Egregious Animal-Welfare Violations Continue at Summer Wind Farms
Summer Wind Farms Sanctuary in Brown City, Michigan—a roadside zoo that PETA has tracked for years—has, yet again, been slapped with even more citations for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) February 23 inspection report, which just became publicly available, a 25-week-old tiger was locked in a cramped cage in the basement of a house on Summer Wind’s property and was also denied adequate veterinary care. The facility overall was filthy and filled with debris: the meat cooler reeked of rotten and decaying meat, and a food-preparation area was covered with blood, among other issues. The USDA further warned that the “amount of animal husbandry issues at the facility” indicates “a lack of adequately trained employees,” which “can result in facility and animal conditions that result in unnecessary animal suffering.”
These citations come on the heels of January’s formal complaint by the USDA alleging nearly 90 willful violations of the AWA documented at Summer Wind Farms between November 2012 and October 2015—the first step in a disciplinary process that could result in license suspension or revocation.
PETA has filed a lawsuit against the USDA for rubber-stamping renewal licenses of law-violating facilities like Summer Wind Farms. Last year’s dozens of AWA violations at the roadside zoo included, among many other issues, keeping animals in small and filthy enclosures as well as denying animals clean water to drink and adequate veterinary care—but Summer Wind Farms still had its license renewed automatically on December 31.
What You Can Do
Visitors who buy a ticket to these awful outfits play a huge part in keeping them in business. Please don’t patronize roadside zoos or animal displays. Demand that the USDA stop rubber-stamping license renewals of chronic AWA violators.
