Local Roadside Zoo Cited for Dozens of Dangerous Public Interactions

Feds Also Cite Outfit for Vet Care Failures, Lies, and More

For Immediate Release:
May 5, 2022

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

After PETA reported an incident in which a member of the public held a juvenile jaguar at local roadside zoo Single Vision, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently cited the facility over that incident and dozens of other public encounters with wild animals, including adult big cats. The agency also cited Single Vision—which has received nearly 20 citations in just two years—for lying to federal authorities, providing fraudulent documentation of a veterinary care program, and failing to provide two thin, geriatric tigers and other animals with adequate veterinary care.

In its just-released inspection report, the USDA details more than 30 photographed and/or videotaped incidents shared on social media revealing hands-on interactions without any safety barriers in place. These incidents include the following: A child was allowed to swim with juvenile lion cubs, a visitor touched a bear’s muzzle, a bear reached through enclosure wire to remove someone’s sunglasses, and “rowdy bears” were seen “continuously nipping at the public members’ clothing, hands and hair.”

“Over and over again, Single Vision has put animals and visitors at risk of injury and even death,” says PETA Foundation Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Debbie Metzler. “PETA is urging Single Vision to end its pattern of neglect, recklessness, and dishonesty by sending the animals to accredited sanctuaries.”

According to the report, federal inspectors also found a hyena living in the home of the Single Vision licensee, animals in shoddy enclosures in need of repair, and animals living near an “accumulation of feces.” PETA notes that the facility is one of only a few left in the U.S. still offering harmful cub-petting encounters, which rely on tearing vulnerable cubs away from their mothers.

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.