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Profit-hungry zoo operators perpetually breed animals so that they will have an endless supply of "cute babies" in order to draw crowds. The older, unmanageable animals are left to languish in small cages or disposed of when they have exhausted their "usefulness." Exotic animal auctions, frequented by unscrupulous dealers, are a popular method of discarding unwanted "display" animals, who ultimately end up in the pet trade, on breeding farms, killed for their skins and other organs, or used for canned Cradle-RobbersBaby animals are exploited from the day they are born. Newborns are prematurely removed from their mothers, which denies them proper nutrition and the natural socialization process required for normal development. Tigers, lions, and cougars are torn from their mothers when they are just 5 days old and declawed at 2 weeks of age. Mothers spend weeks calling frantically for their missing babies. In the wild, tiger cubs stay with their mothers for three years. Primate mothers, who passionately protect their babies, often are sedated so that their 1-day-old infants can be taken, diapered, and bottle-fed. Bear cubs naturally remain at their mothers' sides for the first two years of life, but breeders take them after only a month. These frightened, helpless infants are often crated and shipped across the country to buyers or hauled around for exhibition. Some do not survive the stress. Learning "De-Meaning" of Wildlife Zoological expert and wildlife consultant Sue Pressman says that people in the exotic animal trade "are to wildlife education what pornographers are to sex education." Self-proclaimed authorities with no formal training in wildlife issues or care frequently operate A Catastrophe Waiting to Happen The Siberian Tiger Foundation in Ohio promotes itself as an "education and training" facility that allows the public to "experience a unique hands-on close encounter with full-grown tigers as well as baby cubs." Like many roadside zoos, Close Encounters of the Deadly KindCharging fees for photo opportunities and other physical contact with dangerous animals is a moneymaking scheme that, not surprisingly, often results in serious injury. On October 21, 2000, a 10-year-old boy was knocked to the ground and bitten on the leg by a tiger at the Siberian Tiger Foundation while participating in a "close encounter." This was the 10th incident in seven months in which members of the public had been bitten or otherwise injured by tigers at this facility.
In September 2000, a tiger cub bit a man during a photo op at the New Mexico State Fair. In June 1999, a caged tiger attacked a woman visiting Safari Zoological Park in Sterling, Kansas. In January 1999, a 5-month-old tiger cub also belonging to Safari Zoological Park bit the throat of a 5-year-old child. The tiger was killed the next day. In July 1998, a woman taking a photo with a Bengal tiger at California’s Marine World was mauled. The same month, a 5-year-old boy needed plastic surgery to his face after being attacked by a tiger at a photo booth at the North Dakota state fair. In August 1997, a 13-year-old girl was rushed to the emergency room after being bitten by a tiger during a photo session in Massachusetts. |
There are hundreds of substandard wildlife attractions throughout the U.S., ranging from backyard menageries to so-called "sanctuaries" to drive-through parks. Masquerading as conservation, education, or rescue facilities, roadside and traveling zoos are among the worst abusers of captive wildlife and fuel the multibillion-dollar-a-year trade in exotic, rare, and endangered species. With zoological institutions accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) carelessly unloading surplus animals and with little regulation from authorities, the private zoo business has exploded over the last 30 years.
hunts. Some animals, such as tigers, lions, and bears—both cubs and adults—are worth more dead than alive. Hides alone can fetch $2,000 to $20,000 or more. Entire families are slaughtered and stuffed for mounts that sell for $10,000. To avoid damaging pelts, animals are killed by the most gruesome methods imaginable, such as shoving ice picks through their ears and into their brains, suffocating them by wrapping plastic bags around their heads, and drowning.
these pitiful attractions. Many start out as hobbyists who purchase their first few exotics on a whim as a means of impressing people.
the Siberian Tiger Foundation also drags the animals around to schools, hospitals, amusement parks, and even weddings for "educational programs" supposedly because "the smiles on [its] visitors’ faces" will somehow contribute to the tigers’ survival. And while declawing, petting, cuddling, straddling, brushing, sleeping in bed with, posing with, litter-box training, and walking leashed tigers, they adamantly claim not to promote keeping big cats as pets. This hypocritical message is the trademark of the charlatan conservationist. People are influenced by these glorified "pet" owners, whose actions, despite what they say, encourage the private ownership of exotic animals.
In May 1997, a tiger mauled a student at a roadside menagerie in Knox County, Tennessee. In April 1997, a leopard killed and partially ate a woman visiting the Oakhill Center for Rare and Endangered Species in Oklahoma. The leopard was later shot to death.