For immediate release:
July 8, 2021
Contact:
David Pearl 202-483-7382
West Union, Illinois. – Following PETA complaints, the USDA inspected the local Walnut Prairie Wildside Roadside Zoo three times and hit owner Thomas Edmonds. 21-day license suspension due to many quotes from the Federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), including after two sick monkeys died without receiving veterinary care.
Other quotes documented in inspection reports of March 10, April 29, and June 3, which just went public, include Edmonds’ refusal to provide veterinary care for a seriously emaciated and dehydrated cougar and a possum whose ears were covered in scabs. Almost a year. Edmonds had no formal agreement with the treating veterinarian, no written veterinary care program, and, in the words of one inspector, “no recognized training with tigers.” According to the inspector, the obesity of the two tigers – who gasped after taking just a few steps – along with photographs of a volunteer feeding a tiger with a boiled egg from its mouth and a tiger licking and swallowing the top of another volunteer’s head, testified: “lack of experience and knowledge about this dangerous animal from all participants. “
“This King of tigers the wannabe has no idea what he is doing, and the animals suffer because of his ignorance, ”says Michelle Sinnott, PETA’s deputy director of animal captivity law enforcement. “PETA wants this backyard menagerie to close until someone is hurt or another animal dies.”
Other AWA quotes include allowing a child to stick their toes in a cougar’s cage, allowing an unbridled snow macaque to climb into people’s laps and sit on children’s shoulders, and not providing animals with adequate shelter, water, clean enclosures, and enrichment. … More information on past AWA violations by Edmonds is available here.
PETA, whose motto is in part that “the animals are not ours to be used for entertainment” – opposes arrogance, a worldview focused on human superiority. For more information please visit PETA.org or subscribe to the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram…