var _sf_startpt=(new Date()).getTime() Pet-Abuse.Com - Animal Abuse Case Details: Exotic animals neglected, 4 deaths reported - Duluth, MN (US)
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Case ID: 12110
Classification: Neglect / Abandonment
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Exotic animals neglected, 4 deaths reported
Duluth, MN (US)

Incident Date: Thursday, Apr 15, 2004
County: Saint Louis

Disposition: USDA Citation
Case Images: 1 files available

Person of Interest: Marcus Cook

The operator of a traveling zoo exhibit that had four white tiger cubs die in Minnesota days after they were born has a history of alleged federal violations.

The allegations, dating from 2002 to 2007, include improper veterinary care, untreated health problems and putting animals in a position that caused injuries to the public, The Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune reported. But Marcus Cook, senior animal specialist and senior zoologist with Zoo Dynamics in Texas, contends the string of U.S. Department of Agriculture allegations against the company are "99.9 percent ... completely incorrect, unfounded or misrepresented," the newspaper said.

The Texas attorney general's office in 2003 obtained an emergency court order seeking to prevent Cook and the company he then worked with, ZooCats, from exhibiting tigers, the newspaper said. The Texas agency also alleged ZooCats lied about having associations with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and was improperly registered as a non-profit organization. Cook denied letting the public handle tiger cubs or making any misrepresentations. The office also claimed that ZooCats was set up as a false nonprofit, using publicly donated money for profit-making purposes. As part of Cook's agreement with the attorney general's office, ZooCats was dissolved and Cook must not represent that he has a good safety record. He also must not tell people he has a bachelor's degree in zoology. He was ordered to pay $100,000.

Cook has denied making any misrepresentations.

Zoo Dynamics said in a news release it suspected the tiger cubs' deaths were the result of congenital defects. White tigers result from inbreeding, various experts said. Marcus Cook travels the country with Thomas Carnival, which operates at local and state fairs. Cook charges a fee for visitors to have their photos taken with tiger cubs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees animal exhibits, filed charges against Cook, in part for allegedly failing to handle animals safely, failing to protect animals from temperature extremes, and using a cattle prod to stun a tiger as a means of discipline during an exhibit.

In February, Cook was charged by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with unsafe handling of wildlife after it was revealed that a visitor to an exhibit at a car dealership was bitten by one of his tigers. Another cub used by Cook bit an employee while on display at Six Flags Over Dallas in 2002.

Just two months ago the USDA issued a complaint against Cook for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act.

The department said, in the complaint, there are "repeated instances" of Cook's failure to provide "adequate veterinary care, food, water, or housing to animals." The complaint went on to say those failures "have resulted in injuries to animals and to the public."

Ron Tilson, a tiger expert at the Minnesota Zoo who advises all accredited zoos in North America, is one of Cook's many critics. "It's immoral, it's unethical," Tilson said of Cook's breeding practices. "Certainly the animal rights and humane societies have come out and said it's a form of animal abuse, therefore it's cruel to animals." Tilson said he agreed with that assessment and that the mere breeding of white tigers is not natural. To maintain that color, Tilson said, the cubs have to be inbred, which means they lose genetic protection against a number of diseases. "And there are many other things, including cleft palates, and crossed eyes, and curved spines, and shortened feet, and all of those things would put a wild tiger at a disadvantage, so it wouldn't live," he said. Tislson said the last white tiger born in the wild was observed in 1951.

In the case of the four dead cubs in Duluth, Cook said it wasn't his fault. "We know that it is not anything that has to do with animal care, or keeper error, or facility structure, anything of that nature," he said.
Cook's company is based near Dallas.

He also has been sued by the Texas attorney general, and Cook was ordered to stop operating as a nonprofit. The Texas attorney general called Cook's business practices "deceptive."

While the reasons four white tiger cubs died this week at a traveling exhibit in Duluth still are unknown, the operator of the exhibit faces numerous charges by the USDA for mistreating his animals, as well as putting them in a position that has caused injuries to the public. Cook said that he never lets the public handle his tigers.

But a complaint filed in May 2007, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture claims Cook has supervised numerous animals that received improper veterinary care and had numerous untreated health problems, and that he allowed the public - including children - to handle tigers. The charges date from 2002 to 2007.

Cook said the two tigers at his exhibit are in good health, but he referred all questions about the cause of death of the tiger cubs that died to Dr. Kelly Manzer, who he said was a veterinarian with Zoo Dynamics. Manzer did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Zoo Dynamics released a statement saying it suspected the tiger cubs' deaths were caused by congenital defects. Ron Tilson, director of conservation at the Minneapolis-based Minnesota Zoo, said all white tigers are inbred. Tilson said white tigers can trace their origins to a white tiger captured in India in 1951, which mated with one of its daughters, which had a recessive gene to create another white tiger. "They're all so highly inbred almost to the level of brother and sister," said Tilson who, because of that, believes breeding white tigers is inhumane. "This is abuse; this is not natural. It's doing something that is contrary to what nature would order," he said. "They are producing cubs that are not doing well simply for the sake of making money."

Tiger cubs born in captivity do generally have a higher mortality rate. Cubs handled by humans have a higher chance of death, said Tammy Quist, executive director of the Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, Minn. Wildcat Sanctuary is the only accredited big cat sanctuary in the Upper Midwest. "A traveling exhibit is not a good situation for tiger cubs to be in," Quist said. "Who hauls around a pregnant tiger in a trailer from Texas to Minnesota?"

