Ya at the beginning of April, I have to go to the Exotic Animal Auction for school, just to experience it all. It is just awful. You can buy a teeny tiny black bear cub for $150. The vast majority of these animals are very close to death's door even though they don't look it. They are heavily sedated too all appear calm to attract buyers. People take their kids here as a family event. You can buy monkeys, tigers, bears, lions, zebras, goats and all sorts of things. It is awful. The Amish run these things, along with the puppy mills. They are the one's who sell to Petland in the malls.
I know a guy who has a rescue and rehab center for wild animals. He is an expert and really good at what he does. He goes there and buys one animal, the sickest, most close to death one he can find and rehabs it. Usually monkeys. It is amazing what he does.
Anyways, it will be an interesting experience. It is really hard to believe people just go out and buy a lion cub out of the blue. Then one day it is a full grown but nutritionally and behaviorally underdeveloped and extremely aggressive due to being kept in a dog crate big enough for it to stand up and turn around (that is the only law for owning them here) half it's life, if it makes it that long. What normal owner can provide that much raw meat? Quite an expense. Can't just throw a full grown lion into the car for a yearly vet checkup. The guy I know of will also take those animals in too and I think he got some tigers from those stupid carnivals where you can have your picture taken with a heavily sedated tiger or bear on a chain. So ya, the black bear is the only one you have to have a permit for and you can conviently buy them at the auction...
rrgg!