Feds Cite Animal Haven Zoo for New Vet-Care Failures
For Immediate Release:
March 4, 2022
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Animal Haven Zoo has landed on the wrong side of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) once more, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has cited the roadside zoo for multiple violations, including failing to provide adequate veterinary care, failing to maintain enclosures, and failing to offer adequate shelter from the elements—all violations that could cause suffering to animals and jeopardize their welfare.
According to an inspection report just obtained by PETA, the feds found rabbits with scabs in their ears, a hole in a metal panel within the juvenile tigers’ enclosure with sharp points that imperiled the animals; and three sheep exposed to the elements.
“Animal Haven is a nightmare for the animals stuck in this roadside zoo. It doesn’t even bother to meet minimum federal standards of care,” says PETA Foundation Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Michelle Sinnott. “PETA is urging the public to steer clear of all roadside zoos and is asking Animal Haven to send these animals to reputable sanctuaries.”
Just a few months ago, the USDA cited Animal Haven Zoo after it failed to provide a thin, weak lamb suffering from diarrhea and a sheep who had a lump on the left side of his or her face with adequate veterinary care. That followed other citations, including for failing to give a lion-tiger hybrid water for roughly 20 hours, failing to clean out rotten food and waste from rabbit enclosures, letting a pig’s tusk grow into his cheek, and letting an employee take a 3-week-old tiger cub to a local school, putting the animal at risk of disease, infection, and stress—all within the last year.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information about PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
