Please enjoy this article from the latest issue of our magazine, PETA Global. To begin your subscription, become a PETA member today!
By Brittany Peet, PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement
I spend every day saving bears, tigers, and others from roadside zoos. But some days, I think back on animals whose stories didn’t have a happy ending – like Smoky, a bear my family and I often visited when I was a kid. He lived in a cramped, round cage in a park near my hometown, and we used to watch him pace around inside it. He lived during a time when few people spoke out against keeping animals in such inhumane conditions. It didn’t occur to me then that he was deprived of anything, even though there was virtually nothing to keep him occupied other than a tire swing and a bowling ball. He died in that enclosure, without ever having set foot outside it for who knows how long.
Eventually, I realized that bears deserve much more than to be locked up for human amusement, and now that I work for the PETA Foundation, I’m committed to rescuing animals held captive by roadside zoos, traveling shows, and the film and television industries. To date, PETA has secured the release of 73 bears from roadside zoos and traveling shows and facilitated their transfer to reputable sanctuaries, and it won’t stop until all such tawdry animal displays are a relic of the past.
I’m also determined to get big cats, chimpanzees, and other species released from these places. One major goal is to set a precedent in a US court making it clear that big cat cub encounters violate federal law. In just one year, PETA rescued 39 tigers from decrepit conditions, and two more, Luna and Remington, went to their new home at an accredited sanctuary this past January.
Besides Smoky, there was another bear I spent a lot of time with in my childhood: a North American black bear who had been shot and killed by my father. That’s me playing on the bearskin rug in the photo. Thankfully, we can all grow and change. My dad put away his hunting rifle not long after that picture was taken. I changed, too. Today, I stand up for animals who are suffering. And so can you.
Take Action Now
Oswald’s Bear Ranch in Michigan – my home state – acquires bear cubs who have been torn away from their mothers and forces them to pose for photos with tourists. Several have died prematurely at this disreputable facility, and half a dozen or more have even been slaughtered.
Please visit PETA.org/Oswalds today to tell the seedy roadside zoo that it’s time to shutter its cruel operation and let all its captive animals go to accredited sanctuaries.
