Photo Gallery: Animals Used for Entertainment

This baby hawk was kept at AWR, in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Despite having survived long enough to become a juvenile, the bird was later found by our investigator, torn to shreds in a cougar’s cage.

Bird cages routinely contained inches of feces, rotten food, and maggots. As if this weren’t bad enough, Azzopardi instructed our investigator to pick out the uneaten seeds that had fallen into this mess and place them back in the birds’ food receptacles!

Alex, who died in August 2003, stares into space in utter boredom. The metal resting platform on which he is lying is covered in filth and swarms of flies.

Many rabbits suffered from untreated eye ailments or were discovered dead in the big-cat enclosures. During one such incident, our investigator watched helplessly as caracals tried to pull a rabbit into their enclosure. The rabbit eventually broke free, but she had been torn open and was in shock; our investigator rushed the rabbit to a veterinarian who put the animal out of her misery.

Edith sits alone in her garbage-strewn outdoor enclosure, a tire the only form of enrichment provided for her and the other social, highly intelligent chimpanzees at AWR.