Statement From PETA: Giraffe’s Death Illustrates Need to End Breeding Programs

For Immediate Release:
October 12, 2015

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

PETA Foundation Deputy Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet released a statement in response to the recent death of a month-old giraffe during a party for financial supporters at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo:

If the Fresno Chaffee Zoo’s top priority were animals and not donors, it would never have thrown a raucous party right next to a group of nervous prey animals whose natural instinct is to run away from stress and danger. That instinct likely killed this baby giraffe, as it has with others who have broken their necks on enclosure walls. Confining giraffes to tiny zoo enclosures that are a fraction of the size of their massive home ranges in nature is an abomination that started more than 100 years ago, when the first giraffe was taken from his or her homeland, never to gallop freely again. PETA is calling on the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to prioritize animal welfare and end all giraffe breeding programs immediately.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—encourages all families to stay away from profit-driven zoos with breeding programs. More information is available at PETA.org.