In Wake of Ohio Tragedy, PETA Urges Cameron Crowe to Add Warning to 'Zoo'

Group Says New Film Could Provoke Another Tragedy

For Immediate Release:     
October 21, 2011

Contact:
Wendy Wegner 202-483-7382

Norfolk, Va. -- In the wake of the tragic shooting of more than two dozen lions, tigers, bears, and other wild animals in Zanesville, Ohio, on Tuesday, PETA is calling on film director Cameron Crowe and the studio heads at 20th Century Fox to add a warning at the end of his new movie, We Bought a Zoo, and in all accompanying promotional materials about the dangers—both to humans and the animals themselves—of owning wild animals.

"We Bought a Zoo conveys the misleading and downright dangerous message that no special knowledge—just a lot of heart—is needed to run a zoo," says PETA Vice President Lisa Lange. "As the tragedy in Ohio gruesomely illustrates, wild animals aren't Disney characters. They have very special needs that all too often aren't met by people who buy them on a whim because they think it would be 'cool' to own a tiger."

Experts estimate that there could be up to 15,000 captive big cats in the U.S., the vast majority of whom are in private hands. Many of these animals are kept in deplorable conditions. Since 1990, captive tigers have killed more than a dozen people nationwide, including four children, and injured at least 135 others. Many wild animals languish at the end of a chain or in cramped cages in backyards, basements, or garages; others die after being shuffled from one owner to the next. Captive wild animals can end up at roadside zoos, be sold at auctions, or be shot in canned hunts. Others animals, as in the recent case in Ohio, are simply turned loose.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.