Written by Jeff Mackey
"If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits
in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them."
—Phil Pastoret
OK, dogs can count, so is it any surprise that bears, with their larger brains, are even better at it? That's the assessment, published in the journal Animal Behavior, from a recent study showing that black bears possess mathematical skills comparable to those of primates—which makes it even sadder to think of all the bears who are counting every day spent in misery, squalor, and utter frustration.
Take the bears held prisoner at Florida's Everglades Wonder Gardens. A few years back, after repeated reports about the horribly inadequate conditions in which they were living, PETA contacted the owner of the sad "attraction," asking him to make at least a few basic improvements, but none were forthcoming. After a visit to the dreadful roadside zoo, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk described the animals' plight:
There are two bears, described as brothers, in a small cement dog run‒like pen. They have nothing to climb. Both exhibit [stereotypic stress behaviors], one severely—he paces back and forth along an approximately 6-foot section of the back of the chain-link fence, his tongue lolling out of his mouth (I watched him for 12 minutes without letup). The other also paces but sits in the adjoining cement cell some of the time.
That's how these perceptive social animals—who in their natural habitats would spend their days foraging, climbing, cleaning, and exploring—are forced to spend their lives.
Many of you joined PETA in celebrating the recent liberation of Ben the bear, who went from a similarly deficient situation in captivity to a lush new life at a sanctuary. Now, it's time to help the bears at Everglade Wonder Gardens; the Cherokee, North Carolina, bear zoos; and other roadside hellholes gain their freedom, too!
Captive bears are counting on each of us to do our part to help them. Please politely urge federal and Cherokee authorities to take immediate action to help the animals in bear parks. And any time you pass a roadside zoo, just keep on driving.
PETA has submitted a 64-page petition, which includes case studies, photographs, and expert statements, to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) asking the agency to create and apply specific regulations for bears held captive in appalling conditions by exhibitors, dealers, and research facilities. By allowing bears to be kept in squalid cages and concrete pits and denied everything that is natural and important to them, the USDA is clearly failing to ensure anything close to humane treatment of captive bears, in violation of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
Last month, PETA successfully used legal action to rescue a bear named Ben, who was kept for six long years at Jambbas Ranch in a cramped cage with a concrete floor. Ben was fed dry dog food once a day and spent most of his waking hours pacing the few square feet allotted to him. Despite Ben's obvious suffering and multiple complaints from PETA and others, USDA inspectors failed to cite Jambbas for violations related to Ben. In state court, however, a judge ruled that the conditions in which he was being kept constituted cruelty to animals, proving that the federal AWA isn't preventing cruelty to captive bears.
While Ben's story has a happy ending, hundreds of other bears will continue to languish in squalid conditions unless the USDA takes action. Roadside zoos like Jambbas and the Cherokee Bear Zoo account for the majority of USDA licensees with captive bears. These shabby facilities keep bears in tiny barren cages or concrete pits with woefully inadequate space, lack of physical or mental stimulation, and inappropriate diets and in conditions that deny the bears any opportunity to engage in natural behavior, such as hibernating and foraging. Because their needs aren't being met, many bears in roadside zoos spend most of their time pacing, cage-biting, and head-butting, which experts agree are signs of distress.
Bears have a natural life span of up to three decades, and some species can have a home range of thousands of miles. According to the International Zoo Yearbook, "[I]t is recognized that bears are extremely difficult and challenging creatures to manage in the captive environment"—just as challenging, according to studies, as primates. For example, in a study of 33 carnivorous species, bears showed the most evidence of stress and psychological dysfunction in captivity. An Oxford University study ultimately concluded that "the keeping of naturally wide-ranging carnivores should be either fundamentally improved or phased out." But the requirements for bears' care currently fall under the AWA's minimum regulations for a wide variety of unspecified species, and the USDA is failing to use these generic regulations to protect bears.
In addition to a specific prohibition on keeping bears in abysmal concrete pit–style enclosures, PETA has proposed regulations that would require that bears be furnished with naturalistic habitats, dens for nesting and hibernation, pools for bathing, enough room to forage and explore, enrichment, and other elements that would improve bears' mental and physical well-being.
Speak up for bears in captivity! Please join PETA in urging the USDA to formulate bear-specific standards to be added to the AWA.
In yet another important development in PETA's campaign to close down the shamefully dilapidated roadside zoos in Cherokee, North Carolina, and elsewhere, which confine bears to desolate pits and concrete pens, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just released a complaint detailing the charges that it has filed against Chief Saunooke Bear Park for more than a dozen violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). These charges come after PETA filed formal complaints with the agency and joined members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in meeting with the USDA to discuss the problems at this facility.
In April 2010, PETA submitted a report—prepared by leading bear experts who had visited the Cherokee bear zoos—to the USDA, documenting and detailing dozens of violations of the AWA at these wretched facilities.
