Good News for Dolphins, Bad News for Fingers

PETA Foundation’s Captive Animal Law Enforcement (CALE) division urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate the Sunrise Side Nature Trail and Exotic Park after a lion reportedly ripped off a part of a visitor’s right middle finger when she was allegedly allowed to enter the animal’s cage and pet the big cat. Representatives at the facility reportedly told the victim “not to tell” and “to lie” about the incident.

In other roadside zoo and aquarium news:

• More great news from the global campaign to end the abuse of cetaceans in captivity: The Vancouver Park Board voted unanimously to introduce a bylaw that bans the breeding of captive whales and dolphins at the Vancouver Aquarium. The board also voted to conduct a study that would help determine whether whale and dolphin well-being is possible in captive conditions.
• Following a PETA complaint and a damning early June USDA inspection report, the agency cited notorious animal abuser Henry Hampton for additional Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations. Hampton, who operates the roadside zoos Lazy 5 Ranch and Farm at Walnut Creek was recently cited, yet again, for failing to provide animals with adequate veterinary care—this time for a sheep who could barely put weight on one of her feet. The roadside zoo was also unable to account for 47 missing sheep, three of whom had been in need of veterinary care during the previous inspection.
• Visitors to The Mobile Zoo, a decrepit roadside zoo in Alabama, sent us photos and video showing a very underweight tiger whose vertebrae were visible, bears with shaggy coats panting in the heat, filthy water bowls that were left out for a fox and coatimundi, fly-covered raw meat that was left on the ground for big cats, and other troubling issues. The roadside zoo was just slapped with 14 citations for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act in June. We asked the USDA to investigate immediately.