The strange and dangerous world of America’s big cat people

I spent the better part of eight years investigating wildlife trafficking around the world. During my travels, I visited farms in China and Laos where tigers are raised like pigs, examined traditional medicine in Vietnam, ate what I was told was tiger bone “cake,” and tracked some of the world’s last remaining wild tigers in India. Almost everywhere I went, tigers were suffering and their numbers were on the decline because of human behavior. Until recently, though, I had no idea the United States was part of the problem.

Aside from providing distraction from what we're all anxious about, this story illustrates how human-centric our treatment of nature continues to be. Captivity is especially cruel for big cats, whose normal ranges may extend for tens or even hundreds of kilometers. The idea of farming them for any purpose should be outrageous, and this is part of the wildlife trade contributing to spread of zoonotic diseases.

I did have some idea that this was going on before reading the story; Florida is full of sad, shabby roadside petting zoos. One regional park prominently featured an endangered panther. It paced furiously in a cage the size of my bedroom, twitching at the screams of the surrounding excited children.

Without undue sensationalism, the details of the story are the stuff of big box-office documentaries, and I'd expect the writer has a book in the works.