Kategorie: Animals

A PETA undercover investigation revealed babies violently ripped from their mothers and sick animals languishing in pain were just part of business as usual at Bear Country U.S.A. in South Dakota. The investigation at this shoddy roadside zoo exposed workers admitting to tormenting mother bears and their newborn cubs with fireworks, a fiberglass pole, and chainsaws.

Birthing season is rapidly approaching for the bears held at Bear Country U.S.A. Learn these five fast facts so that you can help prevent future generations from suffering at the facility:

5 Things to Know About Bear Country U.S.A.

1. Following PETA’s investigation between March and July 2023, Bear Country U.S.A. was cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for causing “trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm, or unnecessary discomfort” to the bears on its premises. The agency has also cited it for allowing lynx to repeatedly escape from an enclosure.
2. The investigation also revealed that animals at the roadside zoo were denied timely veterinary care. A thin 17-year-old red fox named Mama was observed missing significant amounts of hair and showing obvious signs of pain. When workers finally had her evaluated by a veterinarian nearly 11 weeks after our investigator raised concerns, she was euthanized. A necropsy revealed that she had been suffering from widespread cancer.

3. After ailing horses were given to Bear Country U.S.A. by local residents, they were butchered by facility staff and fed to other animals. PETA’s investigator saw a worker shoot one horse three times.

4. In nature, black bear cubs spend nearly two years by their mother’s side, learning foraging skills from her, playing with their siblings, and exploring. At Bear Country U.S.A., PETA documented workers admitting to throwing fireworks into dens to scare mother bears away from protecting their infant cubs—who were taken from them at no more than 8 weeks old—and running chainsaws to mask the sound of the cubs’ anguished cries as they were snatched away.
5. The stolen infant cubs were kept in small cardboard boxes and then put on display. Workers were instructed to kick growing cubs and to “pinch their nose as hard as you f***ing can” if they bit.

You Can Help Animals at Bear Country U.S.A.

The roadside zoo takes cubs away from their mothers each year to be put on display. Since cubs are usually born in January and February, PETA is urging Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller to review the overwhelming evidence of neglect and hold the facility accountable before another generation of vulnerable cubs is exploited. Please urge Bear Country U.S.A. to end its breeding program and send the animals to reputable facilities:

Take Action for Bears

Tell Bear Country U.S.A. Supporters to Stop Promoting

The post 5 Ways Bear Country U.S.A Is a Nightmare for Animals appeared first on PETA.

Damning U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports just obtained by PETA reveal that local animal breeder and pet store Animal Ark has been cited for multiple violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act after an inspector found animals confined to cages filled with accumulated feces in ramshackle rooms. In response, PETA rushed an urgent letter today to Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg urging her to have a veterinarian visit the facility with investigators and file appropriate charges against those responsible for the neglect.

According to the reports, on November 27 a store representative “refused to allow [the inspector] to conduct the inspection” and complained that inspections were happening too frequently. A September 11 inspection report documented algae growing inside multiple animals’ water bottles, and on May 24 an inspector found rabbits, hedgehogs, and guinea pigs confined to enclosures in which the floors were more than half-covered with feces and that the rooms in which the enclosures were located had a “noticeable foul odor,” among other issues.

“Animals languish in filthy conditions at pet stores like Animal Ark, which treats them as nothing but commodities,” says PETA Vice President of Evidence Analysis Daniel Paden. “PETA is urging Harris County authorities to prosecute those responsible for this neglect and calls on everyone to avoid buying animals from any pet store or breeder.”

PETA is pursuing charges under state law because the USDA doesn’t render relief or aid to animals during its inspections and these infractions carry no federal criminal or civil penalties.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information about PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

The post Animals Confined With Feces at Kingwood Pet Store; PETA Seeks Criminal Probe appeared first on PETA.

Alaska Airlines has landed a Compassionate Business Award, courtesy of PETA, for the oatstanding addition of oat milk coffee creamer to its in-flight menu—a move PETA has pushed for, as it will help spare cows miserable lives in the dairy industry and decrease the airline’s carbon footprint. The airline also won major kudos for adding tasty vegan options to its first-class menu, including the new Mediterranean Lentils and the returning fan-favorite Moroccan Chickpea Salad.

“In recognizing the sky-high demand for vegan options, Alaska Airlines has made the skies a friendlier place for the millions of people who don’t consume dairy for ethical, environmental, or health reasons,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges other airlines to follow Alaska Airlines’ example and get on board with compassion.”

