Crying ‘Bear’ to Lead Protest Against Mesa County Fair’s Grizzly Acts
PETA Protesters Will Call for End to Fair’s Cruel and Dangerous Wild-Animal Exhibits
For Immediate Release:
July 23, 2018
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
What: On the Mesa County Fair’s opening day, a crying “bear” will lead PETA supporters in a spirited protest of the fair’s cruel and archaic “A Grizzly Experience” bear show.
When: Tuesday, July 24, 11 a.m.
Where: 2785 Highway 50, near the fairgrounds entrance, Orchard Mesa
The protest follows a letter from PETA to organizers of the fair pointing out that a young grizzly bear used in the show clawed a handler’s face bloody at a county fair in New York last summer. Exhibitor Dexter Osborn received a warning this year from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for importing two bear cubs without a permit and confining bears to small, inadequate cages.
“Sensitive bears suffer immensely when they’re carted across the country in cramped cages and ogled by rowdy crowds,” says PETA Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “PETA is calling on the Mesa County Fair to protect animals and the public by dropping its dangerous, vile wild-animal acts.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that the North Carolina Black Bear Festival ended its captive-bear displays last month, and more than 650 venues nationwide currently prohibit wild-animal exhibits.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
