Feds: Animals at Deer Haven Forced to Live Among Their Own Waste

PETA Urges Roadside Zoo to Retire Animals to Reputable Sanctuaries

For Immediate Release:
June 22, 2017

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

PETA has just obtained a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report revealing that the already-notorious Deer Haven Mini Zoo has racked up yet another round of citations for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

According to the May 10 inspection report, which just became publicly available, rabbits and a squirrel at Deer Haven were forced to live among their own waste, exposing them to disease hazards. Rabbits, sheep, and goats were confined to dilapidated enclosures that could injure them. And in a repeat violation, Deer Haven was cited for failing to have an adequate number of employees to ensure the completion of even basic tasks, such as adequate cleaning.

“Deer Haven Mini Zoo is living up to its dismal reputation as one of the worst roadside zoos in America,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “PETA is calling on Deer Haven to accept PETA’s long-standing offer to help place the animals into reputable sanctuaries where they’d get the care that they need.”

Last month, PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—obtained damning eyewitness video footage showing, among other issues, a pig with overgrown hooves, a bobcat in apparent severe psychological distress, and an Arctic fox with an uncomfortable skin condition, and the USDA issued a multipage inspection report in October citing Deer Haven for failing to give adequate veterinary care to a fox with a too-thin winter coat and a pacing bobcat, among many other serious and apparently longstanding animal-welfare issues.

Last fall, PETA helped arranged for 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 has a vast natural habitat to explore. Since the move, she has lost at least 200 pounds and is thriving. PETA has repeatedly offered to help make similar arrangements for the other animals at Deer Haven.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.