The USDA charges include failure to provide food for public feeding that was appropriate to the type of animal and his or her nutritional needs, repeated failure to provide adequate veterinary care, housing animals in incompatible groups, and the use of dirty, unsanitary food receptacles—all of which were issues raised in PETA's expert report.
The agency also cited Chief Saunooke Bear Park (pit) for repeated failure to maintain adequate barriers between animals and the public so as to ensure the safety of both. This failure resulted in at least two attacks on visitors to the park, as detailed in a complaint that PETA hand-delivered to the USDA asking it to seek revocation of the zoo's license—and now it's finally doing so, as well as pursuing civil penalties and a cease-and-desist order.
Please urge Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, to close the pits now and retire the bears to an accredited sanctuary. And, of course, never patronize facilities that keep captive wildlife in cruel conditions.
After inspectors found animals kept in appalling conditions without proper care, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cited two disreputable roadside zoos in North Carolina for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). PETA keeps these two hellholes constantly in our sights and had just filed a complaint about Jambbas Ranch Tours before the inspection.
A USDA visit to Jambbas Ranch Tours last month following a PETA complaint led to a citation for AWA violations after inspectors discovered a thin elderly llama who had a "thick creamy discharge" oozing from an eye socket (the eye "has been gone for some years"). As PETA had told the USDA, the llama also appeared to be suffering from diarrhea—the animal had a large area of what appeared to be dried feces on the back legs but was given no medical treatment for these conditions.
The inspector also observed a raccoon whose tail and part of whose hindquarters showed complete hair loss, as PETA had reported. The animal was being given an ineffective flea- and tick-control medication, which wasn't prescribed by a vet as required by law. Immediate veterinary care was ordered to treat the raccoon's condition.
An inspection of the Cherokee Bear Zoo last month resulted in a repeat citation for failure to feed a young tiger cub a healthy, edible, and contaminant-free diet. The cub is described as "small and underweight for its age. The coat looks dull, dry, and brittle."
The shabby animal prison (one of three around Cherokee, North Carolina) also received a citation for failure to vaccinate the same tiger cub. The operators were warned of the need to correct this failure "from this day forward."
Roadside zoos range from small menageries to large compounds—but they are all unhealthy environments for animals. The owners' focus is on their customers' desires, not the animals' needs, so neglect and abuse are common.
These cruel operations stay in business only because people patronize them, so please never visit a roadside zoo, and encourage your family and friends to stay away too.
Written by Jennifer OConnor
It took a PETA lawsuit to compel the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) to change course, but after three decades of secretly and illegally issuing hundreds of Endangered Species Act (ESA) permits to circuses, roadside zoos, and other animal exploiters, the FWS will change its ways.
The permits—called "captive-bred wildlife (CBW) permits"—previously allowed animal exhibitors like the notorious Ringling Bros. circus and Have Trunk Will Travel to harm and harass captive-bred endangered animals like Asian elephants without any public scrutiny or comments on their plans. Now, anytime circuses and operators of traveling and roadside displays want to "take" an endangered species (which includes harming, harassing, and wounding them to force them to perform in shows), they will be subjected to public scrutiny and forced to adhere to ESA requirements.
An example of how all this can help animals harkens back to one of PETA's earliest exposés—this one involving Las Vegas "entertainer" Bobby Berosini, whose CBW permit was suspended (and his show closed) after PETA revealed that he had viciously beaten the orangutans used in his tawdry act.
Ringling Bros. circus has a pending CBW permit application that would allow it to take endangered elephants and leopards, so please click here to voice your objections to the FWS right now.
A chimpanzee named Cheetah, who reportedly played Johnny Weissmuller's sidekick in the old Tarzan movies, has died. There is some debate over Cheetah's credentials, but regardless of whether he ever acted in the Tarzan movies, he almost certainly was torn away from his family and home when he was just a baby and spent decades being exploited by humans.
He ended his years in a Florida "scamtuary"—a facility formerly known as the Chimp Farm—which for years confined intelligent primates to cramped concrete and iron cells. Unfortunately, little has improved since the outfit gave itself the misleadingly grandiose name of Suncoast Primate Sanctuary and the original owner's granddaughter took over operations.
Ending up in decrepit roadside zoos is often how animal "actors" are "retired." Please never buy a ticket to a movie that uses animals instead of innovative computer-generated imagery, and never visit roadside zoos and pseudo-sanctuaries that continue to exploit formerly famous animals to their dying day.
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
Despite Conrad Murray's manslaughter conviction, there will probably always be unanswered questions about Michael Jackson's life and death. Questions about what happened to the exotic animals Jackson kept as "pets" may never be answered either, since the whereabouts of some of the animals aren't known.
