Siegfried & Roy’s Bid for Permit to Breed Leopards Blasted by PETA
Permit Should Be Denied on Grounds That Breeding Animals for Entertainment Does Not Help Species Survival, as Required
For Immediate Release:
June 18, 2015
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
PETA has filed official comments with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) in opposition to a new application from notorious animal exhibitors Siegfried & Roy, who are requesting an Endangered Species Act (ESA) permit to allow them to buy, sell, and breed endangered leopards for display at The Mirage hotel in Las Vegas. As PETA points out, Siegfried & Roy have failed to meet the bedrock requirement for an ESA permit—to demonstrate that the proposed activities will “enhance the propagation or survival” of endangered leopards.
“Animals bred for the sole purpose of putting them on display in a small holding area with no hope for a life in the wild and breeding even more big cats to exploit do nothing to help natural populations thrive, which is a permit requirement,” says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel Delcianna Winders. “PETA is calling on authorities to do the right thing for animals by denying Siegfried & Roy’s application immediately.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—asserts that part of the reason Siegfried & Roy’s application cannot be lawfully approved by the FWS is that over the last 14 years, their company has bred primarily white tigers and lions, who are inbred by definition, are prone to injury and deformity, and have no conservation value. Siegfried & Roy have also failed to submit important—and required information—including the number of endangered leopards who’ve died in their care in the past five years. As big cats continue to suffer from the effects of overpopulation in the United States—including in Nevada, where many tigers and other exotic cats languish in tiny enclosures—Siegfried & Roy’s proposal would be detrimental to the survival of the species.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
