Agency Has Failed to Provide Lease Agreements It Administers for Cruel North Carolina Bear Pits
For Immediate Release:
March 17, 2011
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Washington — PETA filed a lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for failing to hand over documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) pertaining to the lease agreements for exhibitors in Cherokee, N.C., where approximately 30 bears are kept in roadside zoos in cramped, barren enclosures with no opportunity to express natural behavior. PETA points out that the BIA is responsible for managing the lease agreements governing Indian trust lands—including those in Cherokee—and is required by the FOIA to release these agreements.
"Given how many times these cruel facilities have been cited for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, it's inexcusable that they are allowed to operate at all," says PETA General Counsel Jeffrey Kerr. "These exhibitors are flagrantly abusing the bears trapped in their dank pits, and until the BIA hands over these documents, the public will have no way of knowing if they are also abusing their lease requirements."
The three roadside zoos—Santa's Land, Cherokee Bear Zoo, and Chief Saunooke Bear Park (CSBP)—keep bears in grossly inhumane conditions. The facilities display neurotic, begging bears in desolate concrete pits or cramped cages that lack climbing structures, foraging opportunities, or privacy. Tourists are encouraged to purchase food to feed the bears, which results in improper nutrition. Last summer, a 9-year-old girl was bitten by a bear at CSBP—the second such incident within one week.
A copy of PETA's lawsuit is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.