There never were 20,000 privately-owned tigers in American backyards, it was all a fabrication...

[Wisp O' Mist]

The Sheriffs issued a stark warning: At any moment, any one of the tens of thousands of big cats held in dilapidated enclosures across the United States could escape. The cats, kept as domestic pets and viewed by law enforcement as largely unregulated, had already maimed and killed more than 750 people since 1990. During one infamous incident in Ohio, dubbed the Zanesville massacre, police slaughtered close to 50 zoo animals, including 18 tigers and 17 lions. Some officials in law enforcement, as the attorney Carney Anne Nasser put it in an interview with Undark, “said they would rather diffuse explosive devices than work with big cats.”

These claims about public safety, advanced by the National Sheriffs’ Association and many others in recent years, urged lawmakers to pass federal legislation. In 2022, the push ultimately culminated with the Big Cat Public Safety Act. The bill did one thing everyone can agree upon: It repeated a big claim and, indeed, invoked a rather fundamental figure in the bid for more regulation: “An estimated 20,000 big cats, including tigers, lions, jaguars, leopards, cougars, and hybrids, are currently kept in private ownership in the United States.”

Full article: Are 20,000 Big Cats Caged in the U.S.? Highly Unlikely.

I always thought that the claim of "There are tens of thousands of privately owned big cats in the United States alone!" was rather exaggerated myself, but I never thought that it was to this extent...

 

[dillotest0]

The Sheriffs issued a stark warning: At any moment, any one of the tens of thousands of big cats held in dilapidated enclosures across the United States could escape. The cats, kept as domestic pets and viewed by law enforcement as largely unregulated, had already maimed and killed more than 750 people since 1990. During one infamous incident in Ohio, dubbed the Zanesville massacre, police slaughtered close to 50 zoo animals, including 18 tigers and 17 lions. Some officials in law enforcement, as the attorney Carney Anne Nasser put it in an interview with Undark, “said they would rather diffuse explosive devices than work with big cats.”

These claims about public safety, advanced by the National Sheriffs’ Association and many others in recent years, urged lawmakers to pass federal legislation. In 2022, the push ultimately culminated with the Big Cat Public Safety Act. The bill did one thing everyone can agree upon: It repeated a big claim and, indeed, invoked a rather fundamental figure in the bid for more regulation: “An estimated 20,000 big cats, including tigers, lions, jaguars, leopards, cougars, and hybrids, are currently kept in private ownership in the United States.”

From this article: Are 20,000 Big Cats Caged in the U.S.? Highly Unlikely.

I always thought that the claim of "There are tens of thousands of privately owned big cats in the United States alone!" was rather exaggerated myself, but I never thought that it was to this extent...

Quite interesting.
I too have faced the factoid of there being more tigers in the US of A than in the wild ... but exactly how many tigers was a number I never had ascertained. I vaguely recall one source stating 8,000 tigers ... still a big number; but closer to what probably is at least.
But I will say ... sometimes I like to communicate facts... and try to avoid communicating falsified factoids. It once was in my country that a certain television channel, headlines stated, refused to air the sixth episode of a documentary series over various concerns. Said channel rebutted that only five bonafide episodes were ever made, and the 'sixth' was a standalone documentary ... yet one website associated with said channel still stated six. Who knows why!
And in similar vain with the claim of how many tigers exactly are kept in dilapidated holdings across the United States my search for a number to cite always brought up fuzzy results. So I went with the safe statement simply of 'more tigers kept in the United States than in the wild.'
And that may very well be the case ... but I do find annoyance that the same institutions most concerned for these cats' wellbeing would fabricate such a big-bad-round-number.
I think what could also help is see which states precisely are more 'overrun by tigers' than others ... for sure the days where tigers were common sights near a southern gas station are behind us now, but I'm sure there's still a slant as to which states are more susceptible. The statements made by advocates may have one believe that they are spread roughly equally all over the country.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

And that may very well be the case ...

It's not, the article itself even outright states that it's not.

97, there are only 97 privately owned big cats in the entirety of the United States.

And according to this Tumblr post - average United States contains 1000s of pet tigers in backyards" factoid actualy [sic] just statistical error. average person has 0 tigers on property. Activist Georg, who lives the U.S. Capitol & makes up over 10,000 each day, has purposefully been spreading disinformation adn [sic] should not have been counted – @why-animals-do-the-thing on Tumblr (The person who runs it is quoted in the article itself, so they're legit) - even that number is erroneous!

The actual number of privately owned big cats in the United States of America?

