in another roadside menagerie, zoo or private home, or as the target in a canned hunt. Canned hunting is the practice of hunting exotic animals in a confined area. Hunters typically pay a high price to shoot and kill a rare animal, often at close range, for a surefire trophy. It is estimated that there are more than 1,000 canned hunting operations across the nation.

What is the environmental impact of the exotic pet trade?
Many of the animals in the exotic pet trade are taken out of environmentally sensitive areas such as the rainforest or African plains. The loss of animals from the wild is perilous, since ecosystems rely largely on animal carriers to spread plant seeds through their fur and dung. Furthermore, animal prey and predators rely on each other to keep populations in balance.

It is also the capture of baby animals that is the most lucrative, and often the mother is killed in order to take her young, further increasing the extinction rate of many already endangered animals.

How are most exotic animals sold to the public?
Exotic animals are sold to the highest bidder at dozens of auctions held across the United States, but the Internet has emerged as the leading place for people to buy these animals. Unfortunately, Internet trafficking of live animals is on the rise. With little more than a credit card, people can log on to one of dozens of websites and easily purchase a tiger, baboon or baby giraffe, and have a new pet within days.

To read more: http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/exotic-pet-faq.aspx