WASHINGTON _ People have no business routinely mingling with the likes of bears, tigers and lions, Cortney Sumpter says.
Her fellow Californian Joel Grimm agrees. He, like Sumpter, wants tighter rules governing the iconic mammals that are both photogenic and potentially dangerous.
"I am appalled at how exotic animals are continuing to be exploited in our culture," Grimm told the U.S. Department of Agriculture this month.
Now, having heard in writing from Grimm, Sumpter and more than 20,000 other people during a public comment period that expires Wednesday, the USDA must decide whether to join the animal-welfare fight.
Citing dozens of commercial animal exhibitors like North Carolina's Cherokee Bear Zoo, Florida's Suncoast Primate Sanctuary and Idaho's Yellowstone Bear World, the Humane Society of the United States and other groups urged the federal government to take action more than three years ago.
In their 2012 petition, the groups, which included Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Fla., sought revised rules that would include a general prohibition on people coming into direct contact with big cats, bears or nonhuman primates. The proposed ban would include the handling of young or immature animals.
Strong feelings abound on all sides.
"This is applying to people who are already licensed and heavily regulated," Mindy Peterson, the president of Missouri's Cavalry Group, which advocates for animal-related businesses, said Monday of the potential for new rules.
The proposed rules would govern the holders of licenses granted by the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
"Thousands of big cats, bears and nonhuman primates reside in exhibition facilities around the country that are licensed by APHIS yet routinely conduct activities that undermine animal welfare," the petition says.
The groups further estimated "there are hundreds of licensed facilities that possess dangerous animals" nationwide. Some offer experiences close to the animals.
For $250 a person, for example, a Georgia preserve offers visitors a chance to feed its leopards and lions. A Florida operation invites visitors to swim with a tiger, for a payment of $200. Cubs can be especially popular.
"Thousands of people are being duped by the cub-petting exhibitors," Howard Baskin, the advisory board chairman for Big Cat Rescue, said Monday. "They tell people that paying to pet or swim with cubs somehow supports conservation and that the cubs live idyllic lives in sanctuaries when too old to pet."
Peterson, of the Cavalry Group, countered that "private animal owners rely on contact with the public" to support worthwhile activities and that private owners "are the true conservationists who keep these species alive."
The exhibitors obtain licenses under the Animal Welfare Act, a law passed in 1966 to prevent pets from being stolen for sale to research laboratories. The law does not cover farm animals.
After gathering thousands of opinions in 2013, the USDA rested until it reopened the public comment period in June. As of Monday, 20,325 public comments had been received.
Potential rule revisions could range from identifying standards for barriers and humane training techniques to clarifying the factors that determine whether a type of animal is suitable for public contact. Or the USDA might just stand pat.
