For Instant Launch:
January 26, 2023
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Palm Harbor, Fla. – Following a tip from PETA notifying the U.S. Division of Agriculture (USDA) {that a} capuchin monkey remained on the unfastened for twenty-four hours after escaping from his enclosure at Suncoast Primate “Sanctuary,” a decrepit, misleadingly named roadside zoo beforehand referred to as the Chimp Farm, officers slapped Suncoast with a number of citations for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
The violations resulted in two crucial citations—one for the unfastened capuchin and a second for the power’s lack of an attending veterinarian to correctly look after the animals—in addition to citations for subjecting animals to “closely dirty” feeding tubes; enclosures with rust, chipping paint, untethered fencing, and sharp edges of metallic piping; and harmful “enrichment” objects that had been cracked and damaged.
“This shoddy facility exploits wild animals who belong in nature, not inside broken enclosures that endanger their security and deny them every thing that’s pure and vital to them,” says PETA Basis Director for Captive Animal Welfare Debbie Metzler. “PETA asks the general public to avoid roadside zoos and urges Suncoast to launch these animals to a actual sanctuary that helps animals as an alternative of exploiting them.”
The USDA had repeatedly fined the Chimp Farm earlier than in the end taking the extraordinarily uncommon motion of revoking its license in 1999—but 9 years later, the granddaughter of the unique homeowners was inexplicably permitted to reopen the power below its present identify. In 2011, Suncoast was fined for violating the AWA after two chimpanzees escaped and one significantly injured a volunteer.
PETA—whose motto reads, partially, that “animals are usually not ours to make use of for leisure”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For extra info, please go to PETA.org or observe the group on Twitter, Fb, or Instagram.