PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
July 1, 2005

ACTIVISTS KICK OFF CAMPAIGN URGING METROZOO TO PROVIDE LIFETIME CARE FOR ANIMALS
ARFF Protests the Disposal of Unwanted Animals

(Miami) - Holding signs reading, “Zoo’s Dirty Secret - Dumping Older Animals” and Miami Metrozoo Clean Up Your Act,” " members of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) will gather outside the entrance to the Miami Metrozoo to demand the zoo not dump older and unwanted animals, and encouraging a policy of that ensures LIFETIME care for all animals they acquire.

WHAT: Demonstration for lifetime care for animals
WHEN: Saturday, July 2nd at 11:00 AM
WHERE: Miami Metrozoo (12400 S.W. 152 Street)

Unloading older or unwanted animals is common practice in the zoo industry, churning a system that inevitably dumps 1000’s of animals in substandard facilities. Last year, Miami Metrozoo’s policies for the care of animals came into question when a former zoo resident was found languishing in an underground cement pit in Texas. Further investigation revealed that Edith, a great ape listed as an endangered species was housed at the Miami Metrozoo from 1982 to 1987, but was dumped by a third-party once she outlived her usefulness. Edith’s plight represents a glaring injustice for animals who, by no choice of their own, rely on zoo officials to provide for their lifetime care, but too often fail to receive it.

ARFF representatives and members of the concerned public have since appealed to Metrozoo to take responsibility for their role in Edith’s miserable situation by adopting policies which would ensure that animals in their care don’t end up in the hands of third-party dealers, animal auctions, canned hunt facilities, invasive biomedical research, deplorable roadside zoos, the pet trade, or other equally horrific fates. Because the zoo has ignored these pleas, ARFF is kicking off a public outreach campaign beginning at the zoo’s front door.

Zoos accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) are required to abide by a code of ethics restricting animal transfers. However, these codes do not prohibit transactions with non-AZA members, allowing animals to slip through the cracks and fall victim to abusive conditions and illegal activity. Even leading AZA members acknowledge the organization has done a poor job of enforcing its animal-transfer code.

“Edith’s plight points to a far too common practice by some of the nations most highly regarded zoos: dumping older, infirm, or unwanted animals into a vast poorly regulated network of substandard zoos, private animal breeders and dealers,” says Holly Bowman, ARFF Captive Exotic Animal Specialist. “If zoos are comfortable profiting from exotic and endangered animals, then they have a moral responsibility to ensure that the animals remain in AZA-accredited facilities for their entire lives.”

ARFF Lifetime Care Policy is Available upon Request.

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