Inspector: ‘Culture of Indifference’ at Summer Wind Farms Endangers Animals

Notorious Roadside Zoo Hit Again With Report of Egregious Animal-Welfare Violations

For Immediate Release:
December 13, 2016

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

The most recent federal inspection of Summer Wind Farms Sanctuary—a disreputable roadside zoo that PETA has tracked for years—has yet again found entrenched violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) that the inspector characterized as “animal cruelty.” More specifically, according to the scathing six-page November 9 inspection report, which just became publicly available, a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector found that Summer Wind Farms’ “CEO demonstrates a very indifferent attitude towards animal welfare at the facility. This leads to a culture of indifference at this facility to basic animal needs and treatment.” He continues, “This is animal cruelty. It is this culture of indifference to basic needs of animals that puts all animals at the facility in danger.”

According to the inspection report, animals at the Brown City facility have been denied veterinary care, proper shelter, wholesome food, and clean water. A thin tiger named Daisy, who was extremely unsteady on her feet, was not receiving adequate veterinary care for an infection, and the inspector noted that her “worsening condition” could “lead to additional animal suffering and possibly death.” An enclosure housing a grizzly bear was littered with feces and rotting food, and a tiger enclosure contained a dirty water receptacle filled with a “large amount of algae slime.”

“Over and over again, Summer Wind Farms has brazenly flouted animal-welfare regulations and proved that it’s incapable of providing animals with even bare minimum care,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “As PETA has long called for, this deplorable hellhole must be shut down and the animals it holds captive must be retired to reputable sanctuaries.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that Summer Wind Farms racked up nearly 200 AWA violations in the last three years.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.