Jenna Deedy

The seven-part Netflix series “The Tiger King” was a true hit among the binge-watchers who were looking for something to take their mind off the “COVID-19 Pandemic. It also exploited the questionable animal welfare and business practices of the Tampa Bay-based Big Cat Rescue (BRC), which is a poorly-managed zoo that animal rights extremists have greenwashed as Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries-accredited sanctuary.

With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing both families and communities alike from around the world to stay home, and cancel all major plans until it is okay to resume normal life, it is no arguing that it has allowed people to do all sorts of activities at home with their loved ones like playing video games, watching movies, baking, cooking, doing some arts and crafts, and of course, binge whatever show is on either Netflix or Disney+ which brings me to my next subject, a little docuseries on Netflix called The Tiger King.

There is no arguing that a little bill known as “CT-5341”, which was aimed at banning the keeping of cetaceans in zoological facilities in the state of Connecticut, died attempting to make it onto the state’s Environmental Committee’s Agenda. While the bill did get the usual praise from various animal rights groups and extremists like any new proposed anti-zoo law would it got more opposition from concerned scientists and zoo professionals who called it out for having the potential to slow down any conservation efforts that require access to resident animals living in zoological settings.

A bill that was aimed at banning the keeping of cetaceans in zoological facilities in Connecticut failed to make it onto the state’s Environmental Committee’s Agenda and will likely remain dead for the rest of the year. The bill, dubbed “CT-5341”, would have banned Connecticut-based zoos and aquariums from keeping cetacean species such as beluga whales, dolphins, and orcas for any given purpose in favor of more “ethical” practices.

On February 13th, 2020, I published an article on Vocal titled “The Wolf of Gulf World”, which was an article that investigated the case of Cierra Huffman, the dolphin trainer who, all of the sudden, became a TikTok star with a desire to go on the “Ellen” show with the intent to one day work for her. Upon the article’s publication, I received a lot of positive feedback from the marine mammal community about how people like her could potentially be a danger to the zoo and aquarium community in general. In addition, Gulf World has since filed a cease and desist order against Ms.Huffman even though she was still continuing to make false accusations against the facility and its animal care team.