Cook said he never allowed the public to touch or handle the cubs, and he never allows people to touch the adult tigers. People can pay to feed them, but that is done by handing food over a gate with a pair of tongs.

Though Cook told the News Tribune that a veterinarian from the Lake Superior Zoo examined the cubs the morning before they died, Dr. Louise Beyea said that was not true. Instead, she said she saw the cubs only after they died to provide a referral for them to be transported to a facility for diagnostic results. Beyea did not know where the animals were sent. Beyea also said she did not know what caused their deaths but that, based on a limited observation, she did not see "any abuse or mishandling" on the part of Zoo Dynamics.
Under Minnesota law, municipalities don't have to examine traveling animal exhibits' safety records.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has obtained an emergency court order in Kaufman County to stop a traveling hands-on exhibit featuring wild jungle cats and cubs.

Abbott said the action was taken to prevent harm to the public from exhibits put on by ZooCats Inc. The nonprofit organization brings animals such as tigers, leopards, lions and cougars to exhibit at children's birthday parties, weddings, commercial and media events and educational settings. In addition to the emergency court order, the charitable assets of ZooCats and related nonprofits, as well as operator Marcus Cline-Hines Cook, have been frozen. District Judge Howard Tygrett also named Dallas attorney Robert Trimble as temporary receiver. Trimble will oversee placement of the wild cats and other animals in the professional care of the International Exotic Feline Sanctuary in Boyd, northwest of Fort Worth .

"This operator deliberately downplayed the potential danger of these animals, as well as the group's safety record and trainer qualifications, letting children and adults touch and hold them without regard for disease or possible physical harm," said Abbott in a statement. "This dangerous deception against the public, and the organization's false assertions about its charitable intentions, led our legal experts to conclude that we needed to act quickly."

ZooCats officials were not immediately available to comment. ZooCats has exhibited the animals at the Mesquite Rodeo, Six Flags Over Texas, the Dallas ArtFest and various private schools. It has also set up show booths at a number of events in North Texas where children and adults may hold and feed the animals and have their pictures taken for a fee. The principal facility housing the animals, which also include wolf pups, a bear and a zebra, is near Kaufman. ZooCats obtains its animals through donations from zoos, sanctuaries and refuges, but the group also buys them from exotic breeders.

Cook has made public claims about his group's perfect safety record. But, according to Abbot, ZooCats has been cited numerous times by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violations such as failing to keep the adult animals under the control of a trained animal handler and for failure to maintain structurally sound facilities to prevent escape.

The attorney general said the organization also falsely claims to be distributing charitable funds it collects for its services. It purports to represent, and donate funds to, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Save the Tiger Fund, and wildlife programs underwritten by Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp.

But, said Abbot, these organizations claim no affiliation with ZooCats and have not given Cook permission to use their logos or trademarks in exhibits. Cook also has falsely claimed an affiliation with the Dallas World Aquarium, the attorney general said. Abbot said he also suspects that Cook has misappropriated charitable assets for personal use and will ask the court to correct this abuse of public funds.

The state will request civil penalties under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Texas Nonprofit Corporations Act. Also requested are attorneys' fees and reimbursement of investigative costs associated with the case. ZooCats related nonprofits, which are also named in the lawsuit, include Zoological Studies Group, ZooCats Zoological Systems, Specialized Species Humane Society Inc., Zoo America Inc., and Technology Specialities and Research Group Inc.


In 2003, the USDA filed charges against Cook for alleged AWA violations including using a cattle prod to stun a tiger as a means of discipline, exposing young animals to excessive handling, causing animals trauma and harm, unsupervised public contact, mishandling an injured zebra, dozens of instances of unsafe handling of dangerous animals during public exhibition, allowing a bear cub to be teased with a stick, filthy enclosures in disrepair, exposing animals to extreme heat and inadequate ventilation, failing to provide minimum space, food and water, and failing to comply with veterinary care requirements.

Cook was recently charged with unsafe handling by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission after one of his tiger cubs bit a woman at a car dealership in Tampa . PETA filed a formal complaint with the USDA after obtaining photos of two of Cook's tiger cubs at the dealership with bloody abrasions around their noses and eyes. Another cub used by ZooCats bit an employee while on display at Six Flags Over Dallas in 2002 and the exhibit was later removed from the park.

Animals used for photo ops are often still babies and are typically forcibly removed from their mothers, causing extreme stress to both mother and baby. When they outgrow their "cuteness," exotic animals are often sold at auctions, where they may be purchased by "canned-hunt" operators or people who kill them illegally for their body parts.

Cook has been cited by the USDA for failure to provide veterinary care, failure to provide shelter from inclement weather, inadequate ventilation, filthy cages, failure to provide minimum space, and improper handling during public exhibition. In 2002, Six Flags Over Dallas dismissed Cook's tiger exhibit over concerns for public safety. In August 2004, Cook was charged in federal court with conspiring to violate laws pertaining to wildlife. Cook was named, along with eight others, in a 55-count indictment that alleges that the accused bought or sold more than $200,000 worth of endangered or threatened animals between 1999 and 2003, violating interstate provisions of the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act.

Tiger cubs used in traveling acts are prematurely removed from their mothers, denying them proper nutrition and maternal care. If the animals survive the stress of transport and handling, exhibitors typically dispose of them a few months later when they become more difficult to handle, replacing them with new cubs. Since 1990, there have been at least 177 dangerous incidents involving big cats in 36 states.

"Besides the cruelty of taking baby tigers away from their mothers, these cats become ticking time bombs when constantly subjected to handling and stress," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "The best way to protect the cats and the public would be to revoke Cook's license to operate."

References


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