PETA Statement: Shady Roadside Zoo Deserves Visit From Authorities

For Immediate Release:
December 11, 2019

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Myrtle Beach, S.C. –

Below, please find a statement from PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet in response to news reports that search warrants were served today at Myrtle Beach Safari, a roadside zoo in South Carolina operated by notorious animal exhibitor Bhagavan “Doc” Antle.

Bhagavan “Doc” Antle has a rap sheet of federal Animal Welfare Act violations a mile long, exploits cubs for the big-cat petting industry, has ties to unscrupulous characters like convicted murder-for-hire and big-cat trafficking culprit Joe Maldonado-Passage, and uses animals for harmful hands-on encounters, photo ops, and publicity stunts. PETA has been on his case for years, and it’s long past time that authorities paid him and his shady business a visit.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment,” and the group opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.