Undercover by Joe Exotic
The name of our informant has been left out as this person is still inside the zoo getting me all this information. Our question is: How many animals must die or face mistreatment before the USDA will launch a full-scale investigation.
Diary
The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium has a promotion department. The animals in this department are often seen on late night TV. They are flown typically on delta airlines. These animals either sleep in their carriers in the hotel or in bed with their handlers. This dept can also be reserved for parties and pictures. Young babies such as tigers are handled by multiple staff, volunteers, and special visitors to the building. I was one of those visitors and then an employee of the zoo. I have played with such things as cougar cubs & penguins. I have bottle fed 5-week-old tiger cubs. I was not part of the promotion department but I was allowed to handle those babies. It is very common that the babies become ill with respiratory issues & diarrhea. This department staff is known as the special group that does no wrong. One of them being Jack Hanna's daughter Julie who openly said she hated her job. These animals very rarely see the outside pens to run and play. They know concrete floors and towels better than anything. Typically, once the babies loose the cute factor, and become unmanageable they are shipped off to another zoo for breeding. One baby, a clouded leopard female named Mookie, can still be seen at the zoo with her mate Ty (I can't remember if Ty is a "promo" baby). I met Mookie as a cub and then worked around her as a seasonal keeper. Mookie longed for human contact but once she was moved to the Australasia dept there was no hands on contact allowed with her. She's a breeder now. However, she has no outdoor enclosures. She and Ty live inside the nocturnal building on concrete floors. The public display is small. I don't have dimensions but she isn't capable of running if she chose. Both cats are forced to stay on display during the day without the choice to hide from screaming public. |
It is no secret that the Humane Society of the United States is shopping their ban bills around to every state legislature in session this year. It doesn’t matter if a state already regulates possession, exhibiting, or breeding of wildlife, legislators are still being approached by HSUS lobbyists with offers to “help” update wildlife laws.
The “help” the HSUS and other extremist animal rights organization lobbyists are giving, are bills written to force captive populations of wildlife into extinction. Without exception, these HSUS bills prohibit individuals, independent zoos, and wildlife educators from obtaining, or breeding exotic felines. Exemptions to these bills are given to the zoos that can afford to be members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, (AZA) and sanctuaries that sign onto the HSUS extinction mandate, promising never to breed anything, and who are members of the HSUS Global Federation of Sanctuaries association.
Every state that passes these proposed bills will loose all available habitats for the captive conservation of threatened and endangered species by knowledgeable, licensed, family owned small businesses.
We all know the harm this extinction movement will have on the local and national economy, individual businesses, private owners, and, especially to wildlife conservation. |
