Bird Deaths Prompt New PETA Call for Investigation in Wynnewood

Unexplained Animal Deaths Routine at Disreputable Menagerie, Says Group

For Immediate Release:
March 20, 2014

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Only days after filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) about the mysterious deaths of two chimpanzees at The Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological Park, PETA learned that three birds have apparently been starved to death at the disreputable roadside zoo. The facility posted photographs of two blue-and-yellow macaws and one Goffin’s cockatoo lying dead on the floors of filthy cages. PETA is asking the USDA and the Garvin County sheriff to investigate the birds’ deaths.

Operator Joe Schreibvogel is already the subject of at least four USDA investigations and has previously been put on probation for 18 months and paid a $25,000 fine to settle multiple charges of violating the Animal Welfare Act.

“Animals suffer and die at this decrepit facility on a regular basis,” says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel Delcianna Winders. “Schreibvogel’s appalling history of unexplained animal deaths—including those of 23 tiger cubs over a seven-month period—warrants an immediate and decisive response by law enforcement in this latest case.”

The photos show the birds’ cages filled with disintegrated newspapers covered with excrement, and there is no sign of food or water. The cockatoo apparently plucked all the feathers from his chest before death, a sign of distress or disease. The accumulation of filth and total absence of sustenance in the cages suggest that Schreibvogel and his staff had abandoned the birds entirely.

For more information and to see copies of PETA’s letters to the USDA and the Garvin County Sheriff Department, please visit PETA’s blog.