Netflix's Tiger King was the documentary success of 2020. Featuring a collection of bizarre big cat owners in the United States with particular emphasis on the Tiger King Joe Exotic. Since its success media producers have been very keen to try and emulate that success by producing documentaries featuring similar subject matter.
To this end, the UK's ITV television network broadcast a two part documentary in March 2021 entitled: Britain's Tiger Kings. The documentary was fronted by actor and producer Ross Kemp and was a co-production produced by Honey Bee Media in association with Freshwater Films which is owned by Kemp.
In a press release ITV described the documentaries as:
"...Ross Kemp is on the trail of Britain's tiger and lion kings. He meets a man with lions in his back garden, a couple with a vast menagerie made from scrap and an ex-circus trainer who owns five tigers..."
At the beginning of the documentary Ross Kemp lays out the premise of the film. He states:
"...I think most people would prefer to see lions and tigers living in the wild but with their natural habitats shrinking there are more now in captivity than free. And keeping these animals as pets is in vogue so much so the ownership of wild cats has gone up by over 50% in the last 20 years. But its not just lions and tigers being kept in captivity there are all manner of wild animals in private hands. This remarkable map shows where nearly 4000 currently reside. There are two elephants in Carmarthenshire, tigers in Oxfordshire, crocodiles in Cambridgeshire and venomous snakes in Derbyshire..."
The first thing that one notices is that it seems very clear that the Born Free Foundation (BFF) were driving the agenda for the TV program as the data for Ross Kemp's "remarkable map" was provided by this organisation.
The statement that the keeping of wild cats in the UK has gone up by 50% in last 20-years is somewhat misleading when Ross Kemp then confuses this by mentioning lions and tigers in the following sentence. In fact there hasn't been a 50% increase in the keeping of large big cats such as lions and tigers and other members of the Panther genus.
What this statistics alludes to is wildcats. Many of which are small and do not require any form of special licence under dangerous wild animals legislation.
The case in point was the so-called wild cat roaming in an affluent area of London mentioned in the program . Which turns out to be a Savannah cat which is considered a domestic animal which poses no more threats to the general public than a domestic cat.
Further, it is well known that every year the BFF go on extensive fishing exercises contacting local governments using the UK's Freedom of Information Act to try and discover who is keeping what animals in the UK and whether or not these could be constituted as a zoo. There is at least one occasion where a genuine animal sanctuary was shut down due to the BFF convincing the local authority that this was in fact a zoo.
Ironically, it was noticeable in the program that the word "sanctuary" was being used extensively rather than zoo. But obviously the sanctuaries would have to be the right kind of sanctuary supported by animal rights groups such as the Born Free Foundation.
It's unclear what this program sought to achieve. All the animal keeping facilities had complied with one or more of the UK's animal keeping regulations.
In a statement on their Facebook page in April BFF stated:
"...Today, as part of our long-term campaign on this issue, Born Free has launched a Petition in collaboration with the RSPCA, calling for a review and reform of the laws on the private keeping of Dangerous Wild Animals which may ultimately bring an end to Dangerous Wild Animals as ‘pets’ in the UK..."
However if you look at the facilities and individuals involved in this documentary very few of the animals here were being kept as "pets".
Two of the facilities, Wolds Wildlife Park and Johnsons of Oldhurst Zoo, were licensed as zoos and open to the public.
Amazing Animals, is an established business servicing the media industry since 1977 licensed under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act and the Animal Activities regulations.
Martin Lacey and his brother are professional animal trainers working in Germany and therefore not subject to British law.
Gary Smith (Gary's Reptile Experience) in Derby is licensed under the Animal Activities regulations.
Reece Oliver is a private animal keeper licensed under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act.
Therefore, it's probably right to say that only Reece Oliver is truly a private keeper of dangerous wild animals solely being kept as "pets".
The Born Free Foundation are against the maintenance of wild animals in human care in any form including licensed zoos. There ultimate agenda is very clear. Prohibition of wild animal keeping in any form excluding animal sanctuaries which they approve.
Ironically these so-called animal sanctuaries are using exactly the same techniques that has developed by well-run zoos and aquariums around the world over decades. The only difference for the animals in the sanctuaries is they are living in a dead end were natural behaviours like reproduction and rearing of young is prohibited and any constructive conservation or research will be virtually non-existent.
References
Dangerous Wild Animals Act.
Zoo Licensing Act
Animal Activities regulations.
The series can be found on YouTube at:
Episode 1: https://youtu.be/KENi26VeT9s
Episode 2: https://youtu.be/xCyyksiUifE
Astley's Legacy was formed to counter the misinformation and propaganda spread by animal rights activists. As well as fighting the corner for circus animals and their trainers, we are here to promote and celebrate the cultural heritage of circus in general, and especially in the country of its birth - Great Britain. For more information please see our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/223570581049199
Or follow us on Twitter: @RousterAstley
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