Failing to Provide Veterinary Care for Ill Elephant, Allowing Monkey to Escape Are Among Latest Citations
For Immediate Release:
January 18, 2012
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Davenport, Fla. -- Following a series of complaints made by PETA to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the agency has charged Hugo Liebel—an animal exhibitor who operates as the Liebel Family Circus and the Florida State Family Circus, among other names—with 33 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, including for repeated violations of regulations governing veterinary care, handling, housing, and husbandry. Among the violations cited in the USDA complaint are allowing a spider monkey to escape and not recovering him for at least 10 days, leaving a spider monkey unattended and tethered to a pony outside a performance for an hour, and permitting the public to approach an elephant, Nosey, while she was unattended—even though she attacked a circus worker in 2004.
"The Liebel Family Circus has a long history of ignoring animal welfare, just like so many circuses in which the animals are treated as nothing more than props," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Nosey and the other animals suffering in this circus deserve to be retired, and this exhibitor's license should be revoked."
Other violations cited in the report and noted during more than 14 inspections held from April 17, 2010, to February 23, 2011, include the following:
- Repeatedly failing to provide adequate veterinary care for Nosey's skin condition—which left her with thickened layers of dead skin on her legs, tail, sides, and face—as well as for her feet, which had manure caked in the soles.
- Leaving sharp metal edges, exposed nails, metal rods, exposed bolts, and peeling paint in Nosey's enclosure, barn, and trailer.
- Failing to keep food free of contamination, remove accumulations of trash, and maintain an adequate pest-control program.
The Liebel Family Circus had previously been fined nearly $3,000 by the USDA for handling animals in a manner that posed a safety risk to both animals and humans. PETA has filed more than a dozen formal complaints with the USDA since 2009 regarding Liebel's treatment of Nosey and the other animals in his care. Some of these complaints were filed mere days before the USDA's inspections referenced in its new complaint.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.