California officials will vote on a renewed hot button issue — protecting local big cats — and you gotta imagine … ‘Tiger King’ will be at the forefront of everybody’s minds for it.
The California Fish and Game Commission is scheduled to have the matter before them on Thursday, where they’ll decide if mountain lions in Southern and Central California deserve state-mandated protections afforded to animals under the Endangered Species Act.
The effort to get these West Coast big cats that protection has been in the works for about a year, with several environmentalists, zoologists, and different animal foundations having submitted petitions to move the item forward. Now it’s on the Commission’s agenda.
Of course, the vote probably couldn’t have at a better time … seeing how Joe Exotic and co. just swept the nation and has most everyone — especially Californians — talking about tigers, lions and the like. Long story short … we fully anticipate hearing ‘Tiger King’ on Thursday.
As for what these protections will do if passed by the CFGC … it’ll actually be a great boon to keeping mountain lions alive as humans continue to building out our own world. According to the Center for Biological Diversity — which is helping spearhead the vote — mountain lions could potentially get their own wildlife crossings built … above freeways.
There are other protections the big cats would receive, and frankly … it sounds like a great idea. The question now … how much thanks would Joe and his tigers get if this goes through?