For Immediate Release:
August 26, 2021
Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382
Wilmington, N.C. – Right up the street from the notorious Tregembo Animal Park, a new PETA billboard has just been put up to persuade drivers not to stop at the roadside zoo, which was recently cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture over its rusty enclosures and failure to seek veterinary care for sick animals. And as drivers travel farther up the road this Saturday, they’ll spot local PETA supporters unfurling a giant banner proclaiming, “Roadside Zoos Support Animal Abuse.”
When: Saturday, August 28, 12 noon
Where: 5811 Carolina Beach Rd., Wilmington
“Every time federal inspectors leave, Tregembo goes right back to neglecting animals,” says PETA Foundation Associate Director for Captive Animal Law Enforcement Debbie Metzler. “PETA’s billboard asks drivers not to pull in but to hit the gas when they spot this hellish place.”
Tregembo’s previous citations for federal Animal Welfare Act violations include failing to provide a bear named Ben—who suffered from severe lesions on his eyes, nose, and mouth—with adequate veterinary care. Following a lawsuit filed against the facility by North Carolina animal advocates, PETA rescued Ben and another bear, named Bogey—who paced incessantly in a cramped cell with a concrete floor—and arranged for their transport to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado.
The billboard is located at 5941 Carolina Beach Rd., Wilmington.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
