Damning Photos Show Filth and Animal Suffering at The Camel Farm

PETA Calls On Arizona Authorities Not to Renew Roadside Zoo’s License

For Immediate Release:
March 12, 2018

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Armed with visitor photographs and recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspection reports, PETA sent a complaint this morning alerting the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) to multiple animal-welfare concerns at The Camel Farm in Yuma.

Visitor photographs from February 25 show a camel with a large mass on his chest, multiple animals with overgrown hooves, and enclosures with inadequate shelter and excessive mud and feces, which can pose a health risk to the animals. These issues echo a two-part USDA inspection report from February 6, which just became publicly available. The report states that inspectors found numerous animals with hair loss and/or in need of hoof trims, an excessively thin sheep, and a goat who was observed limping—a condition that he’s exhibited for a year. Many enclosures were in disrepair, lacked adequate shade, and/or had standing water and mud, and one camel and her nursing baby had no access to drinking water.

Because Arizona law requires the AZGFD to deny a zoo license when it’s in the best interest of wildlife, PETA is asking the department not to renew The Camel Farm’s license.

“Arizona law requires licensed zoos to provide adequate and prompt veterinary care, and The Camel Farm has left the same animals suffering from the same veterinary ailments for months,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “PETA is calling on state authorities to help these animals by refusing to renew this neglectful facility’s license.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that these issues are ongoing at The Camel Farm, which was cited in November 2017 for having 17 animals in need of hoof trims and the same limping male goat noted in the latest report. Among other violations, in the last year, The Camel Farm ignored a veterinarian’s recommendation that an underweight ibex be euthanized. The animal suffered for two weeks before she was found dead.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.