Full-Page Newspaper Ad Seeks G.W. Zoo Whistleblowers
Tiger King Exposed Trafficking in Endangered Animals, Veterinary Care Failures, and Other Crimes: Now PETA Seeks Insiders to Report Abuse, More
For Immediate Release:
June 16, 2020
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
After Tiger King gave the public a glimpse into the neglect and abuse prevalent at roadside zoos across the U.S., PETA has placed a full-page ad in Wednesday’s edition of the Wynnewood Gazette to encourage employees and volunteers of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park (aka “G.W. Zoo” and branded as “Tiger King Park” by Jeff Lowe) to share their firsthand accounts at PETA.org/Abuse.
Current G.W. Zoo operator Lowe recently lost ownership of the property to Carole Baskin of Big Cat Rescue, he faces an upcoming hearing in Las Vegas relating to charges for possessing exotic animals and operating a business without a license, and the state of Oklahoma is suing him for at least $50,000 in back sales taxes. Lowe is also a defendant in an ongoing PETA Endangered Species Act lawsuit challenging cruel big-cat cub petting by his former friend Tim Stark.
“PETA wants to know what secrets Jeff Lowe and G.W. Zoo are still hiding,” says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “We need kind people on the inside to come forward if they have witnessed the type of abuse, neglect, and trafficking in endangered species that the whole world saw in Tiger King.”
A whistleblower tip from inside The Mobile Zoo in Alabama led to the rescue of a chimpanzee and three bears, the closure of the facility, and a plea of guilty to 14 counts of cruelty to animals by the owner. Through whistleblowers, PETA has learned of egregious cruelty at roadside zoos, in circuses, in laboratories, and elsewhere.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. The ad has also appeared in the Sun Sentinel, a hometown paper of the Zoological Wildlife Foundation (ZWF), and in the Myrtle Beach Sun News, the hometown paper of the Waccatee Zoo and Myrtle Beach Safari (MBS). Both ZWF operator Mario Tabraue and MBS operator “Doc” Antle appeared in Tiger King.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
