Beleaguered Oroville Roadside Zoo Slapped With Warning Notice of PETA’s Intent to Sue

For Immediate Release:
March 17, 2025

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Oroville, Calif. –

This morning, PETA’s legal counsel served the Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Foundation with a Notice of Intent as PETA prepares to bring a citizen suit for what it believes are the roadside zoo’s numerous, repeated violations of the Endangered Species Act—including denying sick and injured animals adequate veterinary care—which span more than a decade.

The 49-page document cites a litany of examples, including:

Denying veterinary care to at least two lemurs, Shaka and Zuki, both of whom died
Causing or contributing to the diet-related injuries and deaths of tigers for many years, including from metabolic bone disease, a malnutrition-induced illness that manifests as decreased muscle mass, pain, lameness, and pathologic bone fractures
Failing to provide timely and appropriate veterinary care and comply with veterinarians’ instructions for tigers, several of whom died
Denying proper nutrition to snow leopards, six of whom have died since 2012, including three in the past three years alone
Subjecting ring-tailed lemurs—highly social primates who typically live in groups of up to 30 individuals—to lonely lives in barren cages devoid of intellectual stimulation, often isolated or with only a single companion
Denying lions Leyah, Lucie, and Samson adequate veterinary care, leaving them to suffer from wounds, lesions, and other bodily injuries
Providing inadequate nutrition to lions, who were found to be suffering from a range of painful and potentially deadly conditions, including metabolic bone disease, neural dysfunction, obesity, and blindness

The notice also details the disturbing case of a tiger cub named Shyra, who was confiscated from the operation by the Department of Fish and Wildlife last year after she was found to be suffering from broken bones and muscle loss apparently due to metabolic bone disease.

*A lion named Lucie at the Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Foundation, who, as a cub, was unable to remain standing or walk,* *according to* *USDA inspectors. Credit: PETA*

“PETA is calling for the surviving animals to be sent to reputable facilities and urges everyone to stay far away from all roadside zoos, where misery and neglect are par for the course,” says PETA Foundation General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “This squalid operation’s days of cramming suffering animals into tiny concrete cages and brazenly flouting animal welfare laws appear to be numbered.”

PETA’s notice comes on the heels of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s February announcement that it’s opened a criminal investigation into the facility—which PETA dubbed the “Worst Roadside Zoo in America”—over its documented countless violations of animal welfare laws.

PETA has engaged the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, which has offices in San Francisco, to assist in filing and prosecuting the suit.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.