Listen to this figure and be prepared to be shocked: There are more tigers being held privately in the United States than exist in the wild all around the world! Many of them are neglected, abused and face horrible living conditions. You can find them in small apartments, garages or small penned areas behind people's homes. Over 15,000 tigers are held in such dire circumstances. That is not counting small city zoos with inadequate quarters for such large carnivores.

Each year hundreds become homeless or are actually just let out, like a stray cat or dog, because the private owner no longer has space, can't afford to feed them or they find them no longer as cute as they were when they were cubs. To think we have an international program to save tigers in the wild and we could be losing hundreds right here in America! People are even being killed and injured by the cats who are abused and neglected and the cats are often euthanized for simply responding to their environment.

It is a national disgrace. Even small or sometimes large zoos breed animals to increase attendance with cute wildlife babies only to find when they grow up they have no room for any more large cats. Other zoos are unable to handle cats from these places since their space is already filled. This is a crisis for wildlife lovers and it is only getting worse.

The first line of defense is privately run animal sanctuaries often managed by extraordinary people who pour in their life savings into the endeavor and live off the kindness of donors. They accept these unwanted wildlife and save their lives and in some case increase the possibility of certain species even surviving. They obtain no public funds and subsist usually on a day-to-day basis. They need our help. One of my family's favorite places is the The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado (www.wildlife-sanctuary.net ) that today handles over 150 large castaway animals. Their annual budget is $1.4 million and they have been on the verge of going under several times. If they fail, many of the beautiful animals will be in jeopardy. Obviously in the short term, those of us who care must do everything in our power to keep these private sanctuaries alive.

However, we need a long term solution and here is what I think can be done:

1. We need to immediately increase the policing power of the Fish and Wildlife division of the Department of Interior to stop illegal trade in wildlife.
2. We should ban - with severe penalties - all private individual ownership of such wildlife as tigers.
3. Immediately we should use public funds to assist legitimate sanctuaries and give them the stability to at least continue at their present operating budgets. A grant of $500,000 could make the world of difference for these heroes. Hell, we give that much for studies dealing with a cow's left hind tit!
4. We should explore creating eco-tourism here in America assisting rural communities or states that need the influx of such dollars to save their staggering economies.
5. Create 'massive wildlife reserves' for these animals in rural America where they have total freedom to roam and tourists could revel in seeing them in the wild.