Angry 'Bear' Trails Obama to Asheville

PETA Calls On President to Order Confiscation of Animals From Abusive Bear Pits in Cherokee, N.C.

For Immediate Release: 
February 12, 2013

Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382 

Asheville, N.C. -- Holding a sign reading, "Tell USDA to Close N.C. Bear Pits," a PETA "bear" will follow President Obama as he prepares to give a speech at the Linamar auto-parts plant in Arden on Wednesday. The determined bruin's point? That following a PETA undercover investigation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suspended Cherokee-based Chief Saunooke Bear Park's (CSBP) exhibitor's license and slapped the abusive facility with a $20,000 fine but left the bears in place, allowing them to continue to suffer. PETA is calling on President Obama to order the USDA to seize the bears and transfer them to a sanctuary. The bears at CSBP are kept in barren concrete pits, where they circle and pace, and many have been denied adequate veterinary care, including a bear with an open cut on her face and others with broken teeth from chewing on the cage bars. One employee was caught on tape saying that it took "20 shots … square in the head" to kill a bear from CSBP and even boasted about eating the bears.

When:   Wednesday, February 13, 9:30 a.m.

Where:  Outside the Linamar plant, 2169 Hendersonville Rd. (near the intersection with Lake Julian Road), Arden

"Bears at CSBP are suffering, and the government needs to get them out of there," says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders. "PETA is calling on President Obama to order the USDA to do its job and remove these animals from this hellhole."

For more information, please visit PETA.org.