Big Cat Rescue

Benefits

Baskin stresses that the real value of the sanctuary's efforts to raise awareness has been in the form of reducing the number of big cats in trouble. In 2005, more than 8,000 people joined Big Cat Rescue's CatLaws.com site and sent more than 15,000 letters to their representatives in Congress. In the first 9 months of 2006, another 9,000 joined, and the total membership of about 22,000 sent 24,178 letters.

"With online advocacy and search engine advertising, we were able to save hundreds of big cats that would have otherwise been discarded in the past two years" by working to stop the trade, Baskin says. "What value can you put on the life of just one tiger saved?"

In 2006 three more states banned exotic cats as pets — making a total of seven in just two years — and many countries throughout the world passed landmark legislation protecting big cats both in captivity and in the wild. Says Baskin, internet advocacy techniques "made it possible for us to reach millions and millions of people, and enough of them responded to create change."