Benjamin Cloutier was just 24 years old when he was mauled to death by a frustrated captive bear. He was cleaning the animal's cage as part of his job at Animals of Montana, a company that rents out wild animals for photo shoots as well as film and television productions. 

iStockphoto.com/Enter6

PETA had asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to investigate because it appeared that the company's owner, Troy Hyde, had allowed his employees to be in direct contact with the animals, in violation of federal workplace-safety laws. Following PETA's request, OSHA found that Hyde had twice violated the law. He had Cloutier clean the bear's cage without first moving the animals to a holding pen, which directly resulted in the young man's death, and he failed to report the attack promptly after it occurred. An investigation by state officials uncovered more problems at Animals of Montana, including numerous unreported escapes and an attack on an employee by a mountain lion. The employee sustained a gash in his head that went all the way to his skull, but Hyde reported it as a "scratch."

OSHA wants to see Hyde pay the maximum penalty for a small company, a $9,000 fine. It would be a small measure of justice for the man who lost his life and the bear who was gunned down after the attack.

What You Can Do

If you have witnessed unsafe or inhumane conditions at a live-animal attraction or photo opportunity, please let PETA know. 

Update:

We're happy to report a favorable development in this case: A court has denied a motion by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to dismiss the lawsuit brought against the agency by PETA, the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), and two Fayetteville-area residents seeking to overturn the USDA's renewal of Jambbas Ranch Tours' license to continue to operate the wretched roadside zoo that has racked up dozens of violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

The ruling comes in the wake of the recent high-profile rescue of Ben the bear, who now resides in a spacious habitat at a sanctuary in California, thanks to the ruling in the earlier lawsuit mentioned below.

PETA's challenge to the licenses will move forward, but the animals at Jambbas have no time to lose—please urge USDA officials to revoke Jambbas' license immediately and offer these animals the chance to live out their lives with the kind of comfort and dignity that Ben now enjoys.

Originally posted on April 19th, 2012:

Citizens of Cumberland County, North Carolina, who are sickened by Jambbas Ranch Tours' pervasive neglect and abuse of animals have joined PETA and the Animal Legal Defense Fund in suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over its renewal of Jambbas' license despite chronic violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

The AWA allows an animal exhibitor or dealer to have his or her license renewed only if the person's business operates in accordance with AWA regulations. But the USDA has repeatedly renewed Jambbas' license despite the fact that every single inspection of the roadside zoo between October 2006 and January 2012 resulted in citations for AWA violations including the following:

• Failing to provide animals with veterinary care—dead goats were also found lying near live ones
• Allowing bison to be swarmed by flies until their skin was so irritated that they licked and bit at it, exposing raw flesh
• Forcing potbellied pigs to live in enclosures with "excessive accumulation of feces"
• Forcing goats to live in enclosures covered with a "layer of feces," which left them with no clean place to lie down.

This is the second pending lawsuit involving Jambbas Ranch. The other suit seeks to have an abused bear named Ben removed from Jambbas and relocated to a sanctuary where PETA has made arrangements for him to live. In this sad video, Ben paces in his barren cage, bites the chain-link fencing, pushes against it, and tries to reach under it—behavior a bear expert has identified as a cry for help:

In asking the USDA not to renew Jambbas' license, PETA also pointed out several violations of the AWA that relate to Ben, including a lack of adequate space, which is likely causing his repetitive, abnormal behavior.

Jambbas is clearly not qualified to possess an AWA license. We will keep you updated as the lawsuit progresses.

annrkist | cc by 2.0

I was working as a humane officer, driving from one neglect case investigation to another, when I saw him: a large dog, limping pitifully down the middle of a busy, four-lane street, with traffic whizzing past him. I stopped my car and got out. The dog stumbled into my looped slip leash, and when I scratched his ear, he sighed and leaned into me.

I carried this thin, dirty fellow to my car. Some dogs stiffen in fear, but this big guy just melted into my arms. He clearly had been a handsome boy at one point, but his eyes and nose were now crusted as a result of an upper respiratory infection, his coat was filthy and matted, and he had an odor that surely bothered him as much as it did me.

I rushed the dog to the animal shelter, where the veterinarian determined that he was elderly, with enough health issues to merit charges for failure to provide veterinary care if the person who neglected him could ever be found. Euthanasia was undoubtedly a mercy for this poor old soul. A technician gave him an injection, and he left this world.

To this day, I find myself asking, "Who denied care to this sweet dog in his senior years? Hadn't neighbors noticed his condition? Why didn't anyone stop to save an old dog who was walking down the middle of a busy street?"

I've met hundreds of animals who have been saved from suffering and danger because a kind person refused to just look the other way and keep going. Please, for the sake of animals like this dog, report neglect and abuse immediately, and if you see an animal in danger, always stop to help.

