For Immediate Release:
June 21, 2023
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Austin, Texas – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a critical repeat citation to Austin Aquarium for failing to ensure the safety of an animal and the public after an incident in May in which a visitor was attacked by a lemur, leaving the woman with a bloody gash on her face. It’s the third critical citation in less than a year for Austin Aquarium, which has a long history of endangering humans and other animals with wild animal encounters.
“Austin Aquarium has left a bloody trail of injured customers, employees, and animals in its profit-driven path,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Michelle Sinnott. “PETA supports the Animal Advisory Commission’s proposal to ban public contact with wild animals and urges everyone to steer clear of this seedy operation.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