The demand for dairy-free milks has skyrocketed as consumers learn that cows used for dairy are forcibly inseminated and their beloved calves are torn away from them so that the milk meant to nourish their babies can be used by humans. Once their bodies wear out after repeated pregnancies, they’re sent to slaughter. In addition, animal agriculture is a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions, species extinction, deforestation, and other environmental disasters, and millions of Americans—including an estimated 95% of Asian Americans and 80% of Indigenous and Black Americans—are lactose intolerant.

In addition to shrinking their carbon footprint, each person who goes vegan saves nearly 200 animals each year and improves their own health, since vegans are less prone to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and strokes. Those looking to make the switch can make use of PETA’s free vegan starter kit.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

The post The Sky’s No Limit: Alaska Airlines on Board With Oat Milk, Nabs PETA Award appeared first on PETA.

PETA has uncovered plans by Charles River Laboratories, the largest importer of monkeys used for laboratory experiments, to build the largest monkey-holding facility outside Asia—capable of housing 43,000 primates—and the company is pursuing construction on ecologically sensitive land in Texas despite the objections of local residents and elected officials.

Credit: PETA

In March, Charles River purchased 500 acres bordering land owned and protected by The Nature Conservancy, the  U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. It did so under a different company name and hasn’t disclosed the plans publicly.

PETA joined with local residents who came out in force against the plans, moving the Brazoria County Board of Commissioners on November 28 to unanimously adopt a resolution recommending that state and federal authorities not issue the needed environmental permits to Charles River. Documents obtained by PETA show that other county personnel have met with company representatives and have known the extent of the plans for months.

“Charles River is proposing the largest ethical, environmental, and scientific catastrophe in American history,” says PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. “PETA applauds Brazoria County officials for taking steps to block this dangerous plan and urges federal and state authorities to do the same.”

The current largest monkey-holding facility—owned by Envigo and located in Alice, Texas—confines 6,000 to 11,000 monkeys. It creates an estimated 22,000 gallons of liquid waste per day. The facility was built to handle only a third of this amount, so the company hauls up to 16 truckloads each day to a wastewater site in Austin. By contrast, Charles River’s proposed facility would produce an estimated 100,000 gallons of liquid waste every day, posing a major risk of environmental damage to the federally protected salt marshes, lakes, and coastal prairies that border the property.

The proposed facility would introduce monkeys’ saliva, blood, and other bodily fluids into the environment. Monkeys used by the experimentation industry are known to carry and transmit a slew of nasty pathogens and diseases, including herpes B virus, tuberculosis, Ebola-like viruses, simian hemorrhagic fever virus, shigellosis, salmonellosis, Campylobacter, malaria, and dengue. There’s also a risk that monkeys could escape, which has happened at other primate laboratories in Texas.

Charles River is currently under civil and criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for violations of the Endangered Species and Lacey acts. The company also recently acknowledged that it’s under investigation by the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to its sourcing of monkeys from Asia.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

The post PETA Discovery: Charles River Plans Largest Monkey Facility in U.S., Housing 43,000 Primates appeared first on PETA.

On Wednesday, a troop of PETA supporters will cause a ruckus outside the EGYPTAIR departure terminal at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport over the airline’s ongoing importation of hundreds of endangered long-tailed macaques for use in the animal experimentation industry despite the company’s previous ban on the practice and concerns about the spread of diseases that are transmissible to humans, including tuberculosis (TB).

When:    Wednesday, January 3, 10 a.m.

Where:    EGYPTAIR Departures, JFK International Airport (Terminal 1), Queens

Credit: PETA

“Cramming hundreds of terrified monkeys into cargo holds to be shipped around the world for experiments does nothing to advance human health and increases the risk of importing diseases transmissible to humans,” says PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. “PETA is calling on EGYPTAIR to uphold its pledge to get out of the cruel and deadly endangered monkey trade.”

Monkeys imported for experimentation are captured in nature or bred on squalid farms, and those who survive illness and injury are packed into small wooden crates and locked inside EGYPTAIR’s dark cargo holds on the first part of their days-long journey to their final destination—laboratories, where they’ll be poisoned, mutilated, and killed. The industry also poses a danger to the public: Multiple shipments of monkeys infected with TB have been imported to North American labs, and monkeys from Cambodia have arrived infected with a bacterium so deadly that the U.S. classifies it as a bioterrorism agent.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

The post EGYPTAIR to Face Uproar at JFK Terminal Over Risky Monkey Imports appeared first on PETA.