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Dangerous co-driver: Joe Exotics former business partner Jeff Lowe with a white tiger
Photo: Netflix / dpa
Through the Netflix series "Tiger King" US private zoos, in which big cats are kept under questionable conditions, moved beyond the United States into focus.
In the future, these facilities may no longer exist.
The House of Representatives in Washington passed a bill on Thursday (local time) according to which the requirements for keeping lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars and pumas are to be tightened considerably.
However, the planned law still has to be passed by the Senate in order to come into force.
Owning, breeding, transporting and trading big cats - everything is prohibited?
In the Netflix series "Tiger King", the animal rights activist Carole Baskin, who runs the big cat shelter "Big Cat Rescue", denounced animal cruelty in private zoos.
She had campaigned for the tightening of the law.
In the Baskins facility, a tiger attacked and injured a volunteer while she was being fed on Thursday.
"Big Cat Rescue" cites the incident as evidence of why the law needs to be passed.
If the law comes into force, the private possession, breeding, transport and trade of big cats would be prohibited with a few exceptions.
Approved private zoos would have to meet strict requirements and, among other things, guarantee a sufficient safety distance between zoo visitors and predators.
Direct contact between animals and visitors should be excluded.
The series "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness" about eccentric big cat lovers had become a huge hit on the Netflix streaming service within a very short time.
Several US private zoo owners were featured in the True Crime Mini-Series.
The focus was on the "Tiger King" Joe Exotic, who is said to have hired a murderer to kill Baskin.
Baskin and her organization Big Cat Rescue had accused the glamorous private zoo owner of animal cruelty.
Joe Exotic, in turn, had accused Baskin of killing her missing husband.
The two had a feud lasting for years.
Exotic was eventually sentenced to 22 years in prison for the murder assignment and animal welfare violation.
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bbr / dpa