‘Life in a Cage Is No Life at All,’ Proclaims PETA Billboard Near Waccatee Zoo
Ad Urges Drivers to Steer Clear of Roadside Zoo Where Animals Slowly Go Insane Inside Barren Cages
For Immediate Release:
August 30, 2018
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
A giant PETA billboard is now up in Myrtle Beach urging motorists to keep on driving when they pass cruel roadside zoos, including the notorious Waccatee Zoo, which most recently came under fire in May after video footage obtained by PETA revealed that primates there were pacing, swaying, and exhibiting self-injurious behavior. The ad is located on Highway 17 Bypass near 38th Avenue N. and will be in place for a month.
The billboard follows a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released in May revealing that although Waccatee Zoo had been ordered a year earlier to improve the bear and primate enclosures in order to allow the animals to engage in natural types of behavior such as swimming, foraging, and climbing, the changes still hadn’t been made by the May inspection. The animals—including two bears who were observed repeatedly pacing in their small cages—continued to show signs of psychological distress.
“Waccatee Zoo locks sensitive animals inside barren enclosures and leaves them to languish with no stimulation, causing them to lose their minds,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “Wild animals belong in their natural habitats, not in cages near the highway, and PETA’s billboard will remind people never to pull into a roadside zoo where animals are put on display and denied everything that’s natural and important to them.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Waccatee was also recently cited over primates who were exhibiting abnormal behavior patterns indicative of neglect.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
