More Animal Welfare Violations Found at Harrah’s

For Immediate Release:
March 21, 2014

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Dirk Arthur, a big-cat exhibitor at two Caesars-owned Harrah’s casinos in Nevada, was cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in December for multiple violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act and received an official warning in January. Now there’s more:

PETA has just obtained documents revealing that Arthur was cited again just last month for failing to correct multiple violations, including for continuing to keep big cats in small, inadequate enclosures with unsafe fencing that’s too short, which places the public at risk, and denying the big cats the exercise that’s needed for their well-being (and required by federal law).

“Not even an official government warning stopped Dirk Arthur from breaking the law, endangering the public, and depriving big cats of the minimum space that they need to stretch their limbs,” says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel Delcianna Winders. “PETA is calling on Caesars to do the right thing and cut ties with this lawbreaker—and with any other exhibitor who cages and exploits exotic animals in the name of entertainment.”

More information about Arthur is available here.