PETA Calls for State Investigation of Notorious Animal Exhibitor

Group Urges Authorities to Investigate ‘A Walk on the Wild Side’ for Allegedly Keeping Cougars and a Bobcat Without a Permit

For Immediate Release:
August 22, 2018

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

This morning, PETA sent a request urging the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to revoke the prohibited species permit of Hillsboro traveling exhibitor A Walk on the Wild Side and to take legal action against the facility for allegedly violating other state wildlife laws, including by keeping cougars and a bobcat in captivity without the required permit.

In the letter, PETA points out that A Walk on the Wild Side’s prohibited species permit—which is required for it to possess a crested porcupine and a red fox—is valid only at the facility’s former location in Canby, Oregon. The group also alleges that the exhibitor has violated numerous conditions of the permit, such as maintaining adequate enclosures to minimize the possibility of animal escapes and the requirement that permittees have a good reputation for animal care and compliance with wildlife laws—which A Walk on the Wild Side’s rap sheet of federal Animal Welfare Act violations proves that it doesn’t.

“A Walk on the Wild Side has demonstrated time and again that it either can’t or won’t properly care for the animals in its custody or even obey the laws in place to protect them,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “PETA is calling on authorities to launch an investigation and, if warranted, hold this cruel corner-cutting exhibitor accountable for skirting permits and endangering animals.”

The facility has made a business out of supplying big-cat cubs for use in photo ops at fairs and events. It was cited in 2017 for the illegal transfer of a 2-week-old tiger cub—this was the second time the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited it for transporting newborn wild cats.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that A Walk on the Wild Side was recently fined the maximum amount of $10,000 for violating Washington County zoning ordinances over its confinement of dangerous wild animals. The county has now passed an ordinance—set to go into effect on September 17—that will ban the facility from keeping exotic animals.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.