The famous chimpanzee Bubbles, whom Jackson took everywhere with him at one time, was one of the first animals to leave the Neverland Ranch, when he ceased to be a cute and cuddly youngster and became a strong, aggressive adolescent. Bubbles was lucky enough to wind up at a reputable sanctuary, as were two tigers who once lived at Neverland.
But despite Jackson's directive that the animals go to the best homes possible, many of the animals ended up at pseudo-sanctuaries, where they received woefully inadequate care because of either ignorance or willful neglect. Two giraffes from Jackson's zoo, for example, died just weeks apart at Tom and Freddie Hancock's Banjoko Wildlife Preserve, possibly as a result of exposure to cold temperatures and/or improper feeding. Two more giraffes and several parrots from Neverland remain with the Hancocks.
The alligators and a python named Madonna, purchased by Jackson, now live at a roadside zoo in Oklahoma. Thirteen flamingos were sent to a zoo in New Jersey. Two orangutans went to live with a private owner in Connecticut.
If the King of Pop couldn't afford to keep exotic animals as pets, imagine the neglect faced by animals held by people with far fewer resources. The exotic-animal owner in Ohio who released two dozen animals before killing himself last month did so after facing mounting financial difficulties. Please click here to urge Ohio officials to permanently ban exotic-animal ownership, and never visit a roadside zoo or pseudo-sanctuary, where discarded former "pets" languish.
Written by PETA
Our sympathies go out to the family of Kalei Welch, who died in an Illinois hospital after falling ill with E. coli poisoning. Health officials believe that the 5-year-old girl contracted the deadly bacterial infection at a petting zoo at the Hendricks County Fair.
PETA has been warning parents for years about the dangers of petting zoos, which are hotbeds of E. coli. Hundreds of children have been infected after visiting petting zoos, and many have suffered kidney failure, requiring long-term dialysis and multiple blood transfusions.
Infection can spread through direct animal contact or simply by touching the surroundings near an animal exhibit. Hand sanitizer does nothing to prevent the spread of E. coli by inhalation or indirect contact. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as many state departments of health have issued warnings about the health risks of petting zoos.
These displays are bad for animals too. Case in point: North Carolina's Jambbas Ranch is notorious for keeping animals in substandard conditions, including a lone neurotic bear named Ben.
Please ask North Carolina officials to keep people and animals safe by refusing to reissue Jambbas owner James Bass' wildlife-captivity license and endangered-species permit.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
Lazy 5 Ranch is an apt name for a roadside zoo in Mooresville, North Carolina, as the operators appear to be too lazy (read: downright neglectful) to provide even minimal care to the animals stuck there. PETA has filed complaints with the county animal control department and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) asking for action to help two giraffes with severely overgrown hooves. The hooves are so neglected and painful that the animals are having difficulty walking. Other animals in trouble include a white deer with a raw, open wound that is 4 inches in circumference, among other injuries. A visitor to the zoo reports that she couldn't detect a water source in the rhinoceros and giraffe enclosures and that there is insufficient shade in the giraffe pen.
The USDA has already repeatedly cited Lazy 5 Ranch for allowing animals' hooves to become painfully overgrown, which puts stress on bones, joints, tendons, and muscles and can lead to permanent damage and arthritis. The zoo has also been cited for failing to provide veterinary care to 14 unshorn sheep who suffered heat distress (they were found lying on their sides and panting heavily) after temperatures reached into the 90s.
Although local and state anti-cruelty laws apply, Rowan County Animal Control Supervisor Clai Martin has abdicated all responsibility to the USDA and has taken no action to help these suffering animals.
Please send an e-mail today to the animal control department asking for immediate intervention at Lazy 5 Ranch.
Yesterday, PETA filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for illegally issuing a permit to an animal exhibitor that would allow the exhibitor to harm, harass, and wound endangered species.
PETA has found several instances in which the FWS issued endangered species permits—which may be issued for "scientific purposes" or to enhance survival of an endangered species—to seedy roadside zoos while improperly keeping the application and the permit from the public. Roadside zoos breed animals in deplorable conditions solely to turn a profit.
We filed suit over one particularly miserable menagerie, Windy Oaks Farm in Hanover, Virginia, which is under formal investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) after chimpanzees escaped from their enclosures three times, prompting PETA to call for an investigation.
Although captive chimpanzees are not currently listed as endangered, Windy Oaks' lack of experience with and knowledge of these complex and dangerous animals is indicative of its overall incompetence. The zoo has been cited by the USDA for failing to document when it acquired and disposed of animals and whether the animals had received veterinary care in more than a year. Windy Oaks also keeps endangered lemurs and gibbons, two species that have been known to attack humans.
Since PETA and the rest of the public were denied the right to view and comment on this application for a permit, we are taking the matter to court. We will keep you updated.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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