Animal Protection Organization Calls for Closure of Big Cat Exhibits

[Guest guest]

For Immediate Release

January 7, 2008

 

International Animal Protection Organization Calls for Closure of Big Cat

Exhibits at San Francisco Zoo

 

The San Francisco-based international animal welfare organization Animal

Defenders International (ADI) is calling for the San Francisco Zoo to cease

the public display of tigers, lions and other members of the cat family.

 

The mauling death of a young man and the resulting killing of the tiger

Tatiana exposes the challenges of displaying wild animals for public

entertainment. The large cat had been deprived of many things that make life

enjoyable for a tiger, thus creating a stressful environment. These animals

are psychologically damaged by being forced to live constantly exposed to

staring and potential harassment by humans. For cats who would normally live

in quiet isolation in the forest, this human attention is mental torture.

These dangerous animals are not domesticated, even if born in captivity.

Their natural instincts dispose them only to life in the wild, where they

are able to truly fulfill their needs.

 

Whether the young men tormented the animal or not, she was suffering, and

she tried to escape from what was, in effect, a prison. Now a young man has

lost his life, and this tiger¹s suffering has been brought to an end in an

incident full of pain and fear. This is the price of entertainment.

 

ADI¹s Program Director Jennifer Blum responded to this tragedy, ³Our hearts

go out to the family of this young man. The San Francisco Zoo and other zoos

around the country should do away with such exhibits. It is just a place of

entertainment for people, but for the animals it is a life sentence of

enslavement, boredom and depression. Even with the best of intentions and

state-of-the-art facilities, these establishments cannot provide the animals

with the space and environment they truly need and deserve, and this

deprivation results in mental and emotional damage. Not only is this a moral

issue, it is a public safety issue as well. The Association of Zoos and

Aquariums (AZA) simply does not have the power to demand that our nation¹s

zoo exhibit and enclosure standards be met.²

 

In fact, Ron Tilson, who oversees tiger management for the AZA, says their

enclosure guidelines ³have never been compulsory.² He adds, ³In no way do I

have the power to implement them or demand that they be met.² The U.S.

Department of Agriculture (USDA) ³has only about 100 inspectors, and critics

say those inspectors are overwhelmed with the responsibility for regulating

more than 200 accredited zoos, thousands of roadside attractions, circuses

and other private animal exhibitors.²

 

For the sake of the public and the animals, it¹s time we do away with big

cat exhibits, and the San Francisco Zoo should take this opportunity to set

an example for other zoos.

_____________________________ENDS _____________________________

 

 

For further information, video/ film footage/ photographs, please contact:

 

ADI US Press Officer:

Max Green

or

ADI US Program Director:

Jennifer Blum

 

Tel +1 415 543 2344 fax +1 415 543 2343

Email: usa

ADI US office, 953 Mission St. Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94103

 

ADI London Press Office:

Allison Tuffrey Jones

Tel: +44 (0)20 7630 9159. fax +44 (0)20 7828 2179. Mobile: 011 +44

(0)7785 552548

Email: pr

ADI London office, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP

 

 

 

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

 

 

 

Animal Defenders International (ADI)

With offices in London and San Francisco, Animal Defenders International

(ADI) is a major international campaigning group, lobbying to protect

animals on issues such as animals in entertainment and their use in

experiments; worldwide traffic in endangered species; vegetarianism; factory

farming; pollution and conservation. ADI involves itself in international

animal rescues as well as educational work on animals, conservation and

environment. In just over a decade, ADI has become a major force for animal

protection and has succeeded through its undercover investigations in

securing legal protection for animals. ADI¹s evidence of the torment to

animals has led to campaigns and legislative action all over the world to

protect them. http://www.ad-international.org

 

 

What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, it's what we know for sure

that just ain't so.

- Mark Twain