*Drum roll*

42

That's it. That includes every species of big cat (Plus cougars and cheetahs!) by the way.

The whole thing is just absurd.

 

[dillotest0]

42

That's it. That includes every species of big cat (Plus cougars and cheetahs!) by the way.

Well, it is the answer to life, the universe, and everything ...
and apparently also this inquiry

 

[Chlidonias]

It's not, the article itself even outright states that it's not.

97, there are only 97 privately owned big cats in the entirety of the United States.

And according to this Tumblr post - average United States contains 1000s of pet tigers in backyards" factoid actualy [sic] just statistical error. average person has 0 tigers on property. Activist Georg, who lives the U.S. Capitol & makes up over 10,000 each day, has purposefully been spreading disinformation adn [sic] should not have been counted – @why-animals-do-the-thing on Tumblr (The person who runs it is quoted in the article itself, so they're legit) - even that number is erroneous!

The actual number of privately owned big cats in the United States of America?

*Drum roll*

42

That's it. That includes every species of big cat (Plus cougars and cheetahs!) by the way.

The whole thing is just absurd.

The nonsense number of tigers kept privately in the USA has been discussed on Zoochat before - but where are you getting your "actual" number of 42 individuals of all species of big cat? It is literally impossible to know the total of an unknown number.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

The nonsense number of tigers kept privately in the USA has been discussed on Zoochat before - but where are you getting your "actual" number of 42 individuals of all species of big cat? It is literally impossible to know the total of an unknown number.

The Tumblr post that I linked to in my comment.

Here it is again: average United States contains 1000s of pet tigers in backyards" factoid actualy [sic] just statistical error. average person has 0 tigers on property. Activist Georg, who lives the U.S. Capitol & makes up over 10,000 each day, has purposefully been spreading disinformation adn [sic] should not have been counted – @why-animals-do-the-thing on Tumblr

 

[Chlidonias]

The Tumblr post that I linked to in my comment.

Here it is again: average United States contains 1000s of pet tigers in backyards" factoid actualy [sic] just statistical error. average person has 0 tigers on property. Activist Georg, who lives the U.S. Capitol & makes up over 10,000 each day, has purposefully been spreading disinformation adn [sic] should not have been counted – @why-animals-do-the-thing on Tumblr

I didn't realise that was a link to an actual article. But, again, it is not the "actual" number. It is the number of registered animals. That's not the same thing.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

I didn't realise that was a link to an actual article. But, again, it is not the "actual" number. It is the number of registered animals. That's not the same thing.

As any and all unregistered big cats will be seized from their owners upon discovery, it's close enough to actuality.

 

[Chlidonias]

As any and all unregistered big cats will be seized from their owners upon discovery, it's close enough to actuality.

So your "actual" number is now "close enough"? How could you possibly know it is "close enough" when the number of unregistered animals is literally unknown?

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

So your "actual" number is now "close enough"? How could you possibly know it is "close enough" when the number of unregistered animals is literally unknown?

You're splitting hairs. As I just said, unregistered big cats will be seized from their owners upon discovery. The registration period is over, and it will not be reopened. So any owner who was stupid enough to not register their animals is inevitably going to lose them. Ergo, the unregistered big cats don't matter.

 

[Chlidonias]

You're splitting hairs. As I just said, unregistered big cats will be seized from their owners upon discovery. The registration period is over, and it will not be reopened. So any owner who was stupid enough to not register their animals is inevitably going to lose them. Ergo, the unregistered big cats don't matter.

So ... the "actual" number is 42 because the rest don't matter? That's some odd defence.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

So ... the "actual" number is 42 because the rest don't matter? That's some odd defence.

It works for me, clearly it doesn't for you. Different strokes for different folks and what not.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

As any and all unregistered big cats will be seized from their owners upon discovery, it's close enough to actuality.

You're splitting hairs. As I just said, unregistered big cats will be seized from their owners upon discovery. The registration period is over, and it will not be reopened. So any owner who was stupid enough to not register their animals is inevitably going to lose them. Ergo, the unregistered big cats don't matter.

This "logic" is patently ridiculous you might as well claim that because "any and all" animals smuggled out of the Galapagos (or New Zealand, or Australia, or any number of other locations) are illegal and subject to seizure if detected, they "don't matter" and as such the number of animals being illegally smuggled is zero.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

This "logic" is patently ridiculous you might as well claim that because "any and all" animals smuggled out of the Galapagos (or New Zealand, or Australia, or any number of other locations) are illegal and subject to seizure if detected, they "don't matter" and as such the number of animals being illegally smuggled is zero.

