Group Commends Cherokee Leader for Helping Orphaned Bear Cubs, Seeks His Help for Captive Bears at Cherokee Bear Pits
For Immediate Release:
April 18, 2012
Contact:
David Perle
202-483-7382
Cherokee, N.C. -- Days after Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, helped facilitate the release of orphaned bear cubs back into the wild, PETA has sent Chief Hicks a letter to thank him for that and to ask him to go a step further by helping the bears used and abused as tourist lures in rundown roadside zoos in Cherokee. In the letter, PETA renews its longstanding offer to help Chief Hicks give relief to the bears currently held captive in the bear pits and concrete enclosures of Cherokee's three roadside zoos.
"The seven bears that Chief Hicks helped rescue are now free to run, forage, and explore the North Carolina woods, but dozens more who remain on display in cramped barren enclosures need his help," says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders. "PETA asks for the chief's help in giving these bears the opportunity to express the natural behaviors that have been denied them for many years."
For more information, please visit PETA's blog.
PETA's letter to Chief Hicks follows.
April 18, 2012
Michell Hicks, Principal Chief
Dear Principal Chief Hicks,
On behalf of PETA and all our North Carolina members, thank you for your involvement in the care and release of orphaned bear cubs. Your comments about how happy it made you to help animals in unfortunate situations underscored our belief that we share similar concerns for wildlife. May we build on the goodwill of your recent rescues by opening a collaborative dialog about the bears who continue to live in deprived conditions in Cherokee's three zoos?
The Cherokee Bear Zoo, Chief Saunooke Bear Park, and Santa's Land do nothing to enhance visitors' experiences or foster goodwill for the People. It will come as no surprise to you that our office continues to receive complaints from visitors to Cherokee about the barren bear pits and cramped concrete enclosures. The poor quality of life for the bears is obvious to visitors who leave Cherokee with these kinds of haunting images in the forefront of their minds:
- "I am deeply heartbroken about what I have seen."
—Visitor from South Carolina
- "I was so upset with how sad these animals looked."
—Visitor from Louisiana
- "I cried when I left."
—Visitor from Tennessee
- "[The bears] have no life."
—Visitor from Georgia
- "This attraction is truly a disgrace to the town of Cherokee and its tourist offerings."
—Visitor from Illinois
- "[W]hat a sad life they live, with no access to grass, dirt, trees, woods, etc."
—Visitor from North Carolina
As you imagine the cubs you helped now exploring, climbing, and foraging in the North Carolina woods, please compare and contrast that with the bereft existence of their cousins in captivity.
Chief Hicks, let's resolve this impasse by working together to give relief to the bears. Please call me. I can be reached at 202-309-4697 or DelciannaW@peta.org.
Sincerely,
Delcianna Winders
Director of Captive Animal
Law Enforcement