Space Farms’ Bid to Breed Endangered Animals Under Fire From PETA

Deaths of Lemurs, Dangerously Ramshackle Enclosures Cited in Appeal to Authorities to Block Breeding Permit

For Immediate Release:
January 6, 2015

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

PETA has submitted formal comments calling on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) to shoot down an application from Space Farms roadside zoo in Sussex for a permit to breed, buy, and sell endangered exotic animals. As PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out, the facility has a long history of violating federal animal-welfare law, including for failing to provide animals with adequate veterinary care. According to Space Farms’ application, at least eleven endangered lemurs have died at the facility since 2005. (Six males died from fighting, one female died giving birth, and another died reportedly from “rough sex.”)

“No roadside zoo, let alone one responsible for as many animal deaths as Space Farms, has any business breeding, buying, or selling endangered animals,” says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel Delcianna Winders. “PETA is asking the authorities to put the welfare of animals first by tossing this application now.”

Among many other violations, in recent years the U.S. Department of Agriculture has cited Space Farms for failing to have an environmental enrichment plan for baboons, keeping a squirrel monkey in solitary confinement, failing to provide woodchucks who had missing or patchy fur with veterinary attention, and allowing animal enclosures to become dangerously rusty, jagged, and filthy.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.