Feds Cite Roadside Zoo for Classroom Cub Exhibit After Tip From PETA
For Immediate Release:
July 21, 2021
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
After PETA alerted authorities that local roadside menagerie Animal Haven Zoo took a newborn tiger cub into a classroom to interact with children, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) slapped the facility with a citation for failing to meet the minimum requirements of the federal Animal Welfare Act, an inspection report just obtained by PETA reveals.
PETA tipped off the USDA after a teacher and an Animal Haven Zoo employee posted photos of the classroom exhibit on social media, showing children petting a tiger cub. The agency then inspected the facility and cited it for transporting and exhibiting the animal, stating, “Public exhibition of young tigers less than 4 weeks old puts them at risk for getting sick,” as they “are unable to fight off disease and infection.”
“Taking chances with a tiny cub’s health makes for an animal hell, not a haven,” says PETA Foundation Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Michelle Sinnott. “PETA asks the public to stay far away from roadside zoos like Animal Haven Zoo and reminds everyone that reputable facilities don’t cart vulnerable cubs into classrooms.”
PETA also notes that Animal Haven Zoo has acquired big cats from shady dealers—including notorious Tiger King subject “Joe Exotic”—and confines animals to paltry, dilapidated cages with no enrichment.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
