Feds Confirm: Animals Suffering at Hollywild Animal Park

Inspection Follows PETA Complaint; Roadside Zoo Cited for Four More Violations of Animal-Protection Law

For Immediate Release:
August 28, 2014

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Following a PETA complaint—based on a visitor’s report, along with video footage, that animals at Hollywild Animal Park paced and cried in distress, were underweight, and were displayed in unsafe enclosures—the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspected the roadside zoo in Inman and slapped it with four violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

According to the newly released inspection report, the USDA cited the facility for, among other violations, displaying a capuchin with a long chain hanging from her waist, which caused her discomfort and could have become entangled in the cage; displaying animals in dangerous enclosures with loose boards, broken wires, and gaping holes in the fences; and failing to clean piles of rotted food and animal waste from the animals’ filthy enclosures.

“PETA’s motto reads, in part, that ‘animals are not ours to use for entertainment,’ and the neglect on display at Hollywild Animal Park is a perfect example of why,” says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel Delcianna Winders. “PETA wants families to know that if they and their kids care about animals, the last place they should go is to Hollywild or any other roadside zoo.”

Since November 2013, the USDA has cited Hollywild Animal Park for at least 29 AWA violations. Previous violations include numerous and repeat failures to provide animals with adequate veterinary care, including for an addax who suffered from a swollen, seeping eye wound; a wolf-dog hybrid who suffered from seizures and eventually had to be euthanized; a cavy who was found unresponsive in an exhibit and died a day later; and chimpanzees who suffered from multiple bouts of whipworm. The facility’s grounds were found littered with trash, plastic bags, old bones, and plastic gloves, and a “rotting meat odor” emanated from a dead calf who had been fed to big cats and then cast aside.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.