Logan Paul featured a baby tiger in a 2017 videoYouTube / Logan Paul
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Cara Delevingne and a tigerAlamy Stock Photo
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PETA is hoping the success of “Tiger King” will get celebrities to stop posting selfies with wild animals.
The animal rights organization sent letters to celebrities including Cara Delevingne, Logan Paul, Floyd Mayweather, Odell Beckham Jr., Jason Momoa, Hugh Jackman, Kate Walsh, Hayden Panettiere and Paris Hilton, asking them to reconsider posing with animals in captivity, Page Six can exclusively reveal. Those stars have taken pictures with wild animals in the past.
The letter, obtained by Page Six, mentions the “abuse endured by wild animals” at the hands of “Tiger King” subjects Joe Exotic, Doc Antle and Tim Stark and highlights the “many other exhibitors” who still operate roadside zoos.
“Many have criminal rap sheets and lengthy histories of federal Animal Welfare Act violations and yet still operate,” the letter claims. “They breed animals for profit, separate babies from their mothers prematurely, force them to live in deplorable conditions, and deprive them of everything that’s natural and important to them.”
The letter continues, “Now is the time to spread the word about shady roadside zoos and sham sanctuaries that allow public encounters and photo ops, sentence animals to a lifetime of abuse and neglect, and hinder true conservation efforts.”
PETA calls out celebs for previously having posed with captive wild animals and requests they speak out against the facilities while “Tiger King” remains in the zeitgeist.
Specifically, PETA hopes the various stars will re-share their photos with a red X through it alongside a caption that lets “your fans know that you have distanced yourself from wild-animal exhibitors and support transferring the animals to reputable sanctuaries, using the #TigerKing hashtag and tagging us, @peta.”
PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet, who appears in Netflix’s hit docuseries, added in a statement: “Anyone who has seen ‘Tiger King’ knows that animals suffer when they’re taken from their mothers as babies and exploited as props. PETA is asking these celebrities to show their fans that they know better now and will never support these cruel facilities again.”