Our Goal

Our goal is very simple--to get legislation passed in the Nebraska Unicameral and signed into law that will do all the following*:

Class IV felines made legal to own in Nebraska without any state-level regulation (but may still be regulated locally)
Class III felines made legal to own in Nebraska, but their ownership to be regulated by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Class I and II felines remain illegal for private individuals to own in Nebraska (like they are now)

And the definitions of those four different classes of felines in Nebraska will be as follows--
- Class IV feline species to include:
  - domestic cats and all generations of hybrids between domestic and any Class III feline species: these will all be defined for all legal purposes as domestic cats
- Class III feline species to include:
  - all species of wild cats and their hybrids that are not specifically defined in Classes I or II--except their hybrids with domestic cats.
- Class II feline species to include:
  - Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)
  - Clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa)
  - Cougar (Felis concolor)
  - Snow leopard (Panthera uncia)
  - any hybrids thereof.
- Class I feline species to include:
  - Jaguar (Panthera onca)
  - Leopard (Panthera pardus)
  - Lion (Panthera leo)
  - Tiger (Panthera tigris)
  - any hybrid thereof.

* But just because we support the re-legalization of the private ownership of small exotic cats, that doesn't mean that we feel everyone should necessarily go out and get them for pets or start breeding them. They are special animals with special husbandry needs. And when we are successful in getting them legal-to-own in Nebraska again, we encourage anyone considering getting one to think real hard about it first...

We'd also like...
Once we get that, we want every cat that comes home in Nebraska to come home to good, responsible owners. People who will provide every cat with lots of enrichment and caring human interaction, a good living environment, and good veterinary care... for every cat's entire life.

We will work to get regulations that will strongly discourage impulse purchases of exotic and hybrid cats. When things get to the point of creating regulations, we will work to get the best ones possible. The cats' welfare needs to emphasized, as does the individual's lifetime commitment to provide for their cat. Regulations that will encourage cat owners to provide much more than the bare essentials for the cats to survive.