I never said that, don't go putting words in my mouth.

 

[birdsandbats]

Yes, the 20,000 claim has always been ridiculous and untrue. But so is the 42 claim.

The 42 numbers (with some room for error assuming illegal animals, but probably not too much more) is excluding USDA licensed facilities. Roadside zoos and farms are USDA licensed. Most exotic pet owners are USDA licensed. The 42 numbers is bizarre and small because it's essentially intentionally excluding the vast majority of privately owned Tigers.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

Yes, the 20,000 claim has always been ridiculous and untrue. But so is the 42 claim.

The 42 numbers (with some room for error assuming illegal animals, but probably not too much more) is excluding USDA licensed facilities. Roadside zoos and farms are USDA licensed. Most exotic pet owners are USDA licensed. The 42 numbers is bizarre and small because it's essentially intentionally excluding the vast majority of privately owned Tigers.

"estimates that another 1,800 or so animals likely live in unaccredited roadside zoos or with traveling exhibitors, and 1,360 live in facilities accredited by Association of Zoos and Aquariums and Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, bringing the total number of big cats in captivity in the U.S. to roughly 3,200."

-From the article.

That number sounds about right to me.

 

[birdsandbats]

"estimates that another 1,800 or so animals likely live in unaccredited roadside zoos or with traveling exhibitors, and 1,360 live in facilities accredited by Association of Zoos and Aquariums and Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, bringing the total number of big cats in captivity in the U.S. to roughly 3,200."

-From the article.

That number sounds about right to me.

Yes, that does sound correct.

 

[dillotest0]

speaking of...
are there still any 'pet a tiger' or 'swim with a tiger' sorta places in the US anymore?
They all seemed to disappear around the pandemic; and I would imagine the Big Cat Protection Act to have done something. Even Myrtle Beach Safari now uses cubs of different species; e.g. caracal and serval... but still has tigers and a liger as far as I know

 

[PossumRoach]

Wow, how did I not see this sooner? The thousands of tiger claim was proven to be a questionable claim long before Why Animals Do The Thing reported it. According to Gabrielle C. Tegeder from the University of Nebraska:

So where did this tiger census come from? And why did they all say something slightly different? In 2010, I asked several organizations how they came to their tiger estimates via email. Both PETA and National Geographic returned my inquiries and referenced the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), a well-known animal-rights organization that opposes exotic pet ownership (HSUS, 2010). The HSUS told me they got some of their information from the USDA, and that it was also “common knowledge”. The USDA said that they did not come up with this number, and got what information they had on national captive tiger populations from the HSUS. The AZA never returned my email, nor did the In-Site.

So people fell for a false claim that is no better than a “because we said so” and never questioned it since it definitely helps ban the private ownership of big cats. It doesn’t matter if this is done for the right thing, organizations like HSUS and PETA at best made a “whoopsie doodle” and at worst lied through their teeth. This is why I have a problem with any zoo organization working with animal rights organizations, which may or may not be using disinformation, just to shut down or abolish anything they ideologically oppose. I don’t think animal rights organizations will shy from going full throttle against accredited zoos* once they are done with dealing with the low hanging fruit.

 

[dillotest0]

Wow, how did I not see this sooner? The thousands of tiger claim was proven to be a questionable claim long before Why Animals Do The Thing reported it. According to Gabrielle C. Tegeder from the University of Nebraska:



So people fell for a false claim that is no better than a “because we said so” and never questioned it since it definitely helps ban the private ownership of big cats. It doesn’t matter if this is done for the right thing, organizations like HSUS and PETA at best made a “whoopsie doodle” and at worst lied through their teeth. This is why I have a problem with any zoo organization working with animal rights organizations, which may or may not be using disinformation, just to shut down or abolish anything they ideologically oppose. I don’t think animal rights organizations will shy from going full throttle against accredited zoos* once they are done with dealing with the low hanging fruit.

Reminds me of one recent case...
It is, or perhaps was, common knowledge that the length of all the blood vessels in the human body combined is ~100,000 kilometres; enough to wrap around the Earth twice.
The factoid was repeated for the good part of a century; a strong enough fact that it sticks for a long time; but old enough that nobody remembers the source.
One YouTube channel decided to look into this evergreen claim once and for all, to find it arose from a book from the 1920s where the number was calculated using a very idealised man as the model and less-than-accurate [by today's standards] numbers. The new estimate - 20,000 km at most.