2015-03-21 Carole Baskin‘s Diary

Carole Baskins Diary

Howie responded so eloquently I wanted to preserve it here: Think about other "mood shifts", or perhaps more accurately "evolution in societal values". Civil rights, gay rights, marijuana use, dog fighting. If you were to graph the number of people who adopted the changed belief, I think in most cases you would see a long line that grew painfully slowly over decades and then see a tipping point where it starts to accelerate, perhaps not technically exponentially, but at an accelerating rate.

Carole and I were struck by something three years ago. We have attended every TAFA conference. The first was 2005 and we laugh at how naive we were as we struggled to learn about legislation from zero knowledge. Year after year the senior folks at HSUS would give a talk that was like trying to pump up the troops at the Alamo. Tough year, lot of disappointment, but some victories we need to celebrate and press on because we will prevail. Then, in 2012, the big plenary speech had a totally different tone - it was like "holy shit, do you believe how many laws we got passed this year??!!!". It was something like 200 laws as I recall when they added up state, local & federal.

We really feel we are in the beginning of the accelerating years and it will not be that many more years until people will look back at tigers in the circus and tigers owned by private individuals and think about that the way we think about women's suffrage or slavery. We get visitors from England and other countries who already think that way - they are stunned at the private ownership. And the list of countries banning big cats in the circus is steadily growing. One of the best examples is what Feld pointed to - the increasing number of local ordinances banning the circus or bullhooks. See attached list.

Laurie Gage has repeatedly said to me that what we need to stop the cub petting is a tiger version of Blackfish. Love the name Blackfeld! I don't know if have the capacity to do something like that, but if you get any opportunity to follow up with Manny I would urge you to encourage it.

We have built our cash back up after our purchases of real estate and barring some unforeseen event or turn in the economy I expect 2015 to be another good year in part due to a bequest that has $300k scheduled for 2015. This year we have less planned in the way of capital expenditures unless the last parcel of contiguous land became available, so I expect to add more to reserves. I am not sure how much funding it takes to create a Blackfeld, but we would consider investing, preferable anonymously since we still have one tiger. I would love to have Manny come visit and talk to us. - Howard Baskin

Local Jurisdictions Banning Circuses in the U.S.

California

• Corona - Bans wild or exotic animal displays.

• Encinitas - Bans wild or exotic animal displays.

• Huntington Beach - Bans display of exotic animals.

• Marin County - Regulates animal acts.

• Newport Beach - Proclamation from Mayor that city will not display wild or exotic animals for entertainment.

• Pasadena - Bans display of wild or exotic animals and rodeos on city property; restricts displays of domestic animals.

• Rohnert Park - Bans wild or exotic animal displays.

• Santa Ana - Bans wild or exotic animal displays.

Colorado

• Boulder - Bans display of exotic animals.

Connecticut

• Stamford - Bans carnivals, circuses, and wild west shows.

Florida

• Hollywood - Bans animal displays.

• Lauderdale Lakes - Bans exhibition of wild and exotic animals.

• Pompano Beach - Bans animal displays on City property except for educational purposes; regulates display of animals on private property.

Idaho

• Ketchum City Council - Bans the use of traveling non-domestic and exotic animals from performing.

Indiana

• St. John - Bans performing animal exhibitions.

Maryland

• Takoma Park - Bans animal displays.

Massachusetts

• Braintree - Town meeting members voted not to allow displays of non-domesticated animals for entertainment.

• Provincetown - Bans the display of wild animals for entertainment.

• Quincy - Bans the use of wild animals in circuses, carnivals, and competitive events.

• Revere - Bans the display of wild animals for entertainment.

• Somerville - Bans the display of exotic animals in circuses, carnivals or any other public spectacle.

• Weymouth - Bans circuses with animal acts.

Missouri

• Richmond - Bans wild or exotic animal displays.

New York

• Greenburgh - Bans wild or exotic animals from circuses; prohibits all rodeos on town property; bans exotic and wild animal species from "parades, carnivals, races, rides, public shows, trade shows, photo opportunities, or similar undertakings in which animals perform tricks, fight or participate in performances for amusement."

• Southampton - Bans wild or exotic animal displays.

North Carolina

• Chapel Hill - Prohibits the display of wild and exotic animals.

• Orange County - Bans the display of wild or exotic animals.

Vermont

• Burlington - Bans the display of wild or exotic animals.

Washington

• Redmond - Bans wild or exotic animal displays.

• Port Townsend – Bans the display of wild or exotic animals.

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story. The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story. My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.

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Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.