Feds Cite Tregembo Animal Park Following PETA’s Many Complaints

For Immediate Release:
March 11, 2021

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspection report just obtained by PETA reveals that the agency cited Tregembo Animal Park for, among other violations, failing even to notify a veterinarian that a pig named Kim was lame in both rear legs. Other federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations relate to dangerously rusty enclosures and primate feeding containers “coated with brown debris.”

The February 2 inspection was the first time since July 2019 that the USDA inspected Tregembo, despite four formal complaints that PETA submitted in 2020 alone. Among other animal welfare issues, PETA alerted the USDA to an excessively thin zebra, a crane with an open wound, an underweight and limping camel, and primates exhibiting abnormal repetitive rocking and self-harming types of behavior that indicate psychological distress.

“Tregembo noticed that a pig was struggling to walk and still didn’t consult a veterinarian,” says PETA Foundation Associate Director for Captive Animal Law Enforcement Debbie Metzler. “This ramshackle roadside zoo either can’t or won’t ensure the well-being of the animals it displays, and PETA urges the public to stay a mile away.”

Tregembo’s previous AWA violations include failing to provide a bear named Ben—who suffered from severe lesions on his eyes, nose, and mouth—with adequate veterinary care. In 2017, following a lawsuit filed against Tregembo by North Carolina animal advocates, PETA rescued Ben and another bear, named Bogey—who paced incessantly in a cramped concrete-floor cell—and arranged for their transport to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.