PETA Says Bear at Notorious Wynnewood Roadside ‘Zoo’ Languished for Two Weeks

D.A. Should File Charges Against G.W. Zoo, Where Feds Have Four or More Investigations Outstanding Already, Says Group

For Immediate Release:
April 22, 2014

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

According to an affidavit signed by an eyewitness, an unresponsive bear was seen lying in a cage along with what appeared to be fresh blood during an April 14 visit to The Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological Park (G.W. Zoo) in Wynnewood. The witness reports that she was told by a person believed to be a G.W. Zoo employee that the bear had been mauled by another bear, had three gashes on his back, and had been losing a lot of blood. According to a post on owner Joe Schreibvogel’s Facebook page, the bear was attacked two weeks earlier. Now, PETA has sent an urgent letter to District Attorney Greg Mashburn urging him to pursue cruelty-to-animals charges against Schreibvogel. Under Oklahoma law, depriving an animal of veterinary care to prevent suffering constitutes cruelty to animals and is a felony punishable by one to five years imprisonment or a fine of up to $5,000.

“Animal suffering is the rule, not the exception, at the notorious G.W. Zoo,” says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel Delcianna Winders. “Schreibvogel appears to have deprived this mauled bear of vital veterinary care, which calls for prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”

Schreibvogel has a long history of citations for endangering animals and humans. Among other violations, he was cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on March 31 for an October 2013 tiger attack that caused an employee to lose part of her arm and almost bleed to death. Schreibvogel is currently the subject of at least four U.S. Department of Agriculture investigations, including one for the deaths of two tiger cubs in May 2013 and one for the deaths of 23 baby tigers—and possibly hundreds of other animals—over a seven-month period from 2009 to 2010.

For more information and to see PETA’s letter to the district attorney, please visit PETA’s blog.