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Jack Hanna
c/o Columbus Zoo, 9990 Riverside Dr., Powell, OH 43065
Jack Hanna causes unnecessary stress to baby animals by removing unweaned infants from their mothers and subjecting them to confinement, studio lights, crowds, lengthy transport, and other aspects of an unnatural, alien environment. Hanna regularly brings animals to appear on Good Morning America, The Late Show with David Letterman, and the shopping network QVC. Hanna’s traveling wildlife displays perpetuate the notion that dangerous and exotic animals are desirable “pets.” Hanna’s “pet” lion bit off the arm of a 3-year-old, a chimpanzee Hanna brought to a church bit off a 5-year-old girl’s finger, a fox he brought to Good Morning America severely bit the host’s finger, and a baby cougar he brought to a conference bit a politician on the chin. Hanna uses animal suppliers and assistants with poor records of animal care.
March 15, 2001: Jack Hanna featured baby animals from a poorly run menagerie in Ohio called Stump Hill Farm on Good Morning America.
The USDA has cited Stump Hill Farm for failure to provide veterinary care, repeatedly failing to provide environment enrichment and minimum space to primates kept in solitary confinement and suffering from psychological distress, failure to provide shelter from inclement weather, having filthy and foul-smelling enclosures, failure to provide drinking water, failure to maintain enclosures, and improper waste disposal.
Stump Hill Farm leases declawed tiger cubs to an Ohio high school football team to serve as “mascots.” These baby animals spend months at a time stored in a garage.
December 19, 2000: The USDA charged the Siberian Tiger Foundation with violating the Animal Welfare Act by endangering animals, exhibiting animals without proper supervision, and violating a license suspension. Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures had invited the Siberian Tiger Foundation in Ohio to be featured on the program.
In less than a year, more than 11 adults and children were injured during “close encounters” at the facility, where members of the public are charged a fee to pet, hug, straddle, and pose with adult tigers and lions.
February 17, 2000: A woman required hospital treatment after she was bitten on the hand by a tiger at Amazing Exotics in Umatilla, Fla., an exotic animal breeding and training compound that also offers “close encounters” with dangerous animals. Amazing Exotics is listed as a recommended educational facility on Jack Hanna’s Web site.
Circus trainer Ron Holiday became an educator at Amazing Exotics after his wife and a trainer were both killed by the same tiger within a six-week period in 1998. The tiger, who had been used in Shrine Circuses, was later shot to death.
March 1999: A chimpanzee named Rocky, made famous when Jack Hanna displayed him on The Late Show with David Letterman in February 1998, was sold at auction with more than two dozen other exotic animals, including bears and big cats. The animals were auctioned to pay creditors after owner Sid Yost declared bankruptcy.
1999: According to Animal Underworld: Inside America’s Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species, by Alan Green, mobile zoo operator Kevin Antle, a frequent assistant of Jack Hanna’s, has a deplorable history of animal care and handling: One of his lions mauled a model during a photo shoot in New Hampshire, he was threatened with arrest for illegally displaying big cats in Massachusetts, Tennessee authorities charged him for allegedly beating a Bengal tiger with a wooden shaft, and he paid $3,500 to settle USDA charges of providing substandard housing for his big cats.
September 1998: Jack Hanna appeared in a television commercial declaring his support of mourning dove hunting and urged voters to oppose a proposal to ban dove hunting in Ohio. Families outraged over Hanna’s controversial pro-hunting stance dropped their Columbus Zoo membership in protest. The ban was defeated.
February 9, 1998: Heidi Riggs of the Bridgeport Nature Center assisted Hanna in a “Save the Tiger” promotion at the Dallas Zoo.
The USDA has cited Bridgeport Nature Center numerous times for putting animals and the public at serious risk of injury, as well as for transporting tigers in poorly ventilated cages and failure to provide shelter from the elements. Bridgeport’s tigers have attacked and seriously injured at least three children.
Bridgeport was penalized $20,000 by the USDA and had its license suspended, was fined $3,500 to settle contempt of court and consumer fraud charges in North Dakota, and was prohibited from exhibiting big cats in North Dakota for one year and in Massachusetts for five years.
Bridgeport breeds big cats for sale to the pet trade.
November 1, 1995: A baby cougar Hanna brought to a House Republican Conference meeting bit Newt Gingrich on the chin.
1992: The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) suspended Jack Hanna’s and the Columbus Zoo’s accreditation for a year for ethics violations. The Columbus Zoo imported a panda from China in defiance of an AZA moratorium implemented because officials felt that it was against the best interests of panda conservation to take the animals outside of China.
Hanna wanted a panda to generate large profits from increased sales of admissions and concessions.
1989: According to Monkeys on the Interstate, by Jack Hanna:
Two Japanese snow macaques escaped from the Columbus Zoo for seven months and traveled around Central Ohio after Hanna redesigned their enclosure, enabling their escape.
Hanna chose not to fire a Columbus Zoo employee who maliciously killed a rare goose by hurling the bird into the cheetah exhibit.
A tiger mauled a Columbus Zoo volunteer, causing multiple lacerations that required numerous stitches on her arms, legs, and head. The subsequent lawsuit led to a policy change to protect volunteers by not allowing access to animal areas—a move of which Hanna was critical.
Hanna frequently promotes white tigers and describes them as very rare and worth $50,000 each. White tigers are, in fact, genetic mutants. All captive white tigers are inbred and prone to serious congenital defects. The AZA’s Species Survival Plan condemns the breeding of white tigers.
Zoos use cute baby animals, particularly “high-profile” animals like gorillas, lions, and elephants, to draw crowds to the zoo.
Hanna did not inform Good Morning America host Charlie Gibson that foxes could carry rabies after Gibson was severely bitten by a fox Hanna brought to the studio.
Hanna brought two baby elephants for a Letterman appearance during ratings week. The more popular animals are referred to as “payoff animals,” and Hanna likes to bring as many “payoff animals” as possible to the shows.
May 1986: Detroit Zoo director Steve Graham refused to allow Jack Hanna to bring a baby wallaby to the zoo for a promotional tour Hanna was doing for Mattel toys. Graham accused Hanna of “prostituting animals.”
October 26, 1983: When a gorilla gave birth to rare twins at Columbus Zoo, zoo employees immediately gave the mother medication to make her unconscious and took the babies away from her. The twins were featured on Good Morning America, launching Hanna’s career on the program.
For the next four years, the twins were shuffled back and forth between Columbus Zoo and Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb.; they were permanently separated in August 1990.
1982: Hanna hired a member of the famous Wallenda family to come to Columbus Zoo to walk a high-wire over the tiger exhibit as a promotional gimmick, endangering both the performer and the animals.
1979: A chimpanzee Hanna brought from Columbus Zoo for a demonstration at First Community Church in Marble, Ohio, grabbed a 5-year-old girl’s finger and bit it off. The girl’s family sued, and Hanna complained, “The same people who had begged me to come to their church were now attacking me.”
1973-1975: While Hanna was the director at Central Florida Zoo, he brought an elephant to a golf tournament. During transport, the elephant trailer snapped off his vehicle, sideswiped his car, flew across the golf course, and crashed into a tree. The elephant escaped and was later recaptured.
In another fund-raising scheme, Hanna brought a sick elephant with severe diarrhea to the Orlando Sports Stadium and laughed when he defecated everywhere.
1970s: A “pet” lion kept by Hanna in his backyard menagerie in Knoxville bit off the arm of a 3-year-old. Hanna fled Knoxville with his family a short time later to avoid criticism from the community.
Hanna contracted hepatitis from one of his chimpanzees.