Written by Scott VanValkenburg, the PETA Foundation's director of membership communications & special projects

After someone with a sharp eye and a kind heart spotted a thin horse confined to a small pen, the person contacted PETA's Emergency Response Team. We immediately got in touch with the local humane society, which was on the case right away! The horse was rescued from her pitiful little mesh prison and transported to a stable, where she can now walk freely for perhaps the first time in months, maybe even years.

I wonder how many people passed by this horse every day without giving her a second thought. Yet all that her happiness depended upon was the intervention of one concerned passerby. Please, if you see an animal you believe is being neglected or abused, be that one wonderful person who takes a few minutes out of the day to make a crucial difference.

Not sure what to do when you suspect cruelty or neglect? PETA can help.

Following reports of chronic neglect of elephants held by Florida-based exhibitor Jorge Barreda, who uses elephants for rides and rents them out to circuses like UniverSoul, PETA is calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to confiscate the elephants and relocate them to a sanctuary so that they can receive the treatment that they urgently need. USDA inspection reports dating back to April indicate that Barreda has repeatedly failed to provide vital care for the elephants' feet, which can lead to serious, and even fatal, abscesses, infections, osteomyelitis, and other problems.

Foot problems are extremely serious—they are the number one cause of premature death in captive elephants in the U.S., who are forced to stand for long hours on hard surfaces instead of walking for up to 30 miles a day as they would in the wild. Despite the necessity of foot care, circuses and other animal exhibitors often neglect this critical aspect of elephants' health.  

Please avoid all circuses that use elephants and other animals and urge your family and friends to do the same. Click here for a list of animal-free circuses.

Bethany L. King / CC by No Derivs 2.0

After seeing an exhausted and utterly dispirited elephant being forced to give rides all day long at the Indiana State Fair, one visitor wrote us, stating, "[T]his elephant's plight absolutely breaks my heart. … [H]e looks old, tired, thin, and completely miserable. … The sadness in this animal's eyes brought me to tears." Another said, "The pain [in the elephant's eyes] was evident. … [M]y … daughter was reduced to crying so hard at witnessing this that our day was pretty well ruined." Clearly haunted by what she saw, our first tipster added, "I think this elephant is not only a slave, but he's just plain lonely in his misery. He is clearly so terribly heartbroken."

Life on the road is miserable for elephants who are forced to perform at fairs, carnivals, festivals, and circuses. In contrast, for elephants in the wild, each day is filled with traveling, socializing, exploring, swimming, mud-bathing, playing, and foraging. Elephants experience joy, sadness, and fear. Their level of self-awareness continues to amaze researchers worldwide, and it's obvious that this poor elephant who is being dragged around the fair circuit knows exactly what she's missing.

By the way, last year in Indiana, at least 15 children and one adult were injured when an elephant who was being used for rides became startled and stumbled, knocking over the stairway leading to the ride. Several years ago, an elephant grabbed a woman as she was dismounting from a ride and threw her against a tree three times. The woman was in a body brace for three months. And while carrying children on her back at a state fair, an elephant panicked, knocking down and then stepping on the handler. A 3-year-old girl was also injured after falling off the elephant. The list goes on.

Please contact Indiana State Fair officials and ask them to permanently do away with elephant rides.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

… With a $3,000 suspended fine and two years of probation from the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA)! It's the least that Sun Pet deserves, considering that PETA's undercover investigator took video footage of one of the animal dealer's employees—who has since been fired—placing hamsters in a bag and bashing it against a table in an attempt to kill them. The investigator also documented that other animals were being abusively handled and warehoused in conditions that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.

None of this appears to matter to PetSmart or PETCO, whose stores continue to sell animals supplied by Sun Pet despite findings by not only the GDA but also the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The GDA's April 22 inspection found rodents running loose, dead animals (including eight guinea pigs) in enclosures with live ones, food thrown into cages and on top of bedding, and rusty cages with sharp, dangerous edges, which Sun Pet was ordered to replace immediately (but didn't). According to the consent order, inspectors also found live rats climbing out of a trash can.

Eighteen days after the GDA inspection, the USDA—prompted by a PETA complaint—inspected Sun Pet and found the same jagged, rusty surfaces on the facility's chinchilla cages as well as severe crowding, inadequate lighting, accumulations of trash and rodent droppings, and deteriorated animal carcasses. The USDA also noted that in a repeat violation of federal law (which Sun Pet had been warned about in February 2009), the company had been buying animals from unlicensed vendors and selling them to pet stores such as PETCO and PetSmart.

PetSmart's execs apparently need a reading lesson, because in PetSmart's official response—sent to PETA before the GDA's investigation was officially closed—they claim that "the Georgia Department of Agriculture … conducted two thorough investigations since [PETA] issued [its] allegations. The first investigation resulted in one citation for a rusty chinchilla cage which was immediately replaced. The second investigation resulted in no violations." ("Immediately replaced"? Really? Then why did the USDA find the same dangerous cages almost three weeks later?) PETCO has not officially responded to PETA, but as of this week, it is still doing business with Sun Pet, according to its vice president of animal care and education, Marcie Whichard.

