Feds: Filth Continues at Deer Haven Mini Zoo

After PETA Complaint, Roadside Zoo Cited for Ramshackle Cages, Feces Build-Up

For Immediate Release:
March 6, 2018

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

After PETA alerted the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to eyewitness video footage of animals living in squalid cages among other issues at Deer Haven Mini Zoo, the agency cited the facility for numerous repeat violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), some of which have been occurring since 2016.

According to the January 30 inspection report, which just became publicly available, rabbits were forced to live amid a build-up of feces and on a floor with openings so large that their feet could easily slip through, causing injury. A rusty and dirty cage confined ring-tailed lemurs, and there were fresh rat holes near cages holding coatimundis and foxes, posing a disease risk. The report concludes that the number of cleaning, sanitation, and maintenance violations at Deer Haven indicate that there aren’t enough employees to care for the animals adequately—which the USDA had cited the facility for before.

“For over a year and a half, Deer Haven Mini Zoo has been racking up an extensive list of citations at every single federal inspection,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “The continued filth and ramshackle cages prove that it’s time for this roadside zoo to accept PETA’s offer to help get these animals placed in reputable sanctuaries.”

Deer Haven’s other recent AWA violations include failing to provide animals with adequate veterinary care, failing to address animals’ abnormal behaviors that indicate psychological distress, and failing to store food properly.

Over a year ago, PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—helped arranged the transfer of a morbidly obese bear named Lily from a tiny, waste-filled concrete pen at Deer Haven to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado, where she’s now thriving in a vast naturalistic habitat. PETA has repeatedly offered to help make similar arrangements for the other animals at Deer Haven.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.