Feds Find Tigers in Maggot-Filled Barn After Being Tipped Off by PETA

For Immediate Release:
July 30, 2021

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

After PETA submitted a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the agency just cited Choctaw County–based exhibitor Adam Burck—who is scheduled to perform at Akdar Shrine Circus in Tulsa this weekend—for numerous violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Among other failures to meet minimum requirements of the AWA, Burck neglected to supply adequate veterinary care to an elderly tiger with protruding bones and caged tigers in a hot barn with maggots crawling on the floor.

According to the report, Burck kept pacing tigers who appeared “agitated” in travel crates inside the poorly ventilated and stinking barn—which hit 92 degrees during the inspector’s visit—for over a year when they weren’t being used in performances. Per the USDA, such small spaces can have a “dramatic, negative impact” on the animals’ health. The report also notes that the barn lacked a perimeter fence and posed a “constant, ongoing potential threat” to public safety.

“These distressed tigers have no space to move, no escape from the stifling heat, and no relief from the filth and stench of the barn,” says PETA Foundation Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Debbie Metzler. “PETA warns everyone to avoid circuses with animal acts, which exploit wildlife and endanger the public.”

Last week, PETA requested that Burck let it assist in placing the animals at accredited sanctuaries. The group now asks its supporters to join its effort by contacting Burck and urging him to release the tigers to reputable facilities.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.