More on this soon. In the meantime, we can take "disciplinary action" against Sun Pet and other sleazy animal dealers by never buying mice, hamsters, rabbits, fish, birds, or any animal from a pet store or breeder and by steering others who are considering getting an animal away from pet stores and toward animal shelters.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

In the new movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which opens tomorrow, former Superman Brandon Routh plays a superhero once again. This time, his character is a "ninth-level vegan," which means that he has the power of telekinesis. As his character puts it, his power stems from the fact that his brain isn't "filled up with curds and whey." (I think I must be only a sixth-level vegan because my only superpower is the ability to make vegan chocolate disappear.)

In real life, Routh has another superpower—the ability to make a killer vegan breakfast. "I love pancakes," Routh told Maxim magazine. "I think the vegan ones I make are as good [as] or better than the ones with eggs, butter, and milk."

We're going to be sure to hit Brandon up for his recipe, but in the meantime, you can give these a try.

Written by Alisa Mullins

Last week, PETA's Community Animal Project (CAP) received a call for help from an indigent man whom we had already provided with a doghouse and spay surgery for his own dog. The man had tried, without success, to nurse back to health two sickly dogs whom he had found by the side of the road (they had likely been abandoned). A CAP fieldworker rushed out to check on the animals and found that they were horribly emaciated (with protruding hips and spines), lethargic, dehydrated, and covered with hundreds of ticks. We attempted to give both dogs a good meal, but one dog was too weak and sick to even eat so we loaded both dogs into a cool, air-conditioned vehicle and gave them a comfortable bed.

When these dogs were brought back to PETA headquarters, both were found to be severely anemic and the male could barely hold himself up without assistance. Their horrible health problems were probably the reason why they were abandoned in the first place.

PETA wouldn't have known about these dogs if the man who found them hadn't called, and local authorities might not know about animals in distress in our own neighborhoods unless we inform them. So, for the love of dogs, let's be watchdogs for animals in our community and alert police and animal control officials the minute we know or suspect that an animal is suffering.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

On an average day, PETA's Cruelty Investigations Department (CID) receives dozens of phone calls from caring individuals reporting cases of animal abuse. When an animal is in trouble, our caseworkers fly into action. Able to leap great obstacles for a single hound, they help fight injustice, collar bad guys, and rescue animals in distress. Seriously. In an average week, CID caseworkers process more than 300 reports of cruelty. Here are just a few of the many animals they recently helped:

• Warning, not a nice picture: We got veterinary care for this Texas horse, whose eye injury had been rotting for weeks. Charges are in the works.
• Chevy was shot by a Los Angeles cop. Since his guardian was broke, we got Chevy to a vet who patched him up.
• We persuaded officials in Ohio to free a baby skunk from a trap in which he was being starved to death (and to seize the trap).
• We worked with California officials to secure veterinary attention for this poor bull, who was suffering from a badly injured leg.
• A deputy sheriff turned to PETA to help two starving pits bulls. Within hours, both were rescued and taken to a vet. Charges are being filed.
• We convinced San Francisco authorities to go to a hellhole of an Asian market, where they seized 10 injured frogs and issued written warnings.
• When we learned that some officials of a state department of natural resources were advising callers in how to drown raccoons (e.g., telling them to place the animal in a cage and submerge the cage in water for 15 minutes), we got involved—and now the agency will suggest only humane animal control methods.
• A Las Vegas resident found a baby bird and was going to keep the animal as a pet, but with the help of her apartment's janitor, we made sure that the baby and mom were happily reunited.
• When a PETA member found this pigeon with a broken wing and leg, we helped her get the bird to a vet's office, where the animal was quickly euthanized.
• An Anaheim, California, landlord boarded up a nest of baby swallows in an attic and was going to bug-bomb the nest (the mother bird was frantic). We worked until we found officials to make sure that this didn't happen, and the family was reunited.
• A Virginia car rental company was using glue traps. We explained the cruelty of glue traps, and the company pulled them.
• This bird had died and others were struggling in faulty deterrent netting at a Georgia shopping center. We made sure that all survivors were freed and the net was removed.
• A 12-year-old Florida dog named Tiara was suffering from heart failure, and her owner was indigent. We got this poor dog rushed to a vet, and she was mercifully euthanized.
• Some kind callers paged us when they found an injured piglet on a South Dakota roadside. The piglet will now be looked after at a sanctuary for the rest of her days.

These cases are a reminder of why it's vital to report cruelty to animals immediately. PETA's CID needs your help to prevent other animals from meeting a similar fate. Keep your eyes open for animals in need, be a nosy neighbor, trust your instincts, and always alert police or animal control officials right away if you know or suspect that animals are being abused or neglected.

Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth