Wildlife Petting Zoo owner cited
Pima, AZ (US)Date: Feb 22, 2003
Disposition: Not Charged
Person of Interest: Craig Perry
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Federal officials are investigating the owner of a traveling petting zoo on display at the Pima County Fair for possible violations of animal welfare laws.
Three 11-day-old Bengal tiger cubs died Feb. 22 in Colorado while under the care of Craig Perry, owner of Perry's Exotic Petting Zoo.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Feb. 27 inspection report, Perry allowed the public to handle the cubs the day before their deaths at an event in Thornton, Colo. The animals were removed from their heated enclosure, exposed to low warehouse temperatures and bottle-fed during photographs, the report states.
Perry "must be aware of the potential adverse health effects of such stresses on very young animals," the USDA inspector wrote.
Perry picked up the cubs from a zoo when they were about 8 days old. He took them through three states and allowed public handling of them before they died, the USDA report shows. At the time of their death, they were 11 days old, and two had not yet opened their eyes, the report states.
Perry failed to obtain adequate veterinary care for the cubs, which needed immediate medical attention, the report states.
Perry said he is aware of the most recent USDA investigation and is protesting an inspector's findings in the deaths of the three tiger cubs.
The Arizona Game & Fish Department this week ordered Perry to stop allowing fair patrons to hold or touch two 2-month-old Bengal tiger cubs for $10 to $20 photo shoots.
Arizona law prohibits public contact with certain exotic animals. The USDA has cited Perry eight times in the past three years for violating animal welfare laws, records show. A Tucson woman this week filed a complaint against Perry with the USDA, citing concerns about the cubs' welfare. USDA officials would not say why they are investigating Perry.
"All we can say is, it is for possible violations of the Animal Welfare Act," said Jim Rogers, a spokesman for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
A man sued Perry after one of the tiger cubs allegedly bit or scratched him at the New Mexico State Fair in 2000, prompting officials there to ban exotic animals from subsequent state fairs. The USDA did not investigate that incident, but Perry's insurance company settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount last month.
In several interviews this week, Perry defended his use of the cubs. "This is a very beautiful thing for the public. It's a win-win situation for everyone," he said. Perry said he cares for cubs that might not otherwise survive, gives the public a chance to view rare animals and generates funds for his private zoo in Iowa.
He defended what occurred in New Mexico, questioning whether the Albuquerque man really was bitten. Even if he was, Perry said, the man should be blamed because he repeatedly put his hand in the cub's mouth after being told not to.
"There's no way that these tigers could bite anybody; they're too damn little," Perry said.
He also said the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals uses the USDA to target him for inspections at petting zoos and at his zoo in Walker, Iowa.
Perry said publicizing information about the USDA investigation and other complaints could harm his business.
"Do you think this fair is going to have me back?" Perry asked.
Perry defended his actions in the Colorado case, saying the cubs died because they did not receive their mother's colostrum, a fluid filled with antibodies that mammals receive while nursing immediately after birth. The cubs were born at a zoo during a blizzard, and the zoo owner immediately took them from the mother to keep them warm, Perry said. The man forgot to give the cubs the colostrum, he said.
"We were unaware of that until we lost the first cub, and the other two cubs died shortly thereafter," Perry said. "These three particular cubs were fat, plump, healthy - doing fine," he said. He said by the time they figured out what was wrong, it was too late to save the cubs.
Perry said he takes from zoos all over the country cubs that the mothers rejected or that are sick.
"We're basically their surrogate mothers," he said, adding that they wouldn't survive without his care. He said zoos "let Mother Nature take its course."
After weaning the cubs at about 4 months, Perry said, he returns them to the originating zoo or another licensed facility.
"The best thing for cats is human contact," Perry said, because it prepares them for contact with zookeepers during captivity.
Perry said he obtained the two tiger cubs in Tucson from a zoo in Minnesota, but he would not identify the zoo.
A Citizen reporter called several zoos in Minnesota on Wednesday, including the BEARCAT Hollow Foundation in Racine. All of them denied giving Perry the animals.
Perry called the Citizen later that day, posing as the owner of BEARCAT Hollow, a private, nonprofit facility that is not accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. He revealed his identity after questioning the reporter about the story he was working on.
A spokeswoman for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association said it was unlikely the cubs came from an accredited zoo.
"We have acquisition and disbursement policies that lay out specifically where animals can go when they leave our institutions," Hillary Walker said. "They have to give them to either an accredited facility or a facility they've investigated."
When a Tucson woman concerned about the animals' welfare asked Perry where they came from, she said he became defensive and said, "It's a private facility."
The woman, Jennifer Torres, included that information in a complaint she filed against Perry with the USDA after visiting the petting zoo with her 4-year-old son Monday.
Torres recounted in the letter what occurred after she paid $10 for a Polaroid photo of her and her son with a cub named Lotus.
