Stopping The Trade of Exotic Animals

When Carole Baskin and Big Cat Rescue became known for trying to stop the trade in exotic cats as pets, Gini Valbuena began slandering them in an attempt to draw the attention off the subject; Exotic Animals as Pets, which is not a subject anyone can defend, and try to misdirect attention in any way she can.

Gini Valbuena runs a photography studio in her home where people pay to come have their pictures taken with a baby chimp or baby orangutan. She also uses the babies for photos by themselves, by dressing them up in baby clothes, for calendars and such. She keeps one adult chimp (at least) in a barred cage in her back yard and she has turned a room inside into a cage as well. She hands out cards that say Valbuena Photography and Valbuena Chimps and defines herself by the latter. On her website she proudly displays disturbing photos of naked and nearly naked children with chimps doing things like sticking their fingers in a crying baby's mouth. Read about how dangerous zoonosis is HERE

She claims to have owned 15 chimps and 4 orangutans, but says she only owns two chimps now named Kenya and Tanzee. When she has been profiled in the news she refuses to say where her chimps and orangutans end up when she is through using them. She will only say that they always go to a great sanctuary...but that isn't likely. Great sanctuaries are accredited and as such they do not enable people like Gini Valbuena to continue to use, abuse and discard primates. Before giving her a moment's worth of your time, find out where these primates really end up, who is footing the bill for their care for the next 40 years and make sure you see them in person.

These people often use aliases, false addresses and other methods to hide their real identities when they spread their libelous claims because when their background becomes known, it is apparent that there is no truth to their assertions. It is all a ruse, meant to distract from the real issue which is that exotic animals should not be kept as pets.

The letter that Carole Baskin wrote advising neighbors of exotic animal owners about a public workshop to address the proposal that neighbors be notified in the event of an escape is posted below:

See an interactive online map of exotic cat owners. See people being stupid with big cats, endangering themselves and others HERE. See the awful conditions that many captive cats endure HERE.

The letter that Carole Baskin wrote advising neighbors of exotic animal owners about a public workshop to address the proposal that neighbors be notified in the event of an escape is posted below:

Dear Exotic Animal Neighbor, October 2, 2007

Did you even know that there are people living right next to you who own dangerous Class I and Class II wild animals? It could be anything from a bobcat to a tiger. While they may be caged now, what happens in a hurricane? The cobras and black mamba sort of neighbors are even more prone to escape. We post a list of the big cat escapes, killings & maulings on our website.

Keeping wild animals in private collections is cruel to the animals and dangerous for you.

At a recent meeting of the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission they voted down a recommendation that neighbors be notified BEFORE someone moves in next to them with dangerous wild animals because the breeders, dealers and exotic pet owners were there but their neighbors weren’t. They decided to offer two more meetings for neighbors to respond before voting on whether you should be notified when a dangerous wild animal escapes near you.

Of course, just like all of their other meetings, you won’t be notified by them of when and where.

We think you have a right to know.

DATE AND TIME: October 8, 2007, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
PLACE: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry Auditorium, 1911 SW 34th Street, Gainesville, Florida 32614.

DATE AND TIME: October 9, 2007, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
PLACE: The Ft. Lauderdale City Commission Chambers, 100 N. Andrews Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33301-1016.

For more information on the meetings contact Captain Linda E. Harrison, FWC Division of Law Enforcement Linda.harrison@MyFWC.com

To find out who in your neighborhood has these animals will cost you $50.00 (and a lot of frustration, because the FWC doesn’t want you to know) but you can try to get the list from FL Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission Attn. Debbie Manderfield 2590 Executive Center Circle, Suite #200 Tallahassee, Fl 32301. We purchased the list and found your address to be adjacent to one of the owners of Class I or Class II wildlife. We thought you ought to know.

For the cats,

Carole Baskin, Founder

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