For Immediate Release:
March 22, 2004

Contact:
Lisa Wathne 757-622-7382   

Dallas, Texas --- This morning, PETA fired off a letter to Dr. Chester Gipson, associate deputy administrator of the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal Care division, urging him to revoke the Dallas Zoo’s animal exhibitor’s license. PETA’s official request comes on the heels of the escape last Thursday of a 13-year-old male, western lowland gorilla named Jabari, who beat down the door of his enclosure and attacked four people before being shot dead by police. A 3-year-old boy was hospitalized after sustaining multiple bites to the head, and his mother was bitten on her legs. According to news reports, Jabari was growling and yelling as he broke down a door and escaped. Witnesses reported that some youths had been teasing Jabari shortly before the incident.

PETA points out that this is not the first time that the Dallas Zoo has failed to adequately confine great apes and endangered the public. In 1998, another male gorilla escaped and attacked a zookeeper—resulting in a $25,000 fine imposed by the USDA—and in 2000, a chimpanzee who escaped confinement was electrocuted after she also attacked a keeper.

"Apes do not belong in zoos, and if there’s a lesson to be learned from this tragedy, it’s that highly intelligent and emotional animals go stir crazy in zoos," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "Jabari’s violent death and the injuries that he inflicted on bystanders in his captivity-induced rage are testimony not only to the zoo’s outdated attitudes toward animals, but also to its incompetence."

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA’s letter to the USDA follows.

March 22, 2004

Chester A. Gipson, DVM
Associate Deputy Administrator
USDA-APHIS-VS
4700 River Rd., Unit 84

Riverdale, MD 20737-1234

Dear Dr. Gipson,

Please consider this letter an official request for the USDA to revoke the license of the Dallas Zoo in Dallas, Texas, license # 74-C-0051, based on the March 18 escape and shooting death of the gorilla Jabari.

According to a witness, Jabari "was banging on the door and broke it down, then he jumped out. He was growling and yelling." Jabari attacked and injured four people. A 3-year-old boy was critically injured with multiple bites to his head and chest. The gorilla bit the boy’s mother on her legs and threw her and the toddler against a wall. Another woman suffered injuries to her arms when she shielded several children from the gorilla. The fourth injured person was a child who was treated at the scene. Police evacuated 300 people and fatally shot the gorilla after he charged at officers. Some youths had reportedly been teasing Jabari before the incident.

This incident has left one gorilla dead, the zoo’s entire gorilla troop is undoubtedly upset and in upheaval, and hundreds of zoo visitors were put in serious danger. And as I’m sure you are aware, Jabari was not the first dangerous animal to escape confinement at the Dallas Zoo. In 1998, a male gorilla named Hercules escaped from his cage, bit one of his keepers, and then dragged her down a hallway. The zoo paid a $25,000 fine to settle allegations that it violated the Animal Welfare Act in failing to prevent the escape. And in 2000, a chimpanzee was electrocuted after escaping from her enclosure at the Dallas Zoo. She scratched a zookeeper, who required hospital treatment, and climbed a telephone pole. The zookeeper fired at the chimpanzee with a shotgun, and a veterinarian fired a tranquilizer at the animal, causing her to fall. She was electrocuted as she grabbed for a power line.

The Dallas Zoo is clearly doing an abysmal job of providing secure confinement for its great apes that adequately protects the animals and the public. Given the facility’s history and this most recent incident, PETA recommends that the Dallas Zoo’s USDA license be revoked. Please investigate this situation, and advise me of the USDA’s actions in this matter. I can be reached at 206-367-0228 or LisaW@peta.org. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Lisa Wathne, Captive Exotic Animal Specialist
Captive Animals & Entertainment Issues

cc: Dr. Robert M. Gibbens, Director, Western Region, USDA/APHIS/AC