"We were able to touch her for a few minutes and then she became agitated and began growling," Torres wrote in her complaint. At one point, she said, Perry's big-cat trainer, Pete Bence, "snapped (the cub) in the nose hard with his fingers. This only further agitated her and I was telling Bence that it was OK, we did not need to do the photo," wrote Torres, a University of Arizona medical library specialist.
Bence took the photo just as the cub leaped off the table, Torres wrote. "I left feeling very mixed about what I saw," she said.
Torres also said that when she was waiting for Bence to take the photo, he mopped up the cub's fecal matter with a paper towel. She said he placed the cub between Torres and her son when it "was still dirty and wet and Bence had not washed his hands." The Centers for Disease Control has warned that e. coli and other diseases can be spread through contact with animals at petting zoos.
Torres also wrote that the other cub, Lily, appeared lethargic and sick. She said when she returned to the petting zoo later Monday evening, "Bence lifted (the cub) up and put a heating pad under her. She barely stirred. He kept kissing her and rubbing his face against her."
"It seems like he cares for the animals but doesn't understand wild animal behavior."
Perry said the tiger cubs and all other animals at the exhibit are healthy. Tiger cubs need 18 hours of sleep a day, and Lily was resting, he said.
Photographs of the cubs with fairgoers are still allowed, but the public cannot handle the animals, Perry said.
Photos with Perry's tiger cubs led to the lawsuit filed by Albuquerque resident Richard Namm, who alleges a white tiger cub bit or scratched him at the New Mexico State Fair.
"Like everybody else, he paid whatever the fee Perry was charging," said Namm's attorney, Ed Glass. "He was coaxed into having his picture taken holding the cub, and during the process was either bitten or scratched by this animal."
The focus of Namm's civil suit, Glass said, was Perry's failure to provide the cub's vaccination information immediately after the incident, requiring Namm to undergo rabies shots.
"Perry's paperwork is as sloppy as his animal-handling practices," Glass said. "Part of our allegation was that the animal was ill-tempered and unsuitable for handling as a direct result of the conditions in which it was kept and the manner in which it was treated.
"Even though it's cute and cuddly, it is in its very essence a wild animal. This was a bad idea altogether."
Perry blamed the incident on Namm, saying the man placed his arm in the cub's mouth and was told to remove his arm, for fear it could dislocate the tiger's jaw. Namm did so and then put his arm back in the tiger's mouth, Perry said.
Perry said he refused to photograph Namm with the cub and refunded his money.
Namm remained at the zoo for about a half-hour, feeding the other animals in the petting zoo, Perry said. He said Namm then left and returned with paramedics, claiming he had been bitten.
Perry said he provided vaccination records to paramedics immediately. He said his insurance company settled what he referred to as a "bogus" lawsuit.
After the tiger incident, the New Mexico State Fair Commission changed its rules about exotic animals. It now has a tightly regulated list of animals allowed at the fair, said Veronica Valencia, a spokeswoman for the commission.
"Since that incident the commissioners installed a policy that exotic animals were not allowed," Valencia said. "Any kind of petting zoo has to fit within our regulated list of animals."
Although the USDA did not investigate the New Mexico incident, it has found violations of federal animal welfare laws eight times in the past three years at Perry's facilities. Perry has been cited for violations including questionable veterinary care, lack of shade for animals and unhealthful animal pens. He has passed six of the 14 inspections conducted during that period. Earlier records are not available because the agency keeps records for only three years.
In 1996, Perry paid a $2,000 fine to the USDA as part of a settlement that did not require him to admit guilt, according to Associated Press reports at the time. He said yesterday the USDA waived $67,000 in fines in exchange for his agreement to spend that $2,000 to fix up his zoo. The USDA had accused Perry of keeping agency officials out of the zoo when they tried to conduct inspections. The USDA also said Perry failed to provide adequate shelter and clean cages for the animals.
According to PETA, which keeps prior USDA records, Perry has a long history of similar violations. He disputed the accuracy of PETA's records and said his attorney is mounting an effort to remove PETA's listing of alleged violations from its Web site, www.wildlifepimps.com.
PETA typically frowns on petting zoos, said Amy Rhodes, its animals in entertainment specialist.
Of Perry's operation, "I would say overall it's one of the worst," Rhodes said. "These people are in the business of making money, they're not in the business of providing proper care for animals. The places that do that are sanctuaries, and they don't open themselves up to the general public."
Perry's zoo in Iowa is not open to the public, but he said he has plans to create a resort that allows guests to stay in cabins directly attached to animal enclosures. Perry said PETA has targeted him because he operates one of the largest petting zoos in the country. "Therefore, we get the most flak," Perry said.
"They do absolutely nothing for animals," he said of PETA. "All they want to do is go around and complain about people that do have them." References | The Tucson Citizen | | Animal Protection Institute - Exhibitor Violation Listing |
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